Pontiac59

On the other hand, in some states no title is utterly meaningless. It may be as simple as a notarized form or two and a DMV or police inspection of the car's VIN or serial number. In New York, it's even more simple than that - two forms, no notary, no inspection, just a pencil etch or photo of the serial number and a few other things and you walk out with plates on the spot. They check the number against old hot sheets (and presumably the record of VINs showing as scrapped) and if clear you get a transferrable registration in a few weeks. Cost? Zero, beyond the usual cost of insurance and registration.

If 55 is the same, I might be able to scare one up.

Someone abandoned a solid project and it landed in the you-pick yard, where in a few weeks whatever is left will be crushed. The car has factory air and power windows, a 4-door, it's very solid and I can bring in a sawzall to cut body parts off it. The seats have nice, recent replacement uhpolstery on them. Lots of loose parts in boxes with it. May have a nice grille in the trunk, I couldn't see in well enough. The motor looks like it was rebuilt not long ago, or at least freshened, I passed that on to a buddy who was looking for a Chrysler motor.

There's a rusty '56 Clipper 2-door hardtop in one of the you-pick yards here. It was 100% complete when it came in. Is there anything I should try to save off it before they crush it? They will crush it, and there is no way to buy the whole car. Auto trans, column shift. I've already sold what was left of the taillights and saved the grille and some of the side stainless. The car is pretty bad rot-wise, I can't even get the doors to open.

There's one of these in a you-pick yard near me. Wondered what was worth saving off it, since in a few weeks it gets crushed with whatever's still on it. Decent 90-fin drums, 430 engine, missing carb, missing power antenna but dash switch was there, I took the tilt column out of it, missing radio. Has bench seat, cluster has a speed alarm thing on it (I forget what Buick calls it), no A/C; most body panels have some rot but there is a solid deck lid stuck in the back someone must have intended to put on. Car was mostly complete otherwise, even the hide-away headlights and doors were all there. I'm not 100% sure which year other than the ignition was on the dash and it had the 430 so I presume it's a 67 or 68. Odd that these cars have two inside door handles, one positioned so rear seat passengers can reach up and open the door. The drums are stuck, not turning, but I plan to go back for them, so if there's anything else I should take it would be good to know. All of these yards work the same way, and with scrap up they're crushing more often because a lot more cars are coming in. And I'm not sure when it got put out.

Old Cars Price Guide from 8/10 says $7000 max for a #1 condition car, which by their definition is either better than new, or you hermetically sealed it right off the assembly line. #2 condition drops off to around $5000. And you probably should deduct 5-10% for the 4-cylinder engine. Then because the market is down and the car isn't exactly say a 455 Gran Sport or something, you can knock off anywhere from 10% to 50% more. I had one as a winter beater a few years ago that was given to me for free. An '84, 2-door, 2.8 V6, it needed some brake lines and an exhaust. Had a flat spot in the computer controlled carb I never did fix. I got a year and a half out of it before I happened on something better that was cheap, and parked it. Great winter car, I got a flat on a snowy Sunday night on the back from running over a bracket that someone had tacked on it and fell off, one of the lugnuts rounded off when I went to change the tire, I couldn't get any help and didn't want to call a tow truck given the bill would be more than the car was worth, so I drove it home on the flat about 10 miles - as long as it had real snows on it it would go anywhere you pointed it. It didn't have any trouble getting around even with the flat. And they're very comfortable inside, the interior is really roomy. I actually would almost buy another, if I ran across the Pontiac Phoenix SJ with a V6 and manual trans I'd drive the snot out if it. I'd want to either convert it to a later EFI or debrain it entirely, though. That's probably one plus for yours, I believe as a 1980 it does not have the computer controlled carb on it.

The TBI is pretty reliable, but you want to avoid 1995s if you're buying used. The government tightened truck emissions standards that year, and GM already had OBD-II in the pipe, so they just changed the software on the computer to detune them to meet the standard - which also cost 3-5 MPG across the board, and they're down on power. I have a '95 G30 and while it's not a complete dog, even my well worn '91 Suburban would move better than it did. I got that one with 160,000 on it and drove it a year and only parked it when I realized a van would better suit my needs. The ones to avoid are 1995s with a 4L60E transmission - the transmission has another solenoid added to the TCC engage so it will go in steps instead of just on/off, and it's a one year only deal. Those with a 4L80E, you can just swap in a 1991-1994 computer or chip and solve the problem that way. (of course my G30 is like a heavy 3/4 ton, so it's a 4L60E and the semi-floater 14-bolt rear). Research showed me the 1990-1991 vans have the best factory tune for power and milage with a TBI, and I've talked to people who've reported close to 20 highway with them. So I went out and bought one now that the '95 has enough frame rot I don't think it would pass inspection. It has the same rearend ratio and driving it I can feel the difference already. But before the vans I ran an '89 Suburban into the ground - it was a former school bus with 57,000 miles on it; I got 33,000 out of it in four years, including pulling as much as 7500 lbs behind a half-ton (a '57 Dodge wagon on a car trailer, loaded with parts). It finally got so rusty it wasn't going to pass another inspection, so I bought a nice 1991 - and I still have that, it's been sitting for about a year now. I like the TBI so much that I'm putting the motor/trans out of the '89 into my '50 Chevy, TBI system and all. (I know hot rods are kind of frowned on here, but this car is such a mess that it probably should have been parted out in the first place). But my mother has a '95 C1500 that has 320,000 miles on it, and the rust is what's going to kill that one too. If you can find a solid older truck with low miles on it, you may be just as well off to spend the money on it even if you have to repair a few things. The new ones are nice, you're just opening yourself up for a lot of depreciation in price. The ABS systems tend to be junk on these things, too, it's worth the time to plumb them out if you have to replace any lines.

If you tell it to show you 200 items per page, that's just 4 pages to scroll through. Make sure to tell it to show you items ending soonest, because if you don't, it will show you some of the same listings over and over again ("Best Match").

A you-pull yard I frequent has been paying $240-$250 a ton for non-catalytic converter cars all summer. Here in town the smash it all places are paying up to $325 a ton. I junked most of a rough '75 Trans Am last week and got $400 for it with the rearend, column, and some loose bits pulled off. A '58 Imperial shell (sans motor, trans, rearend, dash, deck lid and some other parts) with some other junk loaded in brought $450. A '93 Chevy van brought $560 - I couldn't get anyone to even look at it, so I brought it in and literally drove it to the spot where they picked it up with the loader. Seen in the yard - '87 Monte Carlo Aero Coupe (should have been an easy $2500 car on eBay, it wasn't in bad shape), '72 Skylark coupe that had NO rust and probably was a driver, '77 El Camino, '65 Corvair ragtop with no rust, '60 Chevy Bel Air post, '51 Chevy 2dr, '52 Chevy 2dr that was solid enough I cut all the body mounts and things out of to the tune of what would cost over $1000 repro; a '32 Studebaker Rockne; a '55 GMC big truck with Pontiac V8 and manual trans setup; '50 Plymouth 4-door; a '51 Mercury coupe (!!) that I saved the roof, doors and quarters off from; and just recently a '52 Olds 98 and a '56 Packard Clipper which though rusty was complete coming in. I cut off, bought and just sold just the taillights off that car for more than half what it must have brought over the scale. The '52 Olds had the clock steering wheel in it and I have that here. I also managed to get just about the whole body from the Stude, but they scrapped a complete rolling chassis before I could get any more of it. And that's just one yard, I've been almost afraid to even go anywhere else and look.

I almost ran into a guy in a '49 Buick Super who didn't seem to be able to get it past 45 or so, I'd followed him a bit and passed him on a 2-lane state road, then he must have got on the interstate the exit before I did because I come flying up on him again after I got on - and I'm barely doing the posted 65 myself. Had the cat along in the car, but afraid to push it to speeds I know the car was more than capable of doing. Which is fine, but if you can't make at least 55 you don't belong on an interstate. No one expects to come up on a car going that slow. And people will commonly do as much as 80 in a 65.

Meter's running on this one. I've already gone back for parts off other cars to find them scrapped in only about 4 weeks.

What the title says. Need one with good glass, small corner cracks may be okay, as long as it's cheap. Has to be from a fastback, 2dr or 4dr are the same.

Wow. A while back I sold a running, driving '85 Suburban with a nice 6.2 and tons of spares.. for $500.

I have some leftovers from parting a car out a few years ago - the car was a Special 4-door sedan. All 4 doors, deck lid (some bubbles at bottom edge), steering column, manual box, outer lower quarters with chrome, and the rear window. There may be more floating around but the engine and trans were sold and the rest of the car went to junk because it was rotty. I need the plastic pieces and screws that hold the horn ring in place. Parts are priced reasonable, say $100 each for each thing or make offer.

Probably could transport this one for the $1200 if you did it right.

No, once the car goes in, the only way it leaves is whatever I don't take off will be about 15 inches tall. Which will happen in no more than about 6 weeks. It's a rotty 4-door sedan anyways, it's not terrible rotty but most of the body panels are rusted to some degree, the left front door mechanism is stuck latched closed, etc.

Okay, that video was a huge help. It's sort of like removing a 2-pin taillight or dash bulb, you have to push down on the whole thing and turn to get it off the pins that hold it in place. Except there are three pins on it. You'd about have to soak the whole center in something to get fluid into the inside, as the center piece has a deep metal ring on it. Next challenge will be undoing the bolt with the column out loose... yikes. As for the compass, my understanding is most are filled with mineral oil, or common baby oil, as it's clear, a little thicker than plain water, and of course doesn't freeze. I just meant, should it and the wheel be paired together. I'm thinking about going and cutting the rest of the dash out of this car - it's in a you-pick yard of all places. You don't want to know what I paid for this stuff, you'd be sick.

For what it's worth, should this be paired up with the factory compass that I pulled from the same car, that locates in the hole where a regular clock would have been? Said compass is intact, but dry of fluid and while it still turns, no matter how I seem to turn it it reads the same. Center turns about 2 degrees and goes clunk and the whole horn ring turns just a bit. I'm not sure if the clunk is inside the center, or the ring clunking on the clock.

Not only that, the design of the basic push lighter and socket never really changed much until they became "power ports" and the lighter itself was dropped. You can literally take the socket apart in an '80s vehicle and install it in a '30s vehicle.

Didn't matter, I lost a few stainless caps, that's why I mentioned it.

I still will say the cheapest option to higher top speeds - and one of the easiest - is to get it down to a 3.08 or so final drive ratio. No one will know the difference even if they look under the car. A rearend with no swaybar is all of about 14 bolts, including the driveshaft yoke. Easily changed back to original if you want, too. I mean, they still used the flathead six through 1959, and by then the cars were built for higher top speeds without a lot of new engineering, so if you copy how those were set up it should be fine. And I do believe someone, a small cottage industry maybe, is making an adapter to run the Borg-Warner T5 behind a Chrysler six. Not sure if it requires a GM pattern trans or a Ford pattern trans.

Scrap is up. I got $80 for a Chevy 235 and I kept the manifolds, bell, starter, etc. all off it. A full V8 should bring at least $100. Even dead it's worth $500 for the parts in it, if it turns and is clean and nice the value goes up, and they're worth sitting on or waving around on a place like the HAMB -

Fortunately not everyone is afraid of a little dirt or worn chrome. But it does go to a point I often make about how the same exact thing when dirty/rusty/old will be called junk, then cleaned up or with some paint thrown on it the same exact people will suddenly think it's great. Which is why I often make pretty damn good money on stuff other people were dumb enough to throw away. I'll add this thing doesn't look much different from the factory '72 Buick AM-only 8-track I have tucked away somewhere, that I kept and discovered had no real value after the car was junked.

I've had full caps fly off late model vehicles that came new with radial tires, so there is no real change in rim construction from the 50s to the 1990s.

If opening the bleeder frees it up, there's a restriction somewhere preventing return of fluid to the master. Most common for this to be the hose, and if you get an old or mishandled one it could be "brand new" and still be bad, especially if it's a parts store made in asia somewhere special. Worth inspecting the lines as well.