60FlatTop

75 and planning on another 30. I do all my own work due to some sort of intolerance syndrome. Never really got into old car restoration. I prefer to buy a nice 15-20 year old car and age with it. The decades go by fast so it hasn't been hard. Bought lots of cars and only one wife.

Hamilton Chevrolet in Detroit is old car friendly. They are very supportive of the 1990s Impala SS owners.

January 16th and we already have the understatement of the year!

s this a person currently in the US selling a car that is in Europe?

Life is not always easy among those whom try to reinvent the wheel.

Going back to my early days of selling cars with my grandfather I remember one of the wholesale dealers who hooked up with him. He shared a lot of his business philosophy with us and they were memorable statements. One that I can paraphrase on this topic that isn't really negative and capable of providing enjoyment in its own way would go something like: "I like to buy a cheap car and pyramid my investment with sweat equity". I smile as I write because I remember how many flips I have done to support my old car habit. I think I still have one. Over 60+ years it probably tallies up to around $200,000. About the same as Tony's donations to the ponies.

I have never considered myself to be a "market" buyer. I look at how much money I have and how much I want it. All that other stuff relates to someone else. Back in the mid 1980s we were just beginning to see cars selling with over 100,000 miles. There is a used car lot row near me and one Saturday I sported a very nice bright red Mustang GT 5.0 5-speed that caught my eye. It had like 105,000 and flawless. Not even a fly speck on it. They wanted $4200 for the car. I tried it out, no question, a perfect car. But the mileage screwed up my head. I tried to buy it for $3600. He wouldn't move on it. By the time I got home I knew I made a mistake. They were closed when I got back. I drove down to the closed store and looked at it twice on Sunday. At work all day Monday I spent in angst waiting to get back there and close the deal. I rushed from work and got there to find it had been sold. I am writing this neatly 40 years later with a vivid memory of the stupid thing I did because of my perception of market value. Just imagine the impression that left on me. I may have bought a couple of cars on impulse that I shouldn't have, but I never repeated that mistake again. And I would not hesitate to advise anyone to buy the car if you like it. Many forget that if the car doesn't meet your expectations you can always sell it. Who could buy a car and lose 100%? Like they say "Who does that?"

Today is a holiday, but I am just wondering how many first generation Rivieras are going to raise their insurance value tomorrow.

I bought my '64 Riviera in 1978 with a black vinyl top already installed. That is 45 years of listening to every person who walked by tell me the car was not supposed to have a vinyl top. Feeble little old ladies would cross the grocery store parking lot to tell me. It got to be laughable to see the urgency they had to tell me. If they weren't breathless from heart palpitations their bladder was surely close to exploding. My wife and I attended the BCA nationals in Sandusky, Ohio. Ask her if she remembers. Her answer this afternoon would be "Oh, where everyone stopped to say your car had the wrong top?". The vinyl came off in 2014 when I put in a new crystal clear windshield and started farting around with a paint job that is taking way too long. Notice (if you will) the car was a brown one when I bought it. I put the Claret Mist on it in 1980. Some of the stall is deciding whether or not to put the original color back on. Whatever I do, trust me, I will leave an oversight just for one more bladder that can't hold back.

Sometimes you just get the feeling everything a person does it meticulous. Sometimes you don't.

Yeah, "Put my ashes in a brown car with a brown interior".

My problem is that I don't remember forgetting anything.

Here is a good forum to start following. Probably your best shot. https://p15-d24.com/

Here is one of my old ones. I have souvenirs all over the place. The large diameter goes between the body and frame. The small one goes between the bolt head and frame. The loss of height doesn't affect the length of the bolt so you can get the body shifting on the frame. Also the two rear ones above the axle and aft of the wheel well can squish down and make the car look like the springs are shot. The four under the cowl just make the hood and fenders hard to align. Here is a new one at full height. Next time I get a chance I will check mine to see how the static weight has affected them over three decades.

It takes me back to when I was in my mid-teens and the old man pointed his finger at my chest. In a crackly voice he said "Sonny, don't waste your time on those closed cars. They ain't worth nuthin'" And if they didn't strip one out for parts some guy in a local body shop cobbed it up. At least they finished that one. And it wasn't worth much more that the fenders (if they fit a convertible) when they did it.

Join the Lincoln Club and always sit across the table from the oldest guy in the room.

I have never been gifted anything of significant value. As I read through the posts I am reminded of how many cars and similar items I have given to needy people. From the critique of those beneficiaries I never gifted anything of significant value either. I gave cars that weren't good enough, used too much gas, needed tires or oil changes, or did not run flawlessly forever. It seems like nothing was ever "good enough" for a needy person Sometimes I think all it did was affect my charitable demeanor. I watch winter TV and they are running the ads for the SPCA. I told my wife I thought that dog house made from the big wooden cable spool looked pretty neat. I wouldn't mind having one. She said "Don't you remember the one you brought home that didn't work for a picnic table?" I must have put it out of my mind with other failed attempts at generosity.

When I mounted my '64 Riviera body back on the frame it was in 1993 and by that time all my mounts were crushed to at least 1/3 their original height. The two oval ones at the rear were the only good ones since they carry very little weight. I went to our local Chevy dealership and we did a quick look for OEM parts but we knew the answer. They were obsolete. I asked if any were available for a, let's say, '76 Impala. The answer was yes. I bought six of them and they were fine. Of course in 1993 there were not a lot of people online to tell me how wrong I was. That's what holds the body up today After working on GM cars all my life I find situations where the counter person can't reference my parts. I just make something up. If that didn't work I wouldn't still be doing it. Cars designed by the men in gray flannel suits may not be the most creative but they sure are predictable.

I just looked at this topic for the first time. I wasn't interested when first posted but I knew it would be entertaining by now. Things meet my expectations. At the beginning was the cost list. Fifteen years ago I was quite active in collector cars after my regular day job. I was selling, shipping, fixing, and doing all kinds of stuff as a service for people who did not want to do it themself. The numbers. I had a request from a stranger to sell his car "on the internet". He wanted $75,000 for it. Everything would be my responsibility, presentation, fiduciary, and delivery. The first contact was by phone. I told him I would charge a flat fee of $500 for taking pictures and the presentation. Listing fees would be passed to him. I wanted 6% of the selling price for my fee. I didn't know his wife was on an extension phone. She sure did math fast and knew all about asserting herself! I am laughing right now remembering it. I don't know anything about the car after the call. 6% is on the low end for a sales commission. Right around the turn of the century a sales job with a quota of $1,000,000 annually would get you $60,000 per year. That's a lot of work. Today I would buy the stuff myself and get the markup as well, then it would be tight. I have coffee up at the other end of town a few times a week. One of the guys has been trying to buy a used truck for at least three years. He can't find one for the right priced. Last week he was bemoaning the lack of good deals. I commented "Well your money is worth more than most people's isn't it?" Years ago one of my best friends said "Never deny the salesman his full commission".

The practical application of that is in in the meeting room where a group has been brought together for damage control on the most recent disaster. Shortly after discussion starts one member takes the floor and announces "We don't need to dwell on the past. Our mission is to move forward from today". "Ah, yes, now I remember what you did."

Burrow deep into the internet for parts. Don't leave a search engine unturned. I used Rockauto and Ebay for a lot of items on my '86 Park Ave that I would never have looked for two or three decades ago. The internet has provided room for a lot of low overhead, low markup businesses that can market parts that would have been scrapped when letters and long distance phone calls were required to search. A great example on my car is the full set of GM old stock fuel lines and hoses I bought from Rock Auto for well under $200. In the 1990s I would not even have thought to look for it, just get the bender out and go to it. I even picked up four NOS wheels still in the boxes. One year ago yesterday I bought a 2005, 18 year old, car that I consider a collector car. It needed three quite obscure parts to make it cosmetically perfect for my taste. No problem, they are installed and that one will stay in that condition as long as I have it. Keep those ongoing searches running and check for things even when you don't need them. I have my Murphy's shelf in the garage. Murphy says if you have a spare you won't need it. Yes, the original wheels are up in the ceiling right above the shelf. I wouldn't what to push it.

I noticed a little of the flavor in this Peugeot 203. Could be a little GM and Holden mixed in there.

I have "intimate knowledge" in researching the original basis of design and returning mechanical things back by removing the added upgrades and enhancements. My greatest successes have been in doing that. Some instances have been with cars, enough to know that I truly like the feeling of being the first one to have been there. The majority of my work has been done in building operation. The oldest were a couple of 1880s fire houses that still had some hay on the mow (rhymes. with cow). And I am card carrying certified by the US Green Building Council, USGBC. Even my own house has its origins in stones set in place in 1853. All the stuff I have worked on, cars and buildings, meet the design criteria and they all work pretty good. One of my best learning experiences was back in 1972-73 when I thought the Rochester Quadrajet was too complicated for my 430 powered '68 Riviera. The new Holley 750 Speadbore had just come out. I bought one right away, installed it, and learned to repair and optimize what I had. A lot of things I do probably stemmed from that experience. It came to mind right away so it is not too far from the surface of my thoughts. Back in the 1950s and 1960s the GM divisions took a few of the Rochester carbs to their test grounds where they put them through their paces. They thoroughly tested the jetting, metering, and other adjustable characteristics until they got the application just the way they wanted it. Then they painted the carburetor gold and sent it back telling Rochester "this is the one to produce" in gold. I saw 6 or 8 of them on a shelf one time and got the story of how they were sorted out. That is my choice. Now the buildings, I probably would not have stayed in that field but my sense of ironic humor kept me there.

A person who collects cars for their own toys is wealthy. Some just don't compare it correctly.

I have been using Rochester Clutch and Brake since 1990: https://www.rochesterclutch.com/vintage-restoration/ All non-asbestos fresh stock. Friendly on the phone, too.