is this a fair price for a 68 olds 98?

[Guest classic.car.fan]

i am thinking of picking this up. 1968 olds 98. runs, needs new carb has a rocket 455. looks rough (especially the passenger side) interior looks great price is $1000 what do you guys think? is this a good deal?:confused:

[Guest Commodore]

Well how much rust does it have? That is important because fixing rust is expense and time consuming. One way of looking at this is if you had to put 5000 to 10,000 dollars in to it would you be will to do it. It could cost that much if it needs lots of mechanical work, rust repair and paint. You need to get rough idea what needs to be fixed and the cost.

[Guest classic.car.fan]

it does not have that much rust. just has some on the passenger side where the dents are and its nothing that bad. other then that no rust.

[alsancle]

Honestly. yes. That car could be free and you would be under the ocean the day he signed the title over to you. If you want a 4 door, find the best one in the world and pay the 5k.

[supersix]

i am thinking of picking this up. 1968 olds 98. runs, needs new carb has a rocket 455. looks rough (especially the passenger side) interior looks great price is $1000 what do you guys think? is this a good deal?

Have you seen the car? You can't put a value on a car by looking at pictures. A personal inspection is the only way.

[GLong]

The most important thing about inexpensive cars is : What are you buying it for?? As the start of a restoration? or just a neat old acre of sheet metal to drive around in? Once you get under about $2000, if it runs, will provide transportation for a year or more without throwing a bunch of money at it.. then, yes it's a good deal.

My thinking is based on what a car costs to buy and keep for say ? 5 years.. how much has the car lost in value.? I used to use $1000 per year.. well that's in the past.. now it's more like $2-3000 per year.. There are exceptions of course.. But if you go out an buy an average car say at $25,000 that is already used, and say a year old, with 20,000miles on the odo. How much will that car be worth in 5 years with 100,000K on the odometer? $10,000? $15,000? doubtful, I'm guessing around $5000-$8000. So lets just be generous and say it lost $3000 per year.

Or maybe you should think that it provided you transportation for $3000 per year.

So, back to the Olds 98, for $1000, will you have to put tires on it? brakes? muffler? waterpump or Alternator? battery ??

IF the car is a fairly well maintained car, and doesn't need much over the next few years.. $1000 is cheap.. IF that's the kind of car you want to drive.

I will warn you, don't expect more than 10mpg around town and maybe, just maybe 15-18mpg on the highway, at a leisurely 60-65 mph. That's a big engine and that's a lot of car to accelerate and stop. So it ain't cheap to drive..

BUT.. hey, it's a great big old barge, an acre of sheetmetal, and that's pretty cool at times.. But parking can be a challenge.. LOL.

Go look at it, look it over like a mechanic.. what's wrong, broken, worn etc.. Does it start and run smooth, is the oil full and clean or low and black and gooey-thick? Remove a valve cover oil fill cap look in the valve cover, is it all full of sludge and muck,or is it fairly clean, just oily?

$1000 is hard to beat for a hunk of fun old transportation, as long as it doesn't empty your wallet every month or two with repairs.

GLong

[Rusty_OToole]

Some good responses here. It all depends what you want to do with it.If it checked out not too bad, and didn't have too many miles I would buy it, do some minimal repairs to keep it looking and running decent, like fix the fender and repaint it but not repaint the whole car. Then clean it up, drive it and enjoy it.

Another thing. If you don't buy it who will? That kind of car usually gets scrapped. You can save it from that fate. You should also be able to buy it for scrap price or not much more. I guess $1000 is not a lot of money these days but scrap price would be more like $300. I would try to buy it between $300 and $1000.

If you want to get into old cars, and learn to do your own repairs, that is cheap entertainment. You can learn a lot from a car like that.

[Guest classic.car.fan]

Have you seen the car? You can't put a value on a car by looking at pictures. A personal inspection is the only way.

i have not seen it yet. i am just going on what the person told me. i am going to take a look at it this week.

[Guest classic.car.fan]

Some good responses here. It all depends what you want to do with it.If it checked out not too bad, and didn't have too many miles I would buy it, do some minimal repairs to keep it looking and running decent, like fix the fender and repaint it but not repaint the whole car. Then clean it up, drive it and enjoy it.

Another thing. If you don't buy it who will? That kind of car usually gets scrapped. You can save it from that fate. You should also be able to buy it for scrap price or not much more. I guess $1000 is not a lot of money these days but scrap price would be more like $300. I would try to buy it between $300 and $1000.

If you want to get into old cars, and learn to do your own repairs, that is cheap entertainment. You can learn a lot from a car like that.

i was planning on just driving it as is for now. and painting it a bit like you said. the car has 230.000 miles. definitely on the high side. i am going to see if he is willing to sell it for less.

[smithbrother]

Sorry, but looks like a money pit.

I would bet lots of issues you can't see from pictures, or from info from a friend.

230,000 miles means lots and lots of possible needed parts, I doubt a carb is going to make it a driver. IMO

Dale in Indy

[ted sweet]

no more than 500

[Dandy Dave]

Too many miles me thinks. With that said, a lot of carburetors can be fixed with a good cleaning and a rebuild kit. Dandy Dave!

[whtbaron]

I'd pick it up and drive it as a beater until something expensive broke, then keep my eyes peeled for a sweet 2 door hard top of the same model and vintage. This could be a good parts car for the 2 door when your done with it.

[Guest classic.car.fan]

no more than 500

owner will not sell it for any less then 1000. i think i might pass. i'm going to look at the car in a few days so will see.

[Matt Harwood]

Please don't take this the wrong way, but over the past few weeks, we've seen you scrambling to get a few other marginally beat up old cars running and struggling with them. Adding yet another car with zero financial upside and in need of major work when you're already spreading yourself thin over other projects seems like a major mistake to me. Take the money that you'd spend on this car and A) put it into one of the other projects, put it in the bank and keep adding to it so you can buy something nice and worthwhile, or C) sell everything, add this $1000 to the pile, and get something worthwhile.

Your enthusiasm is great, but I've seen way too many guys (my father being one of them) go after volume instead of quality and it's ALWAYS a mistake. One great car is better than 10 crappy ones unless you just like telling people that you own 10 cars, in which case, knock yourself out. But if I were you, I'd stop buying cars until I had the ones already in my care up and running and/or properly disposed of.

PS: That Olds is worth whatever the scrap guy will pay per pound...

Edited April 7, 2014 by Matt Harwood (see edit history)

[Guest classic.car.fan]

Please don't take this the wrong way, but over the past few weeks, we've seen you scrambling to get a few other marginally beat up old cars running and struggling with them. Adding yet another car with zero financial upside and in need of major work when you're already spreading yourself thin over other projects seems like a major mistake to me. Take the money that you'd spend on this car and A) put it into one of the other projects, put it in the bank and keep adding to it so you can buy something nice and worthwhile, or C) sell everything, add this $1000 to the pile, and get something worthwhile.

Your enthusiasm is great, but I've seen way too many guys (my father being one of them) go after volume instead of quality and it's ALWAYS a mistake. One great car is better than 10 crappy ones unless you just like telling people that you own 10 cars, in which case, knock yourself out. But if I were you, I'd stop buying cars until I had the ones already in my care up and running and/or properly disposed of.

PS: That Olds is worth whatever the scrap guy will pay per pound...

Thanks for your input. i do not take it the wrong way at all. sometimes i bite off more then i can chew. i agree with you. although my lincoln mark V is not beat up and i think it is worthwhile. anyway i agree with what you said. i am probably not going buy the olds. i will instead put the money into my mark V.

Edited April 7, 2014 by classic.car.fan (see edit history)

[Rusty_OToole]

At that price with that many miles I would not touch it. I find it hard to believe it has had that much use and the interior shows so little wear. The driver's seat should have been beat to death by the time it hit 100,000 not to mention wear on the steering wheel, door hinges, etc etc.

[Dandy Dave]

Please don't take this the wrong way, but over the past few weeks, we've seen you scrambling to get a few other marginally beat up old cars running and struggling with them. Adding yet another car with zero financial upside and in need of major work when you're already spreading yourself thin over other projects seems like a major mistake to me. Take the money that you'd spend on this car and A) put it into one of the other projects, put it in the bank and keep adding to it so you can buy something nice and worthwhile, or C) sell everything, add this $1000 to the pile, and get something worthwhile.

Your enthusiasm is great, but I've seen way too many guys (my father being one of them) go after volume instead of quality and it's ALWAYS a mistake. One great car is better than 10 crappy ones unless you just like telling people that you own 10 cars, in which case, knock yourself out. But if I were you, I'd stop buying cars until I had the ones already in my care up and running and/or properly disposed of.

PS: That Olds is worth whatever the scrap guy will pay per pound...

As a Guy with too many projects myself, I could not agree more. You hit the Nail on the head Matt. Dandy Dave!