Will the Cadillac XLR be a Collectible?

[padgett]

Well I found it useful what had a '70 Westphalia. Even bought the RVEECO oil cooler for crossing the Rockies from Texas one hot summer.

[1912Staver]

20 hours ago, 60FlatTop said:

When I was a kid a lot of people were just brimming over with stories about the problems with this or that car, what you should and shouldn't do, and stories repeated so many times the teller thought it actually happened to them. I figured out pretty quick that I needed to buy tools and read books. I have been quite independent about what cars I bought and servicing them. Collectibility of a car relies on one question, "Do I want it?"

 

About 15 years ago I bought my first of two Jaguar XJS V12's. Not a brilliant idea, even to me at the time. But I had to have it. The early 2000's. The last XJS 12 was about ten years old. During that time owners had experienced every problem, resolved them, and even learned how to avoid them. And it was all published and shared online: http://www.nettally.com/palmk/jaguar.html

Discovering the Kirby Palm book opened up the path to all the online pooled experience for anything I wanted. Even an XLR and how to build a bullet proof Northstar.

 

I have the information, though some needs sorting from time to time, and collectibility is at my discretion.

 

 

For many years I have been involved with cheap end Lotus cars. Mostly the long unloved Europa but also the once cheapest of all Lotus Cortina.

  Europa's were for decades very cheap because they had a ton of problems.  A Renault sourced powerplant with several handicaps , too much compression for one as Lotus wanted a fairly high power output at a very low unit cost. So Renault took the basic inline valve engine from their low performance economy R16 and bumped the compression to 10.25, slightly  hotter cam , etc. and boosted the power by some 30% to a acceptable sports car figure. 

  Lots of other cost cutting as well including a rather so-so rear suspension configuration.  Performance and road holding was great, however reliability was very poor.  Because they were on paper at least a very promising design when the owners finally ran out of patience trying to keep them running they were often pushed into a corner of the garage or a shed rather than being scrapped. Values however became very low except for the later cars with Lotus's own twin cam engine.

  Eventually the more enthusiastic owners developed a number of fixes for a promising but flawed little orphan.  The best solution involved an entire aftermarket chassis {Spyder or Banks} and a swap to Toyota 4AGE power however the car is finally able to live up to its potential.

  The Renault engine is not a dead end either as the short block is nearly identical to what is used in A110 Alpines and some Gordini's. Substitute Renaults hemi crossflow head and associated parts and the Renault unit also can come into its own.  Only drawback is that the Alpine is a $75,000.00 on a bad day car , many Gordini's only a little cheaper, and the better Renault parts are priced to compete in this market rather than the $20,000.00 range of a average Europa. 

My point is that if a given car has intrinsic merits and  can generate a sufficiently resourceful fan base then many basic flaws can be worked around. It also helps that around 11,000 Europa's were built and a decent percentage survive. 

  It looks like XLR production was slightly larger so they may have a chance long term. They are also a vastly more complicated car compared to a Europa so I suspect far more owners will ultimately give up on them and they will end up in the wreckers.  Only time will tell.

 

Greg in Canada

Edited February 17, 2019 by 1912Staver (see edit history)

[padgett]

I autocrossed a Cortina for a while, had a bad habit on a high speed corner of hiking the inside rear tire and just spinning forever. Then again was at Sebring one year happily sleeping on the timing corner under my Jag when morning practice opened and Jimmy Clark came blasting by in a Cortina closely followed by Freddy Lorenzen in a thundering GN Ford both about 20 feet from my head.. Was wide awake quickly.

 

About the same number of XLRs as Reattas.

 

Modern cars are like chess games: the functions are not that complicated just are A Lot of them. That is why it is needful to use proper instrumentation to perform triage first and have the proper documentation.

 

Instrumentation: I have Torque Pro, an Autel Diaglink with the GM module, and Tech2Win with a dongle. Plus things like a set of noids, fuel pressure gauge that connects to the rail, and a gaggle of mechanical gauges. Plus a lift.

 

Documentation: Service and Parts manual on DVD, Service manual in .pdfs that gives me the document numbers for the big one. Set of user manuals in .pdf. Assorted component manuals (e.g. nav).

 

Also helps that the top mechanism has a lot in common with my SLKs (same manufacturer and why it sticks way up there in the middle of the air.)

 

Am not really concerned about maintenance and know where there is a big parts supply.

 

So hope people are worried about maintenance and being trapped inside, just waiting to find the right one for the right price (not black and not -V)

 

Only real issue is that even as late as 2011 GM still had not figured out Bluetooth while the Chrysler U-Connect of the same period is great.

[1912Staver]

3 hours ago, padgett said:

I autocrossed a Cortina for a while, had a bad habit on a high speed corner of hiking the inside rear tire and just spinning forever. Then again was at Sebring one year happily sleeping on the timing corner under my Jag when morning practice opened and Jimmy Clark came blasting by in a Cortina closely followed by Freddy Lorenzen in a thundering GN Ford both about 20 feet from my head.. Was wide awake quickly.

 

About the same number of XLRs as Reattas.

 

Modern cars are like chess games: the functions are not that complicated just are A Lot of them. That is why it is needful to use proper instrumentation to perform triage first and have the proper documentation.

 

Instrumentation: I have Torque Pro, an Autel Diaglink with the GM module, and Tech2Win with a dongle. Plus things like a set of noids, fuel pressure gauge that connects to the rail, and a gaggle of mechanical gauges. Plus a lift.

 

Documentation: Service and Parts manual on DVD, Service manual in .pdfs that gives me the document numbers for the big one. Set of user manuals in .pdf. Assorted component manuals (e.g. nav).

 

Also helps that the top mechanism has a lot in common with my SLKs (same manufacturer and why it sticks way up there in the middle of the air.)

 

Am not really concerned about maintenance and know where there is a big parts supply.

 

So hope people are worried about maintenance and being trapped inside, just waiting to find the right one for the right price (not black and not -V)

 

Only real issue is that even as late as 2011 GM still had not figured out Bluetooth while the Chrysler U-Connect of the same period is great.

 

 

The need for all that diagnostic gear plus the knowledge of how to properly use it is why my auto-x er looks like this

 

and not like this.

 

 

 

The first picture is not my car, mine is a very similar  l.h.d.. homebuilt knock off that is all apart at the moment. The original builder took some shortcuts on things like steering rack position and steering column routing. I am now making it to my liking. Mine has the same simple little Ford X - flow on Weber's . My entire electric system battery and starter motor excluded would fit in a  shoe box.

 

Easy to work on so I can concentrate on driving. And a fraction of cost of my Formula Ford "real race car".

 

Greg in Canada

Edited February 18, 2019 by 1912Staver (see edit history)

[padgett]

Did I mention that a long career in electronics and computers pays for my hobby ? Now I can combine both.