I've been looking and dreaming (since recent posts have been on that particular subject) about getting an old late-60s Camaro or Mustang, or maybe a Firebird, and restoring it. Remember when you could pick up a beat-up one for not much dough? I sure do...but the more I think about it, the more I think that particular phrase, "Remember when?" is the whole problem.
We got lots and lots of Baby Boomers growing older now, who have lots of disposable income, the nostalgia for their high school days, and time to tinker with restoring a car from that era. Couple that with a booming economy and that disposable income thing only increases for those folks who are right at the pinnacle of their careers (or slightly past) and are coasting home to retirement now. (I'm convinced the Harley craze has the same roots, actually.)
So what does this mean? It means that finding a decent car to start with is more difficult than ever. Ebay has lots of them, and here are your options. First, you can either get a fully restored one from anywhere between $30K and $100K, depending on the model. I sure don't have that kind of cash to drop; but there are even companies now that specialize in financing for classic cars. Next, you can look at something that actually has an engine and transmission, but even beat-up ones will cost you between $7-12K, from my research. Third, you can go for something around $2-3K, but don't expect an engine or transmission (or even a full body or wheels in some cases).
So I might be going in another direction, at least for myself. Heidi is set on a late-60s Camaro, and I sure can't blame her, so there's definitely one in our future somewhere. I guess that needs to be added to my Goals list. I, on the other hand, might be looking to restore/build up a model of my first car, a 1980 Mustang coupe in light medium blue with a hot little 3.3L straight-6 and an automatic transmission. I know you can get those cheap, even running. Lots of them available, and even specimens in good shape are only $2-3K. Even better, the engines aren't the all-electronic, super-fuel-injected monstrosities you see today. My old Mustang still had a carburetor, a distributor cap, easy-to-reach spark plugs, and enough room in the engine compartment to get around and reach thing. I had to manually set the engine timing with a timing light, something Dad and I did a couple of times. Ah, the good old days...do you remember when?
I've just been a posting fool today, haven't I? Three posts in one day? That's unprecedented. Thanks for reading along.
No comments:
Post a Comment