Chicago or bust

Off to Chicago to look at a CL find.....

Picking up Bewber in the am and heading out for a quick drive there have a look see and possibly drive back with a replacement for the defunct Caballero....

pictures may follow

fingers are crossed that it will be more than a sight seeing tour... and the car meets its CL listing and is as good in person as it is in the pictures....

Good luck Pat!

I am hoping for photos!

THe photos look good but CL one's always do... Hope it works out for ya Pat, it was a sweet deal if as represented.

Fingers crossed Pat!

Good luck Pat!

This it? http://chicago.craigslist.org/chc/cto/2463982573.html

Good luck Pat.

Cool................

Well.......we're waiting!

200OZ wrote:

This it? http://chicago.craigslist.org/chc/cto/2463982573.html

Good luck Pat.

nope

this was it

http://chicago.craigslist.org/chc/cto/2460732125.html

the pictures in the add though blurry must have been taken five years ago when the car first arrived from Reno Nevada, and that car hasn't moved from that curb since.... it's been pelted with with road salt from the passing salt trucks, possibly even scrapped once by the blade of the plow. the window tint in the driver's door is no longer there.

It's been a long day but it was fun....

Next CL listing if you please Mr Mike.

going to bed night

http://houston.craigslist.org/cto/2467548608.html - Malibu Wagon

Or I can ask Mitch if he's ready to part with this. He loves his new Chrysler 300 and has basically abandoned this old girl:

The front fender was a differnet shade of pink, the "little bubbling of the paint by the trim" was a line of rust along it's entirety that varied from 1/2" to 1" in height, the rear quarter panel had a big dent with a hard crease, the wheel skirt was very rusty, and that poppin white vinyl top was the color of mud...... and we didn't even get out to see the passenger side.

We literally didn't even slow down long enough to take a picture - it was that bad and looked that UN-roadworthy.

LONG day, but not wasted though. Got to roadtrip with a bud and experience THE most wicked lightning storms I've ever seen during the day. 2pm and it looked like 10pm outside, lightning EVERYWHERE and thunder was crackin' so close it was shaking/vibrating the car. The monsoon was so relentless that the streets were flooded above the curbs in some spots. It was almost sureal.

Kinda funny though, we had a waitress give us directions to bypass the highway trafffic jam, which she did with the the clarifier of, "but I have to warn you that it's not a very nice neighborhood in some parts." I just smiled and said, "We just left the south side of Chicago and we're headed back to Flint where I live." She seemed much more comfortable with her directions then with, "Oh. Well pfffffft, you guys'll be fine then."

81X11 wrote:

Or I can ask Mitch if he's ready to part with this. He loves his new Chrysler 300 and has basically abandoned this old girl:

i would so drive this car with a duramax or 6bt,. and add the white vinyl roof,.mine was a baby blue color with white roof,.(75)

Nick

Bummer about the car turning out to be a POS.....

Bewb, that sounds like the afternoon 'showers' we have been getting all week. We got about 4 inches in less than 2hrs yesterday.

Mike, that is pretty much what Pat's looking for, although he'd really like a 71-73 where the rear windows drop too.

Bewber did dig up a 73 electra 225 coupe in LAB with a Navy blue vinyl roof and it was straight and clean, typical rust issues around the vinyl roof's trim/trunk filler panel. the floors and frame had light surface rust but no issues, the wheel wells looked clean and issue free.
it's interior has had it's cloth seating surfaces replaced but they used an un UV rated cloth that the sun has dried and made brittle, so they would need to be redone, the door panels looked nice on first inspection but they too had been previously repaired, but not well done.

Did not get to hear it run, but may go back and look it over when I have more time.

this 225 coupe is a 4-5 out of 10, it needs paint, interior work, and a new vinyl top to be brought up to where I would be happy with it.

but the 2995 asking price would have to come down to a third to make it worth it, after all what's a 73 225 coupe worth in pristine condition?

If I were Corvo I would just peel off the top satin black the whole car and grind up some wide whites and let bewber flame it......then sell it!

An associate of mine bought 2 Cadillac Coupe de Ville's and wasn't even looking for one. Of course, they were nowhere near pristine, just old original cars.

I think one was a '75 and the other a '76. He daily drove the '75 for a while before overheating it enough to pop a headgasket.

Before that happened, he had a little "incident" involving the Cadillac and an Xterra and wet roads. Suffice to say there was a T-bone collision and he ended up having to pay several hundred dollars to the owner of the Xterra for repairs. Cadillac needed no repairs.

Nice cars, I hope you find a good one.

Thanks guys I know good ones are out there, I just want a clean survivour with no issues, a turn key cruiser

www.cadillacforums.com

Surf, enjoy. Travel and buy.

Ok found something, Local, Low miles, original paint and interior, all chrome and glas is in great condition, and it was cheap I like hearing the wives in the back ground bitching about that old f---ing car taking up garage space.... I got if for less than half his asking price
it has a new gas tank, new rad, new battery, new brakes....it's been locked away after the original owner's death in 77 and bought from the estate 2 years ago by the guy I bought it from!

Better be cheap. Rusty four doors aren't worth much!

lol, congrats. It's unique, and that is a good thing. Looking forward to seeing what you do with it.

jayoldschool wrote:

Better be cheap. Rusty four doors aren't worth much!

lol, congrats. It's unique, and that is a good thing. Looking forward to seeing what you do with it.

Floors are solid, as is the trunk!

Pat my neighbor had one of those when I was a kid.Same color and interior.Remember it well getting stuck in the snow on our hill.She got so frustrated she walked home and left it sitting
in the snow for her husband to dig out.
JEG

Cool! That's John Gustofson's car from Grumpy Old Men.

How appropriate!

Bitchin score!

If I were a Flameologist, I'd write you the following prescription:

Below the trim = Metal flake gold with satin black flames the length of the car.

Above the trim = Satin black with metallic gold flames covering both the hood and roof.

Everything pinstriped out with a fat white stripe.

But that's just me.

wow,..

Long way from a rust fee texas car,.insurance money must have been eating a hole in your pocket,.
On the ugly scale,. its getting high numbers,
I personally don't see what fun that car would bring me,.
but then again it's now your car,.
have fun.

Nick

Nice! I like those old boxy looking Elwood Engel designed Chryslers. They have a slab-sided look that's very "mod". This re-styling was very popular at the time, and boosted Chrysler's full size sales. I am surprised that you bought this kind of car in this kind shape though. I thought you were looking for a real mint luxury or sporty type thing. So what are your plans for it?

Oh, what year is it?

So boring. So plain. So UGLY...



I love it. Cool score.

Olds Weighty Eight wrote:

Cool! That's John Gustofson's car from Grumpy Old Men.

that's a 68 not a 67, and I'm not OLD!

phantom 309 wrote:

wow,..

Long way from a rust fee texas car,.insurance money must have been eating a hole in your pocket,.
On the ugly scale,. its getting high numbers,
I personally don't see what fun that car would bring me,.
but then again it's now your car,.
have fun.

Nick

Nick,
Didn't you know that ugly is the new cool!
I didn't even touch the insurance money for this one

Clean set of roadrunner rallys would look good with a set of goodyear polyglas GTs,size G70x14s.
Jim Gordon

buickestate wrote:

Nick,
Didn't you know that ugly is the new cool!

No,. there's something i can't learn,.new cool anything is one of them,.

Nick

New, old, whatever. We're gonna put enough lipstick on that pig to make it way cooler than it ever wanted to be.

I like that philosophy.

Bewber wrote:

New, old, whatever. We're gonna put enough lipstick on that pig to make it way cooler than it ever wanted to be.

Perhaps,. cool or gaudy, impossible to change one to the other i think,..

Nick

buickestate wrote:

................... and I'm not OLD!

I am not sure about that Pat......

BigBlackBeaSSt wrote:

buickestate wrote:

................... and I'm not OLD!

I am not sure about that Pat......

don't you have a wagon to wash?

Gotta go nap......

Bewber wrote:

New, old, whatever. We're gonna put enough lipstick on that pig to make it way cooler than it ever wanted to be.

LMAO Lorne you rock dude!!!!!!
JEG

Look what I found near me:

1981 GMC El Caballero

phantom 309 wrote:

Bewber wrote:

New, old, whatever. We're gonna put enough lipstick on that pig to make it way cooler than it ever wanted to be.

Perhaps,. cool or gaudy, impossible to change one to the other i think,..

Nick

I'm totally comfortable with gaudy.

Bewber wrote:

phantom 309 wrote:

Bewber wrote:

New, old, whatever. We're gonna put enough lipstick on that pig to make it way cooler than it ever wanted to be.

Perhaps,. cool or gaudy, impossible to change one to the other i think,..

Nick

I'm totally comfortable with gaudy.

HAha!! yes,. yes you are,.

Nick

That old dodge drive great, engine runs real good, none of the typical lifter noise most slant 6's make. Nice and smooth, no noises, feels like a 47000mile car from 67 should.

Keeps up with traffic though with the armstrong steering and non power brakes I don't want to keep up with traffic that much. They can drive around me!

Power brakes and steering are on my list of mods for this one.

Time to start cleaning up the dodge, 43 years of grime! Mike can you come up here for a week or so?
Before shots








After shots

Holy crow! the engine was painted red? Who knew!

I can see Mike now:


You call those AFTER shots?! Oh heavens to Betsy!

Ok you asked for a story, so here we go.

When my parents got married in 1970 my Dad was in the ROTC and was graduating from Arkansas State University, and the military was sending him to Hawaii for training, and then onto Vietnam. Mom and Dad were married right after graduation.

Dad had a 1963 Nova SS hardtop, and my Mom had a 1962 Nova non-SS convertible. (Dad always loved Novas). They sold Mom's convertible and were planning to ship the SS to Hawaii, but my Uncle gave my parents his 2-year-old 68 Polara 4dr hardtop as a wedding gift, so in his words, they would have a "real" car to start out with (He bought a new car every two years, like clockwork).

My father is not a Chrysler guy, but was still impressed with the Polara. It was a loaded car, nearly to Monoco levels. It had all power options, the 383 with the big 4brl, and was a blue-green color with black vinyl top and black interior. He said it would really run too.

Dad put his 63 SS in storage at his parents house, and he and Mom drove the Polara from Jonesboro Arkansas to San Francisco, where Dad was due to ship out in a month. They made a trip of it, neither of them having seen the west before, and feeling like they'd "escaped" Arkansas.

The trip was uneventful except for one part, which is a story Dad loves to tell. That Polara had really tall gearing, it was a great road car. Dad said he fell asleep in the back seat in the Arizona desert with Mom driving. The road was flat and smooth, and there was NOTHING out there. For people that grew up in a thickly wooded and farming state, it was kind of eerie. Also, with nothing beside the road, and the road being straight and flat, it felt like you were barely moving, even when going 75mph. Without things flying by you, you lose that sense of speed.

ANYWAY he said he woke up a while later and it felt like they were going really fast with his head on the seat. He looked up front, and the speedometer was buried above 120mph. My Mom was singing to the radio, totally clueless as to how fast she was going. He asked if she was in a hurry, she started, looked down and realized how fast she was going, and Dad said she hit the brakes hard enough to nearly throw him in the floorboard. Ha!

The military shipped the Polara from San Francisco to Hawaii. Dad said it was a really good car. Mom says it's the only car that ever told them goodnight. You see they lived in the married barracks, which was a small apartment with a carport below it. The Polara sat in the carport directly below their bed, and when Dad would come home, they'd eat and sack out, and sometime soon after that the cooling car would make a loud "Tick" or "Ping" noise, usually a couple of times.....that was the Polara telling them good night.

Yes my parents are dorks....just like me.

-Mike