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American cars a love/hate thing.


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Posted

It would be an adventure at least. Finding a few steel pre-40s bodies for the hot rod folks would be £££ s too. Doubt they're very common though.

Posted

American cars in rural England are a bit prone to lingering deaths rotting in the front gardens of 1960s estate houses or the back gardens of scruffy farms. In urban England likewise, they wait for love in the corners of truck yards and the car parks of the sort of pub that advertises how big it's TV screens are.

 

Why aren't they looked after or sold on when the dream fades if they are so valuable here?

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Posted

Because they're bought by people like me, who buy at the very bottom of the market and then don't have quite enough income to cherish them the way they deserve?

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Posted

That LeSlobbre would likely bring $1500-2000 here. With a 99% chance of it being lowridered. Apparently the fact it has no inspection papers hurts its value in Germany. For 107 euros, that's a steal...for now anyway.

 

Add transport, customs etc. and some profit. Plus the unfavourably low Euro atm, which is almost 1/1 to the Dollar.

I expect the car to sell in the €2,500 - 3,000 range (let's see how right/wrong I am).

It would be listed for about the same on leboncoin.fr as well, same goes for Sweden.

But in the UK, such cars are usually listed for £5k! Just skim ebay.co.uk for old US chod and you'll see what I mean.

I've never seen one being sold, mind you.

My guess is that there are other channels in the UK where this kind of cars are traded, I just haven't found it out yet.

The other big problem in the UK is, that these cars don't remain original for long.

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Posted

Yes: internally between club members, and externally via signs in the window at shows.

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Posted

I'm really liking American cars at the mo, if I were to get rid of the beetle it would be replaced with some 70's yank shite!

Posted

Are there recommended sites on the internet to look for american cars in the US? Or just ebaymotors.com?

Posted

Hauserplenty will no doubt be along with a more comprehensive list, but ebaymotors, Hemming's and Craigslist would be good places to start looking.

Posted

Yes: internally between club members, and externally via signs in the window at shows.

Pa_Otherhalf swears there's approximately* a million old American motors slowly degenerating in garages across Tayside and Angus from the USAF days. That's how they change hands allegedly: someone gives up not bothering to restore one and the next person gets a go. And so on.

Although, he's certain that there were more running years ago, pre-internet. By a combination of cannibalising and helpful USAF staff.

The impression I've got from him, is that people maybe weren't as precious about the cars (and pickups etc) then as they are now.

 

That green Dodge is a sweetie Eddy. I'd potter along in that. No hurries, no worries.

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Posted

Yes: internally between club members, and externally via signs in the window at shows.

 

So one has to go to those stupid US car shows what with toy pistols and cowboy hats and tattooed old hags in pettycoats and Mickey Mouse t-shirts,

while some rockabilly is blasted via a PA?

 

I rather buy another 405.

Posted

Not necessarily... one can go to the other shows too, US cars do turn up there.  You know, the ones with fields full of red MGBs, and rivet-counters crawling all over Alvises...

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Posted

Yeah, I know what you mean. Where people surround their Morstin Oxbridges with all kinds of billboards written full of zzzzzz while they sit on folding chairs behind their car all day.

Posted

I think with US cars in the UK, most of the people who want them and buy them do so with the best intentions but either can't or won't put in the work or pay for the work when it comes down to it.

They love having a big old slice of Americana and standing out etc but they underestimate the fact that these cars (more so the older ones) need looking after well in this shitty country.

Most imports are from so called 'dry states' which means once here in the wettest country in the world they do really need under sealing properly and filling with waxoyl, if not they quickly start deteriorating. Then it becomes a ball ache trying to sort it out. Then something mechanical needs doing and they can't be arsed finding/importing/paying for the part(s). So in the end it gets left somewhere to rot or gather dust.

I was watching the banger racing at arena Essex once and there was a big 65 Cadillac being raced. It still had it's number plate on so later I ran it through the DVLA vehicle check thing online.

This thing was built in 65, imported in 89 then taken off the road about a year later never to return to it. Then it was destroyed in 2015.

Why would you do that? The money it must of cost to buy and bring over then interest gets lost and it's wasted. There's loads of cars that suffer the same sort of fate too. I guess the trick is to get in there and buy it before the banger boys do, which tends to be easier said than done!

If someone else had bought my Mercury and imported it, then found the engine was knackered would they of spent the time and money I did fixing it? It's pretty unlikely I think. So what then? It gets dumped in a garden to rot, bangered, turned into some hideous hot rod?

 

With regards to shows, I don't go to many car shows period and I've never once taken a car to one. But, if I do go I flat out ignore all the bollocks like music, flags, stupid hats and hillbilly line dancing. I look at the cars and that's all.

This is where most are bought and sold. Through clubs, word of mouth by members etc. Ebay is a shit place to try to value stuff like old cars, there's too many piss takers and chancers ramping up the prices because they know it's the first place most people will go to look for one.

Posted

Tank you, Boyce...

 

California cars have the least rust so if you look on cl, best to look there.

 

Also: www.autotrader.com

 

WWW.zoomautos.com

 

WWW.carmax.com

 

...dat wuz a bitchin' boss soul...

Posted

I'm finding it hard to resist that crown vic police car for sale in Fife for 2 grand. I'd de-patrol car it and make it an interceptor look though.

Good, that'll stop me doing the same thing. Delivery service available...

 

Edit:-Just checked the mileage, 400k+ Ooft.

Posted

I'm finding it hard to resist that crown vic police car for sale in Fife for 2 grand. I'd de-patrol car it and make it an interceptor look though.

What is the "interceptor" look?

Posted

Coming to a town near you soon!

 

Here are some crappy cell phone pictures of chod sitting at the shipping company near me, waiting to be dispatched to new owners everywhere.

post-19583-0-27492300-1453583393_thumb.jpgpost-19583-0-64691000-1453583430_thumb.jpgpost-19583-0-88693100-1453583454_thumb.jpg

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Posted

Edit:-Just checked the mileage, 400k+ Ooft.

Pffft 400k!  The thing is barely run in!  I pulled parts off an '02 recently that had 566,000 on it.

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Posted

American cars have always been very conservatively engineered. For me the best period is the 1930's through to the mid-1950's, after which quality suffered big time due to the need to stimulate a saturated market through planned obsolescence. In a nutshell, consumer goods including cars were designed to break, and the yearly model change existed purely to convince folk that their car was 'old'. I've never been a fan of GM due to their questionable business ethics; instead I favour the smaller 'independents' such as Studebaker, Packard, Kaiser and Graham-Paige. My ideal would be a late 'Thirties Studebaker Coupe or large Packard.

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Posted

Because they're bought by people like me, who buy at the very bottom of the market and then don't have quite enough income to cherish them the way they deserve?

And me.  Also fashions change.  Back in the day no-one wanted knackered old 50's pick ups covered in rust and sweat - now no-one wants anything else.

Posted

I once occidentally ran two small dogs over at once whilst I was driving a C4 Corvette I borrowed from a mates car lot in Birkenhead. 

 

I'm happy to report that both the dogs and the Corvette survived the experience.

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