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sk47

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Hello; Started this thread while in the middle of a frustrating automobile problem. I have a thread going about the issue and will be updating soon. I have an old car which best as I can determine has had the immobilizer system tripped. Do not know the result as yet, but after more than a month of trying to fix it myself I gave up and had the car towed to a dealer today.

This has been on my mind for a while. Decided to make a thread to get opinions. The idea is to figure which vehicle or vehicles are in a "sweet spot" of having desirable features and also having the least amount of undesirable features. Let me say up front I get my list will likely unique to my tastes. So there can be two categories of opinions. One within the scope of what I like and dislike. The other category for what ever list of features any of you you like and dislike.

So I will start with my likes list. My likes include a naturally aspirated engine, manual transmission, CD player, spare tire, R134A AC system (Note I prefer R12 but this is a moot thing now. I have one can of R12 left but no vehicle that uses it now.) fuel injection system which operates only the engine functions, remote controlled outside mirrors, variable speed windshield wipers, fog lights, sedans, coups, pickups and metal engine timing chains. There are likely some things I have left off.
The list of things I do not like include sunroofs, ultra low profile tires, turbo charged engines ( there is a background reason for this) Most of the new tech run by computer in the interior and exterior of a car such as automatic headlights I cannot turn off, the lack of vent windows especially on pickups, That the AC automatically comes on when I select defrost, traction control, lane departure, pushbutton emergency/ parking brake, SUV's, all black wheels and lately the antitheft/immobilizer systems which cannot be repaired by the owner. Things I can not entirely dislike, but am not crazy about include antilock brakes and air bags. We can discuss these if you wish.

So lets me start. I guess a stock factory model car will have to be newer than around 1995 and newer to have the R134A AC system. Not sure when the last factory CD's can be found. A 2019 Bullitt Mustang still had one. I was told by a locksmith that the police cruisers and SUV's do not have an antitheft system, but do not actually know. Some vehicles still have a spare tire but you have to check.
I have been shopping off and on the last few years and have found no new vehicle which suits. Some come close such as the Mustang GT with a manual. They are too loaded with tech but still have enough of things I like.
I have been thinking about what is called a restomod. An older chassis with select modern features.
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Balr14

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A restomod is definitely the way to go. I used to build them (we used to call them street rods) and have owned a number of others since I quit building them. My favorites are cars from the 30s and 40s, but I realize they are a lot harder to find than when I was building them. Cars from the 40s are nice because most are not too big, are relatively light weight and have lots of room for a variety of drivetrains. One of my favorites was a 47 Buick fastback coupe with a 502 Chevy. But, Buicks were pretty large and I really didn't have a good place to park it, so I couldn't keep it.

In any case, you can find a variety of restomod cars now, certainly something that will fit your taste. Check out Vanguard Motors. https://www.vanguardmotorsales.com/inventory Just for some ideas.
 
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Balr14

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I should mention that an excellent place for purchasing restomod cars is any Barrett/Jackson auction, on the first and second day, especially the first day. If you do your homework, you can score some incredible deals. But, you need an open mind. The best deals are on cars you probably never even thought of buying, like a 47 Buick with a 502. The saying goes Barrett/Jackson is the place to buy a car, Mecum is the place to sell a car.

There are always restomods for sale on BAT, too. I was seriously considering a 54 Ford pickup that sold a few days ago.

One final note... now would be a horrible time to shop. Because of COVID, inventories are low, people with money have nothing better to do and prices are sky high. Save you money and wait.
 
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sk47

sk47

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A restomod is definitely the way to go.
Hello; I know this will sound silly. So many of the restomods I find on the web are high end builds with a high price tag. The high price conflicts in two ways. First being it can be hard to justify spending more for a restomoded old chassis than I may get a new Mustang GT 350 for with a three years warranty.
The other is the reluctance to drive such a car as much as I would like. You may know how some folks brag about how their car never sees rain sort of thing. Don't know if I would become that way but think I may. I do not want to go the other way such as a rat rod sort of thing.

My favored styles mostly come from the 1950's and 60's. Of course to find a decent chassis and body will be big bucks from that era. By the time a fuel injected engine, a modern 5 or 6 speed manual, disk brakes, and decent suspension are added the final price is way up there.

In my mind of late has been a mid 90's to some early 2000 model year mustang. Ones with a factory V8 and a manual to start with. Could have some upgrades as well. Would be a car to jump in and drive in any weather.

As any who read this can tell I am not settled on what to look for and am still trying to puzzle it out. My trusty old car is in the shop for the first time in almost twenty years and may well wind up costing too much to fix. I may be out of time to think and likely will have to do something soon. I have made a dealer offers on a left over 2020 Mustang GT but he will not cut the deal I want as yet.

Thanks for the replies.
 
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sk47

sk47

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I should mention that an excellent place for purchasing restomod cars is any Barrett/Jackson auction, on the first and second day, especially the first day. If you do your homework, you can score some incredible deals. But, you need an open mind. The best deals are on cars you probably never even thought of buying, like a 47 Buick with a 502. The saying goes Barrett/Jackson is the place to buy a car, Mecum is the place to sell a car.

There are always restomods for sale on BAT, too. I was seriously considering a 54 Ford pickup that sold a few days ago.

One final note... now would be a horrible time to shop. Because of COVID, inventories are low, people with money have nothing better to do and prices are sky high. Save you money and wait.
Hello; Good advice on waiting. I see the same sort of thing.

Here is a site I look at often.

RestoMods For Sale - RestoMods.com
 

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if it weren't for the not liking SUVs, I would recommend a Bronco, either a late model 5th gen, or a 3rd gen with a few resto mod parts, like sniper EFI and late model power windows.

I currently DD an 86 w/ 351W, and also have a toy build 82 w/ a 513 bbf stroker.

could always go with something like a Ford F-1, drop the body onto a 90s-2000s ranger frame for some more modern axles and strength. a SBF stroker, can be very dd'able, or can be turned into a pretty quick straight line truck.

as for R134 systems, complete system replacements for these things can cost as little as 250 bucks.

you are not going to get a factory EFI car outside of the mid 80s where the same computers are not tied into systems all over the car. or anything after early 90s without anti-lock brakes.

best bet would be to go mid 80s or older then add/upgrade what you want
 
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if it weren't for the not liking SUVs, I would recommend a Bronco, either a late model 5th gen, or a 3rd gen with a few resto mod parts, like sniper EFI and late model power windows.

I currently DD an 86 w/ 351W, and also have a toy build 82 w/ a 513 bbf stroker.

could always go with something like a Ford F-1, drop the body onto a 90s-2000s ranger frame for some more modern axles and strength. a SBF stroker, can be very dd'able, or can be turned into a pretty quick straight line truck.

as for R134 systems, complete system replacements for these things can cost as little as 250 bucks.

you are not going to get a factory EFI car outside of the mid 80s where the same computers are not tied into systems all over the car. or anything after early 90s without anti-lock brakes.

best bet would be to go mid 80s or older then add/upgrade what you want
Hello; I have a full sized 4x4 pickup so for a second vehicle I like to keep a sedan or coupe. For a time the truck was a full sized Ford van in black. My avatar. I bought it to do carpet install. That job fell thru so I kept it and used it to pull a boat and camp. It had a 351 Windsor which spun a bearing, so I rebuilt it once.

I would prefer an older Bronco over a newer one. However the prices on the classic Broncos have really gone up much like the classic cars and lately the older pickups.
You are probably correct about the R134A conversions now. Back when the R12 was banned the stories going around were not good.

The first FI car I was around was a 1985 Honda Civic HF bought for my second wife. It had a sort of FI which was self contained and positioned like a carb. That car ran smooth and got good MPG. If I wound up with an old car with a V8 and a carb, the carb would likely be replaced with one of the newer self contained EFI systems.

My current car, a 2001 Nissan Sentra SE, does not have antilock brakes. Strange I know. I learned on drum brakes and thought disc brakes were the bigger improvement. Have anti-lock on the pickup. So far the only time it has kicked in was when I tested it on an icy road. Like some other such features they are fine while they work. But when they fail it can cost big to repair. Prime example is the anti-theft system on my current car. I may some day come to regret not having anti-lock brakes, but have not relied on them so far.
Interesting story. My brothers wife wreck a car because of the antilock brakes. Fortunately it was a low speed wreck. Someone pulled out in front of her. When she hit the brakes hard the pulsating pedal spooked her so she let off the brake pedal. Small crash followed.

An idea has been floating around in my head. Since the older classic cars and trucks are so costly, I have been thinking considering which less popular car might make a good driver.
 
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sk47

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Balr14

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The price is right and it looks to be in decent shape. But, 146k miles is a concern. I would think it needs brakes, clutch and suspension work. If there isn't any major rust issues, it shouldn't cost a fortune to deal with. Cars from that era have a lot less electronics.
 
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sk47

sk47

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The price is right and it looks to be in decent shape. But, 146k miles is a concern. I would think it needs brakes, clutch and suspension work. If there isn't any major rust issues, it shouldn't cost a fortune to deal with. Cars from that era have a lot less electronics.
Hello; that sort of work I can do, or at least I could. Getting a bit old.
 

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Hello; Started this thread while in the middle of a frustrating automobile problem. I have a thread going about the issue and will be updating soon. I have an old car which best as I can determine has had the immobilizer system tripped. Do not know the result as yet, but after more than a month of trying to fix it myself I gave up and had the car towed to a dealer today.

This has been on my mind for a while. Decided to make a thread to get opinions. The idea is to figure which vehicle or vehicles are in a "sweet spot" of having desirable features and also having the least amount of undesirable features. Let me say up front I get my list will likely unique to my tastes. So there can be two categories of opinions. One within the scope of what I like and dislike. The other category for what ever list of features any of you you like and dislike.

So I will start with my likes list. My likes include a naturally aspirated engine, manual transmission, CD player, spare tire, R134A AC system (Note I prefer R12 but this is a moot thing now. I have one can of R12 left but no vehicle that uses it now.) fuel injection system which operates only the engine functions, remote controlled outside mirrors, variable speed windshield wipers, fog lights, sedans, coups, pickups and metal engine timing chains. There are likely some things I have left off.
The list of things I do not like include sunroofs, ultra low profile tires, turbo charged engines ( there is a background reason for this) Most of the new tech run by computer in the interior and exterior of a car such as automatic headlights I cannot turn off, the lack of vent windows especially on pickups, That the AC automatically comes on when I select defrost, traction control, lane departure, pushbutton emergency/ parking brake, SUV's, all black wheels and lately the antitheft/immobilizer systems which cannot be repaired by the owner. Things I can not entirely dislike, but am not crazy about include antilock brakes and air bags. We can discuss these if you wish.

So lets me start. I guess a stock factory model car will have to be newer than around 1995 and newer to have the R134A AC system. Not sure when the last factory CD's can be found. A 2019 Bullitt Mustang still had one. I was told by a locksmith that the police cruisers and SUV's do not have an antitheft system, but do not actually know. Some vehicles still have a spare tire but you have to check.
I have been shopping off and on the last few years and have found no new vehicle which suits. Some come close such as the Mustang GT with a manual. They are too loaded with tech but still have enough of things I like.
I have been thinking about what is called a restomod. An older chassis with select modern features.
I would add that if the AC refrigerant requirement for R134A is a non-negotiable, this will eliminate many newer vehicles, even if they meet your other requirements, since many have switched to the new refrigerant type "1234yf." (This includes the current generation Mustang)

This is not just a new type of refrigerant, but applications which use it also have different service fittings, to avoid confusing the two.
 
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sk47

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I would add that if the AC refrigerant requirement for R134A is a non-negotiable, this will eliminate many newer vehicles, even if they meet your other requirements, since many have switched to the new refrigerant type "1234yf." (This includes the current generation Mustang)

This is not just a new type of refrigerant, but applications which use it also have different service fittings, to avoid confusing the two.
Hello; Shows how I have not kept up. I was not aware there has been another change. So now it is 1234yf. The additional shame will be that I have a set of the gauges with fittings for the R134A, so I guess soon enough they will be out of date. Might be time to stock up on some R134A. Thanks for the information.

I guess my thinking needs to more fully evolve. There are some old chassis restomods around that are very appealing. When they compare in price to a new vehicle it becomes more difficult to justify buying one. An example is a 57 Chevy about 30 miles away. It is listed for $55K. I can find a number of 2020 or 2021 cars for that price.
1957 4dr post - cars & trucks - by owner - vehicle automotive sale (craigslist.org)
It also has an older four speed. This could be changed to a five or six speed but when you start at 55K then the final cost colors my thinking.

Interesting how typing these comments out and reading comments from you members has become helpful. To get a car already restomoded it will have to be much less expensive to buy or already have some select features such as a five or six speed.
I also am beginning to figure 50K at the top of spending and would hope to find one with many of the main items already done. No likely for a show car but maybe an older restoration or driver quality.
 
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sk47

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1968 Mustang - cars & trucks - by owner - vehicle automotive sale (craigslist.org)
Hello; This Mustang showed up on Craiglist today. Maybe 50 miles away so close enough to go look. It is an uncompleted project. Does anyone know of a website which points out what to look for in the 60's Mustangs?
Giving up on a project may be because of numerous reasons. One may be that some sort of serious structural issue was found such as rust. Or even just too many panels are rusty. So I have determined one more criteria. I have redone old vehicles which were rusty and do not want to get into that again.
Added to my criteria of will be little or no rust repair. I also want a driver and not a show car. Not a rat rod either. Maybe a ten to fifteen foot driver.

Do not spend too much time or energy on a reply as this is an idea in progress for me.
 
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