Title: LIttle Progressives Source:
[None] URL Source:[None] Published:Nov 22, 2013 Author:A K A Stone Post Date:2013-11-22 15:52:41 by A K A Stone Keywords:None Views:7750 Comments:20
We,the people should NOT torture anyone for crimes. If they need to be executed,we should execute them in a humane way,but we don't want to become the very thing we are fighting against.
I just found a 1962 Buick Invicta Convertible. Not bad shape, runs and drives quite well. New top, interior looks great. Factory air. Guys asking $6300. NADA is roughly twice that and they only made them for 2 years.
I just found a 1962 Buick Invicta Convertible. Not bad shape, runs and drives quite well. New top, interior looks great. Factory air. Guys asking $6300.
Sounds like a hell of a buy to me,BUT before *I* would spend 6+ grand on a 1962 car I would go over the body pretty good with a magnet to see how much plastic I could find under the paint,and I would put it up on a lift and look for rust holes and patches from underneath.
A local guy and his wife just spent 21 thousand bucks for a 56 Chevy 2 door sedan that looks great from 15 feet,but you can actually see the bondo under the paint when you get up close. When you get under it you can see the galvanized "patch panels" that were installed using sheet metal screws. The car is a total rust bucket,and 2 grand was too much money for it. They don't care because all they care about is having something shiny to take to car shows,and to people who don't know what they are looking at,it does look good.
If you don't feel competent to do this checking yourself,have a local body shop check it for you,as well as a local garage. They money you pay you can most likely get back by getting the seller to lower his price if you do decide to buy it.
I have seen cars sold that were so slapped together the guy selling them had used newspapers shoved down on the insides of the trunk so the body plastic wouldn't fall right through when he "fixed" the quarter panels using bondo and newspapers instead of spending another 200 bucks to cut away the rust and weld a new quarterpanel in. BTW,check to make sure this car has either a 401 or 425 cubic inch Buick "nailhead" engine in it before you buy it. If it doesn't,it's not an original car,and not worth anywhere near as much money as an original.
BTW,I LOVE nailhead Buick engines. Torque monsters that get good gas mileage,and are just about indestructible.
Yeah,the little valves keep them from making big hp numbers over 6,000 rpm,but they do help the gas mileage and the torque,and I will pick torque and gas mileage over hp any day of the week for a driver.
I had a cousin that used to put them into anything that moved. He used to have a 47 Ford dumptruck back in the late 60's that had a 322 cubic inch nailhead in it,and he used that dumptruck to pull his motor grader around. He later put a dual-quad 425 out of a early 60's Wildcat in the motor grader,and then used that to pull the dump truck. Damn motor grader would run 70 MPH,but he rarely drove it over 34-40 mph. Too hard to stop and it didn't handle real good.
And the 350 I'm putting back in is pushing between 400 & 425 horse.
So much for gas mileage. I have a balanced and blueprinted 412 small block with big valve heads,roller rockers,7,000 rpm cam with .535 lift,gear drive,flat top 10 to 1 pistons,gapless rings,and a high rise Weiand intake with a 750 dual pumper Holley,and it only makes around 425 hp.
Funny,but true story. I was building this engine to go into a 39 Ford,but the engine in my old 1 ton Chevy van that I was using at the time to pull my equipment trailer had the engine take a dump,so I put the 412 in the van instead. Took it for a test ride right after getting it running,and it had the original 262 SBC and turbo 350 trans in the back,along with my 10 drawer tool box full of tools,and 10 100 lb bags of sand for my sand blaster. Hit passing gear going around 45 MPH,and it damn near snapped my neck then as well as when it came out of passing gear at 65 MPH. Blew right past 100 MPH before I could get my foot out of it. 100 mph is FAST in a old 1 ton van! They just ain't designed to go fast.
Fastest 1 ton junk van in the state. Ironically enough,I even got better gas mileage with it than I did with the old worn out 262 when pulling a load down the interstate at 70 MPH.
The 305 in my 48 Plymouth burns a lot of oil now,and the turbo 250 trans was a piece of crap when it was new and now starts out in 2nd and slips going into high,so I'm putting the 412 and the turbo 350 with the shift kit and manual valve body in the old Plymouth. It's only got about 20k miles on it,so I might as well use it.
What drivetrain does it have? I have seen SS Impala convertibles that came from the factory with inline 6's and Powerglides.
I will give you one piece of advise. VERY few people ever get back even half the money they spend fixing up a SS Chevrolet if they did mechanical modifications to it. Swapping engines or anything else that doesn't match the build sheet is like sitting fire to 100 bills. Even changing the paint or upholstery color is a financial killer.
Not that most people get their money back,anyhow. You can damn sure buy one a lot cheaper than you can have it pro-built. The downside to that is you lose all the fun of buying tools and rebuilding it. I could probably buy 3 restored 51 Ford coupes with the money I have spent buying tools,and have enough left over for a summer tour of Europe.
Of course,I also use those tools on my 32 Ford coupe,33 Plymouth coupe,33 Dodge sedan,38 Ford tudor sedan,31 Plymouth coupe,42 Dodge coupe,2 37 Dodge trucks,53 Ford coupe,58 Rambler stationwagon,48 Plymouth coupe,39 Ford tudor sedan,49 Chrysler coupe,93 Ford 345 diesel front end loader,and my 57 Ford 640 tractor,so it ain't like I use them once and throw them away. Truth to tell,I think I buy the cars to give me an excuse to buy the tools.
