Family friend has a 1964 Ford Falcon wagon that his aunt bought new, he drove it daily back in the 90’s when he inherited it but more recently it’s been in storage in his garage and only driven when the spirit moves him. The agreed value policy he has doesn’t cost all that much but has it insured for more than he could have imagined.
I looked up your car on Gates Corporation - United States. The timing belt should be replaced every 60,000 miles. While it isn’t an interference engine, you will almost certainly get stranded someplace far enough away from home that you would need it towed. Since you like working on your cars, this is a good project to introduce yourself to the Aries. Gates sells a timing belt kit.
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That’s the kicker-I’m in mass-saw it in mass and it had mass plates
Several years ago I owned a 1965 Chevy Malibu coupe, 2bbl 283ci with a powerglide transmission. Both engine and transmission were original and were tired and the car was slower than the 1999 Civic coupe I owned at the time, but the cherry bomb mufflers made it sound so much better than the Civic.
I drove that thing whenever the weather was nice, even at night. I don’t think I’d own it again as I have nowhere to keep it garaged anymore.
I can even remember pulling into a gas station and had to back up and pull to the other side of the pump because someone was pulling into the other pump in front of me. The guy told me I didn’t need to move my car, but I told him that the gas cap was behind the license plate. He chuckled at that because he forgot cars used to come like that, even when he used to own cars like that.
A 1989 Aspen is not collectible. If you need a cheap temporary car, it might be worth the $300, but it will not increase in value and there is no joy in driving or owning one.
On the contrary. @bcohen2010 loves these cars and he has often described them as his ideal driving machine. $300 seems like a small price to pay to own a car you really love.
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It’s not an Aspen. The Aspen only lasted 4 years 1976-1980, and were 6 cylinder rear wheel drive vehicles
Although to me neither are collectables.
My Dad owned an Aspen. One of the most unreliable vehicles I’ve ever worked on. So many problems with that vehicle
+1
The Dodge Aspen/Plymouth Volare twins were rust-prone dogs with a lot of drivability problems. In his autobiography, Lee Iacocca said something along the lines of… a lot of people would like to hang me because of those cars.
My mistake. I don’t know why I said Aspen. I knew it was a boring K car in the form of a Dodge Aries. I stand by my statement that it’s not collectible, and I doubt anyone with a lick of car sense would seriously disagree. We are talking about an under-powered appliance which at $300 might be a steal for someone who needs a fairly reliable cheap boring car, but doesn’t care about modern safety gear, like antilock brakes or airbags. By today’s standards, this thing is a deathtrap, not a daily driver. Regardless, the OP was asking if it was collectible, and I still say no, it’s about as far from a collectible as one could get.
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Deathtrap? Hardly, go wrap yourself in bubble wrap, if that makes you feel safer. O sayer of doom and gloom!
No need for insults PvetPublic. While I would drive this car myself and don’t have any fear of doing so, I also ride motorcycles. So saying I wrap myself in bubble wrap is not fair.
However, I stand by my statement, there is no way that this car would pass any current US, Japanese, or Euro safety standards. And I am sure it would not even get a one star for crash worthiness from the insurance industry.
So I stand by my statement and I will repeat: By today’s standards, this thing is a deathtrap, not a daily driver.
I look at this thing another way, would I give it to any of my kids? NO. Not where I live, Not where there are deer to hit and snowstorms to crash in. Been there done that, and am glad they had the airbags.
Some folks underestimate what a clean example of this car might be worth. A rare version brought $5900:
1981 Plymouth Reliant K FREE SHIPPING WITH BUY IT NOW | eBay
I don’t think he was looking for an opinion on what others believe to be collectable.
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Take a closer look at that 1981 Reliant. It was listed at $5900, didn’t sell and didn’t sell in a listing for $5,300. Worse, the seller has a FakeSpot Guard caution rating because it has not sold a car on e-bay…
Also the '81 is not the same car as the '89… It’s an early year for the model, has suspiciously low mileage, is a manual transmission and is supposedly in mint condition.
And I would never base the value of a used car on an unsold ebay auction.
Most of the posters here are more interested in the '50s and '60a cars. There’s a whole new generation interested in the late '70s - '80s - '90s. Google ‘Radwood’ for more info.
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It had 13 bids with the WINNING bid of $5900. What are you talking about?
Nowhere did I claim the '89 was worth $5900. But it’s worth WAY more than $300 in running condition.
Yeah, we can debate all day about the collectability of a K-car, but @bcohen2010 is a thoughtful poster here, whose wallet is tighter than a black hole, and loves these cars. So whether they are collectable to others isn’t really the point. They are collectable to him. He also drives a Daewoo.
Those items hold no value for me either. I don’t feel any less safe in an '89 car than I do in a '19.
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Wasn’t intended as an insult hence the
Well, “Deathtrap” is pretty harsh and very subjective. Definitely not as safe as newer vehicles, but “deathtrap” is a stretch.
It’s still safer than the skateboard, bicycle, roller skates etc. they have been using, probably safer than even a pedestrian around traffic.
As I said, take a close look at the listing for the 1981 car today. While the winning bid was $5,900, the car was not sold to that bidder. It was RELISTED for sale. There is a link at the top to yet another auction (1981 Plymouth Reliant K FREE SHIPPING WITH BUY IT NOW | eBay ) for the same vehicle. In the second auction the top bid was $5,300, but the vehicle was ended without being sold on ebay. Otherwise the car appears to be in very nice condition.