Colt, allow me to suggest that before you post, you think about what it is that you want to say and what it is that you want to know. Organize your thoughts. Write them in Word, perhaps, and then when you’re satisfied in reading them that you’ve covered all the issues you’d like to cover, copy the text into the thread.
I believe you that you’re trying to find advice to your problem. But trying to determine exactly what the problem is can be difficult with a long string of short thoughts. Besides, I’ve been reticent to post because I have no idea whether you’re through adding to a given post.
If its now 3k to buy a decent used car. That means I’ll need collision insurance. And possibly more repairs. So I wonder if it wouldnt be cheaper to have my car restored. The mechanic I have restores as Ive mentioned he’s restoring a car way older than mine. And I met a guy who restored a 50’s ford. What would be so funny about restoring a modern car as opposed to restoring more ancient vehicles. Why is it that people-Im not sure I want to do this but if its cheaper mayby it would be a good idea. But why does there seem to be this cut off for modern cars but not ancient cars? And if only I had a car I really liked at a point like this. Like that 90 colt. How are they able to keep these ancient cars alive but not more modern ones?
Older Cars whether they are restored or not, use more gas and no matter how much money you put into them, if you were to trade it in or try to sell it, people won’t pay you the same amount for the car that you had spent keeping it running. Not many people want older, gas guzzling cars unless the price of gas went down and I’m pretty sure we’re not going to see that happen ever again! I remember a few years back the government created the cash for clunkers program to get a lot of old cars off the road and to promote the economy. Basically, get yourself a newer, more efficient car. If its in good condition you shouldn’t have too many issues with it. And yes you’ll need collision insurance and that can be cheap too unless you have a bad driving record. Also insurance companies offer discounts for cars with SRS (Airbags), If you have a good security system installed, and you remain a safe driver.
Yikes! 20k! My mechanic seems to think my olds is not that bad.And he mentioned doing something about the other rust issue. And a younger mechanic at this same shop seemed to think my car was worth keeping. I guess I should tell them what the body shop said about the rain leak and mayby they’ll send me somewhere else? If Its not within a reasonable cost to fix the rain leak then I gues I should just put up with that and in a year or two or less get another car?
I woudnt buy an olds. Theres a ford focus on cars.com I would consider. Its got a pretty low price on it. around 2k. Then again that olds you mentioned could be the better deal. its just theyre so boring.
Oregon is about 4k miles away from here. Actually Im relieved. I cant actually buy an olds. I just couldnt. This olds was my deceased Moms car. I might want to get rid of it on that point alone. I wnder how much I could get if I sold it as a parts car?
I would consider a ford focus. I havent test driven one yet. Or even researched them.
You don’t “restore” an old car unless it has some value as a classic. Your old Olds is never going to be a classic. What you do it make needed repairs, and do normal maintenance (oil changes, etc.) until the car either is no longer driveable (the transmission goes bad), no longer safe (critical areas of the frame and/or suspension are rusted beyond repair), or the repair bill(s) are so much higher than the cars value you just don’t want to sink more money into a sinking ship.
You don’t worry about looks. You live with a few dents and dings as long as the doors open and close. If the ABS brakes fail you pull the fuse and go without them and just have normal brakes. Your car sounds like it still runs decent. Take the car to a body shop and get a repair estimate to stop the water leak. If you can afford it get the leak fixed. Then drive the car and see what happens next.
There is no crystal ball that will tell you how long it will last. Some old cars go on for years and years. Keep an eye on the rust on your car to be sure it remains safe to drive, meaning have your mechanics look it over every time you change the oil or it needs a repair.
In the meantime keep looking for that awesome '90 Colt, perhaps you’ll get lucky and come across one someday, if you do buy it. Then start making repairs to the Colt, when it is road worthy, safe and dependable then sell or dump the Olds. The Olds job now is to get you to your next car. As long as it holds up to do that it will have done right by you.
you will get $4.76 for your car for parts. does that answer all of your questions?
everyone keeps repeating that you should just keep your car, everyone keeps repeating that you should save money so you can buy a nicer car when this one stops working, everyone says you will need to consider spending more money on a car so you are not in the shop as often.
so essentially, you should keep asking the same question in a different manner.
my guess is that you will continue to get the same answers as above. I could be wrong, but I look forward to this discussion in the future. I will probably wait until you hit page 8 or 9 before i check back, just so it saves me time.
I agree that almost all of them couldnt qualify as a classic but the 90 GT HB. Apparently they didnt make many of that particular version for lack of the proper word.
Prvevious to that I had been very impressed with the eqivalent honda civics but after that experience I forgot the civics. It blew away the civics in my opinion.
I tip my hat to your efforts to organize your thoughts. Keep up the effort. I’ll keep up the support.
People typically restore ancient cars for one of four reasons:
nostalgia
povenance (like a special winning are car, for example)
the challenge
Investment (see 2 above). Some investors are now putting their money into potentially valuable automobiles instead of more traditional assets.
Besides, the ancient cars were designed as a drivetrain mounted on a chassis with a body bolted on. There’s a lot you can do woth that. The opportunities to do anything fun with a unibody designed to use every available cubic inch of space are severely limited. You can buy a '55 Chevy and stick a 454 in it, and then add a supercherger. Try doing anything that dramatic with a Cavalier. The most you can do with a Cavalier is whitewall tires and upsized rims with low profile tires.
I recently mentioned my desire to tack a Honda Goldwing engine onto an MX5 tranny, add that to an MX5 rearend, and add that to the rear of a Spitfire body. Why would I do this? Just 'cause I think it would be neat. But one cannot do these things to a Colt. Unibodies and transverse FWD vehicle design have changed everything.
It was a special car to me but I gues Im one of a very few. mayby I could find something similar. I havent seen anything in my 3k comfort zone. Hopefully someday I stumble on something as special.