What do you drive?

[espo]

On 3/24/2021 at 9:09 AM, randyc said:

Last week wife & I were talking about a cheap truck to haul stuff.   We were so tired of having to arrange to borrow a truck and dealing with all that.   Cruising CL and found this in among all the $30K dealer trucks.   It lives at our house now.   Got it for a great price I think.   PO has $5000 in reciepts of work done and we got it cheap because Covid.  I've spent a bit in a week on parts to make it better and started restoring on things the PO hadn't gotten around to.  Runs like a champ.  Looks a bit rough.  A 1:1 model project.  No rivet counters allowed to look though.   LOL.

 

Consider the clay bar treatment before going after the paint with steel wool. This can be a lot of manual labor but from the photo the paint just looks lightly oxidized and should clean up nicely.   In the photo it looks like there is still some sheen now.   

[W-409]

I updated my daily driver in January. I used to daily drive my '74 Malibu Classic Wagon, but with the current gas prices I had to find something that gets a bit better mileage. So I bought a '64 Rambler American. It's pretty much original in a really good condition, 196 Cid straight six and three on the tree. Really fun car to drive and much cheaper to drive as it gets a pretty good mileage, too.

It is sold new here in Finland (in 1964) and has still original license plates and everything on it.

[cobraman]

Your Rambler looks darn good. Very straight.

[Tom Geiger]

Love the Rambler! I’d have a hard time not buying that if I saw it for sale locally!

[W-409]

Thanks! That's exactly what happened to me Tom. I went to look at the car and it was so clean that I had to have it. And it seems like it was a good decision, as it runs and drives excellent.

[iamsuperdan]

Insider top tip. If you have a newer vehicle, this is a VERY good time to sell it. The lack of new inventory means that people are paying insane numbers for used trucks and SUVs.

So I got out of the Ford Expedition Max that I've only had for three months. 

 

And replaced it with this.

2021 F150 Limited with the Powerboost engine. Will be interesting to see how much improvement the hybrid engine provides.

[Charlie B]

Here are my two vehicles

[Sledsel]

Found this 1971 Monterey and just had to have it. Needs some tinkering, but will be 100% roadworthy soon.

[iamsuperdan]

16 hours ago, Sledsel said:

Found this 1971 Monterey and just had to have it. Needs some tinkering, but will be 100% roadworthy soon.

 

That. Is. Awesome!

More pics!

[Sledsel]

1 hour ago, iamsuperdan said:

That. Is. Awesome!

More pics!

 Here ya go... Swapped wheels recently.

In search of a center grill, I found the side piece.

 

[cobraman]

Shaping up !

[iamsuperdan]

I love those 70s tanks!

[ksnow]

Since the weather was nice enough today, I took the motorcycle to work. Otherwise it's a plain jane '15 GMC Sierra work truck, regular cab long box with the V-6.

 

[sfhess]

Sledsel, that 71 Monterey is cool.  I have those Grand Marquis wheels on my 69 Cougar.

I always wondered what the cost vs. benefit was on tooling up unique front grilles and sheet metal, along with a unique dash, for the 71-72 Montereys.

[Sledsel]

1 hour ago, sfhess said:

Sledsel, that 71 Monterey is cool.  I have those Grand Marquis wheels on my 69 Cougar.

I always wondered what the cost vs. benefit was on tooling up unique front grilles and sheet metal, along with a unique dash, for the 71-72 Montereys.

 Yea, I love these wheels, (and Cougars) have them on my 87 Marquis also.

I received a Marquis grill with the car, it is wider and does not fit. I spoke with someone just today and may get the grill bars laser cut and a friend said we could weld them up similar to how this grill is for mounting points.

I did locate an NOS grill, but it is $700.... I am passing

Not sure I would want the dash changed... I like the layout. Maybe changed to accept some more gauges. I am going to add a 3 spoke rim blow from a Cougar I have. 

Just today I learned this: 

No. Produced	9,099
Body
Body Maker	Mercury
No. Doors	2
Passengers
Model Number	65B
Weight	3,959lbs

 

Edited April 23, 2021 by Sledsel

[Sledsel]

1 hour ago, ksnow said:

Since the weather was nice enough today, I took the motorcycle to work. Otherwise it's a plain jane '15 GMC Sierra work truck, regular cab long box with the V-6.

 

Beautiful

 

[Tom Geiger]

It’s a funny thing.. for every rare old car part we need, there’s one on a hook in a shed somewhere!

[sfhess]

5 hours ago, Sledsel said:

 Yea, I love these wheels, (and Cougars) have them on my 87 Marquis also.

I received a Marquis grill with the car, it is wider and does not fit. I spoke with someone just today and may get the grill bars laser cut and a friend said we could weld them up similar to how this grill is for mounting points.

I did locate an NOS grill, but it is $700.... I am passing

Not sure I would want the dash changed... I like the layout. Maybe changed to accept some more gauges. I am going to add a 3 spoke rim blow from a Cougar I have. 

Just today I learned this: 

No. Produced	9,099
Body
Body Maker	Mercury
No. Doors	2
Passengers
Model Number	65B
Weight	3,959lbs

 

That few?  I remember I don't recall seeing very many 69-72 Montereys in the days when they were new.  Mainly Marquis.

Edited April 24, 2021 by sfhess

[Rodent]

20 hours ago, sfhess said:

That few?  I remember I don't recall seeing very many 69-72 Montereys in the days when they were new.  Mainly Marquis.

That, and I remember that the 4-doors greatly outnumbered the 2-doors.

Edit: Exception being 70 Monterey 4-doors. Saw lots of those because that is what the Highway Patrol bought that year.

Edited April 24, 2021 by Rodent

[Sledsel]

On 4/23/2021 at 8:59 PM, Rodent said:

That, and I remember that the 4-doors greatly outnumbered the 2-doors.

Edit: Exception being 70 Monterey 4-doors. Saw lots of those because that is what the Highway Patrol bought that year.

in 71, they built 3,880 Monterey 4 door hardtops and 23,895 4 door sedans.  Just an FYI

 

Edited April 26, 2021 by Sledsel

[gotnitro?]

We decided to sell our classic car and buy something newer.  The cutlass was becoming a huge money pit so after a few calls we landed a 2003 Mach 1 ! Low miles car and Azure blue ..can't be happier 

[Sledsel]

1 hour ago, gotnitro? said:

We decided to sell our classic car and buy something newer.  The cutlass was becoming a huge money pit so after a few calls we landed a 2003 Mach 1 ! Low miles car and Azure blue ..can't be happier 

Looks great!

 

[stinkybritches]

3 hours ago, gotnitro? said:

We decided to sell our classic car and buy something newer.  The cutlass was becoming a huge money pit so after a few calls we landed a 2003 Mach 1 ! Low miles car and Azure blue ..can't be happier 

 

I have a Dark Shadow Gray Mach 1 that I bought new in October of '03. I'm never selling it.

[John1955]

Both bought new many years ago, I liked them both so much that I kept them. No computers, no GPS, both are 5 speed stick shift, both have factory cassette stereos, but I added better speakers to the Sonoma, an add on amp and CD changer (under the seat). The Sonoma has a modified 4.3, power windows, locks, cruise control, A/C, positraction, custom made true dual exhausts, the Syclone handling package, etc. 

The S-10 is a dog, just the stock 2.8, manual windows, no A/C, but I love it anyway, LOL. I don't mind winding windows up and down and it gets great gas mileage on low octane fuel. Both little trucks get lots of compliments and stares when people see them. 

[iamsuperdan]

Well. Ditched the hybrid F150. Market for these is too strong to ignore right now. 

Plus, it's time to drive something fun again.

So I'm back in a Jeep.

 

2021 Gladiator Rubicon with the 3.6L gas engine. All the bells and whistles. The one concession I made was to get the auto and not the manual, as wifey needs to be able to drive it.

Brought it home Friday night, gave it a proper detail on Saturday, including ceramic coating. It's not hype, that stuff really does work well.

 

Look at that reflection.