Project "What the hell was I thinking???"

You know, I realized several years ago that this whole "project" thing never really works out for me. I always seems to run out of time, patience, money, or skill...or I just get to a point where I realize that whatever the dream/goal was supposed to be, won't actually be worth all the heartache and trouble in the end. Yet here I am again...

So here's how all this came about - last summer I picked up some music gear off a guy on Facebook for $500(for all the fellow musicians here it was a Bugera 333xl head, Blackhart 4x12 cab and two Ibanez RGs). The guitar player in one of my projects absolutely fell in love with the head & cab, and one of the RGs...but he & his wife struggle to get by, so I told him no hurry, pay me off in time. I sold the other Ibanez for $120, and I told him he could have the other, plus the head & cab for $400(I wasn't out to turn a profit on a friend). He'd paid me a total of $75 since then, bringing his balance down to $325.

He lost his license from a DUI several years ago, and although enough time has passed to get it back, he's never had the money. However, he'd picked up this car a couple years ago - a 1985 Ford LTD Crown Victoria - from the estate of the original owner. It has around 80kmi on it, and even has the original window sticker. It's not perfect, but it's very clean. He'd been trying to sell it off & on over the last year, starting at $2500 and slowly dropping the price. In the mean time the windows quit working, then the alternator, and finally after sitting since last fall he could no longer get it started. Oh, and 3 of the windows won't go up or down. He dropped the price to $400, but the only people interested were junkers or those looking for a demo-derby car, and he didn't want it to meet that fate. So today I (manually) winched it onto my trailer and brought it home.

Short-term goals, and possibly all the farther this project will go, are to fix the known problems and see what unknown ones I find. Since I have no time or desire to turn wrenches anymore, I've recruited a buddy who's very much into vintage Fords. Beyond that, there are a few ideas floating through my head...

Here's the car. He got these spinner wire basket wheels for it in trade for a guitar. I won't be keeping them, but I'm not sure if they're worth much on the open market?

Idea #1 - Challenge Car. Duh, that's an obvious one. I've never been to the challenge once in it's 16-year existence, this car would likely end up dead-last in every category, at least with my meager skills & budget! Probably won't happen though - too far, too much time to take off, etc.

Idea #2 - Something like this. Not exactly Pro-Touring, not exactly boulevard cruiser, not sure what you'd call it quite honestly. Budget could be anywhere from sub-$1k on up.

Idea #3 - Rally-x Beast. The Badlands Rally-x series is 1/2-hour from my house, but I've not been to a single event because I know how hard I drive in competition, and I don't want to destroy my car $$$. Budget-wise, this one wouldn't be too much of a concern. I have a large enough piece of aluminum to build a skid-plate(if needed). I'd just need wheels/tires/shocks beyond whatever basic repairs & other problems I find. Installing an LSD would be a nice plus, as would anything to help gain power beyond the stock 140hp it left the factory with, but that becomes a slippery slope quickly...

Idea #4 - Vintage NASCAR-esque build. I'm not even sure how that would turn out with a 4-door, boxy, mid-80's styled car. Also this seems like it could add up quickly.

It is in fairly nice condition, but the pictures do look better than real life. There are a couple small rust bubbles on the quarters, the wheel arch trim is mangled on at least 2 wheel wells the hood has a dent in the middle and surface rust from chipped paint, the vinyl top is starting to crack & flake apart, and it's never going to be a valuable or desirable car.

Cragars and cop sway bars. Done.

I like option 2 a lot. I also like the idea of 4 but not sure how it would work with a 4door.

Or make it something that would be at home running in the silver state classic or big bend.

In reply to Woody:

Don't forget manual swap.

I.sorta like the wires on it. Realistically, they're not worth much outside of socal and the lowrider scene, unfortunately. Find a Mexican dude and you might get rid of em.

Option 2 and option 4 loom very similar in my head save for some numbers on the door and wider steelies. I approve either way. Or rally x. Or bagged and dragging. Its kind of a neat car.

I recently developed an itch to buy a large sedan and bag it. Slam it on the wire wheels first, and if it don't look good, get Soft8's.

sounds like the perfect LeMons starter car

Nice!!! That's a ton of car for the money!

Two tons, actually.

I have 3 of the pre '03 16 x 7 P71 wheels (the same style as the ones in the "super motors" pic) with two willpop tires and one good tire if you'd like to do some swapping. Be forewarned though, they are shockingly heavy. I've been kind of passively looking for another cheap set of pre '03 aluminum Panther wheels.

I bought the P71 wheels when they were still on a car destined for the scrap yard and I had paid for them before I actually put my hands on them. Had I known how heavy they are I most likely would not have bought them.

In reply to Nick_Comstock:

I like option-2 also, but I've reached the conclusion that if I don't have a useful purpose for a vehicle that it doesn't matter how cool it awesome it is, I just won't enjoy it. I don't enjoy either cruising or car shows, and just building a fast car without a specific class/series in mind is kind of the same thing to me. I don't have the budget or talent to go too crazy with this, and hopefully our house will sell this year, but that will leave me without a garage also.

I grabbed a few more pics this morning. The body looks like this most of the way around/on top.

The interior, while dirty, is in nice condition.

In reply to wbjones:

If I had the time & money for it, I'd love to do it, but that's just not very likely.

In reply to The_Jed:

Thanks for the offer...and warning. I do like the look of those wheels, and I guess it doesn't surprise me how heavy they are given their intended use.

I'd like some Diamond Racing wheels, but ~$100-each is more than I'd want to spend on this thing. I'm thinking maybe I can find a set of those old white steel wheels that every Jeep & 4x4 used to use - the ones with the triangle holes between the spokes? Then paint them black. Hopefully I could get a set & have them painted for under $200.

In reply to petegossett:

Like this?:

Option #5- get it running, fix windows etc., do a good detail and sell it for a profit. That should be worth $1,200-1300 to someone who needs cheap, dependable transportation.

In reply to The_Jed:

You read my mind!

Can't find a photo of it, but way back in the 80's or so, Car & Driver ran a brown, boxy Crown Vic one in the One Lap of America. The license plate is kinda recessed into the trunk lid correct? Theirs had a license plate that slid sideways into the trunk to reveal a second plate underneath. If the cops were onto them, they could push a button and swap plates. I always wanted to do that.

Y'all are making me really miss my 84 Crown Vic.

In reply to Don49:

Yes, that could definitely happen too, although my friend didn't have any luck selling it before the problems crept in. I think it's a combination of vehicle age & MPGs. Although I'm really surprised the donk crowd didn't pick it up.

I say the rally option or the pro-touring type build. Keep it simple and cheap, do it for fun, not necessarily to win, then you won't end up dumping a bunch of money in it. Either that or clean it up and flip for a small profit.

I really like option 2.

I'd also see if you could score some decent power/heated buckets out of a late model sporty car, smaller momo wheel and big fat swaybars and so it feels less like a 1960s pickup truck.

In reply to Giant Purple Snorklewacker:

The front bar on there now appears to be 1-1/8", maybe I need to upgrade to 2" pipe?

If you should happen to take it to The Challenge, you might be surprised how far the mindset of:
"If you cant win the race then you'll have to try to win the party"
can take you!

I snapped a pic of the landau top and it's not-so-good condition. I have a feeling tearing it off would be a huge PITA & mess, correct?

And here's the "rust-free"(for IL ) undercarriage.

Black steelies, cut coils, john deere blitz black paint, tint, fix whats broke, enjoy till spring of the following year performing as little maintenance/repair as you can get by with, and dump for break even money.

It'd look like the second picture, be an enjoyable beater, and probably turn a profit with a tasteful murdering.

You should be able to get a set of white steelies for less than $200 new. Look in summit racing under the brand u.s. wheel. Rustoleum satin black them yourself. Easy touch up later if needed.

Any advice about the top - remove or cover over? Keep in mind I'm tempted to PlastiDip the vinyl too, they say it's permanent on vinyl...