enable me, or talk me down. probably the wrong place to be asking this....

so ive been lusting after a 64-65 elcamino ever since i built a 64 for a customer in the early 2000's. ive also been wanting to downsize my truck, and get something different with an automatic for my wife to drive as well as myself. so my logic says, TBI injected, 700r4, disc brake equipped 64/65 elky. makes sense so far.....

so thius came up on craigslist tday. talked with the owner at length, and he claims its a great running, great shfting, solid truck. minor rust in the quarters ans surface around the rear window. no hackery, per the owner, and all the missing pieces are included. hes selling due to health interfering with all his projects, and needing to downsize to finish one. sounds like a good deal, except NONE of the options (except automatic) id want. so i would need to convert to discs, add AC and power steering. carb and 3 speed auto would be fine until junkyard swaps came along. needs paint and interior as well. i do interiors, but not paint. http://charlotte.craigslist.org/cto/3478993107.html

this would be the truck id be trading. ive had it for around a decade, and knnow it like the back of my hand. great, dependable, nice truck. needs nothing, no way, no how. never evenhave to think about it. my problem is its HUGE, stick, and my wife hates riding in it. says she feels like shes in an insane asylum locked in a rubber room. its a mother to park, wont fit in my garage, too big for my lift, and still cant really pull anything worth entioning. takes up a lot of real estate considering what i need a truck for. but i like it. quiet, comfortable, rides great, never needs anything.

http://charlotte.craigslist.org/cto/3452669700.html

so to get the elky where i want it, im looking at roughly 2k minimum. to get my truck where i want it, well, probably isnt possible.

so what would the GRM collective do?

michael

I don't think you're going to come out ahead.

The devil you know is the better option.

Straight trade....no. If he's throwing 2k or more on top, go for it.

Do it, oh um I should read the thread 1st.

OK read it, hells to the yes. It is way cool and its not always about making money or else no one would ever buy a new car

JThw8 wrote: Straight trade....no. If he's throwing 2k or more on top, go for it.

^This, but hold out for three grand.

I'm assuming you meant "trade" figuratively.

I'd take a good look at the el camino. The sills in those pics look scary. I guess the real question is do you want to take on another project right now with the Duster just starting to get where you want it?

There's no way that El camino is a straight trade with your truck. While the elky is decent, that truck is pretty SWEET. If he's not giving you a ball of 100's in the glove box along with the elky for that truck....pass.

i'd say to get it and swap in a 5.3/4L60E combo instead of TBI... disc brakes are easy on those cars- if you can drill 4 holes in a piece of 1/4" steel you can put pretty much any 88 and newer Corvette or 98-02 Camaro disc brakes on it for about $300.

There's something about that El Camino that sets off alarm bells with me. Can't quite put my finger to it, but personally I'd give it a miss.

Ian F wrote: I'm assuming you meant "trade" figuratively. I'd take a good look at the el camino. The sills in those pics look scary. I guess the real question is do you want to take on another project right now with the Duster just starting to get where you want it?

i really dont know about wanting to take on another project right now. part of me says hell yes, and another part of me says no. i really dont have the time i used to have, nor the motivation. right now, im just enjoying driving stuff and spending time with the family.

i really think i like the IDEA of this better than that actuality. maybe i should just sell the truck outrigright, and hold off on an elky let the truck gather interest in my bank account till a better time.....

any of y'all want a grm price on my truck? 5k takes it home with you, and all the extra parts i have on my property......

Ever since watching that show 'My Name Is Earl', I've kind of had a small lust for the El Camino as well. All American red neck trucks in general; but unless the guy was giving you cash with it, I wouldn't trade.

Make sure you check the El Camino frame for rust, not just the rockers. Way back, my 64 Chevelle had a frame that was swiss cheese, I didn't catch it until I owned it. Ridiculously simple cars to work on.

In reply to Dusterbd13:

I know how you feel. One of my region members just put his STR car up for sale: a Z3 2.8 competitively prepped and ready to go. $6000. I'm seriously thinking about it if he still has it after I sell the truck and E30. It would be a good backup DD and fun weekend cruiser when I don't want to take the GT6 out. Still... There's part of me that hopes it sells. I really need to cut back on cars for awhile...

The elky sounds like it might be a fun project when you have more time, space or money... Imho, keep looking and maybe find one even cheaper that you can build over time as money and enthusiasm allows. Perhaps as a father/kid build? Get the fire lit for the next generation.

I have a simple rule that applies to all classic car purchases. "Unless you can leave the body alone and drive it that way for five years" dont buy it.

That El Camino is going to end up costing you at least 15k by the time the proect is done, and that will be about 2-5 years depending on your free time.

If you really want a classic car, the trick is to hunt for cars that were well restored by the owner about 5-10 years ago. The owners will have got whatever it is they needed out of the project and will be wanting to move on. This crowd is a motivated seller, so take advantage. You should be able to buy the car for about 1/2 what they put into the restoration; so that should put you into a very nice reliable and presentable car for under 10k.

The best bit about buying such a car is that if you drive it for 5 years and take care of it, you should be able to recover most if not all of your money. Driving with zero depreciation is a great thing. The trick is to know Gold from Glitter when you are buying the car.

I myself don't subscribe to my own rule because I am in this for the project. I am resigned to putting more into a car than what it is worth in the end because I get value out of the restoration aspect more than the driving aspect.

The Elky would be a cool project, but it's just that, a project. A vintage air A/c kit is about $1500 to get started. Don't bother with trying to replicate factory a/c.

If you need to tow over 3K on a regular basis, just put a 350 in the truck you have now and swap to an auto trans for swmbo. You'll be money ahead. maybe redo the front seats in cloth too.

the current truck had cloth fronts from the suburban i grabbed them from. covered in vynil myself with custom upholstery to match, and still be waterproof.

decided to give this one a pass. just dont want THAT big a project right now.

and i honestly thought about an lt1 4l60e swap in my current truck, but its still too damn big for my driveway. i actually had to cut down a section of my wods for a parking space.

i should probably just sell this one and get another 3rd gen dakota. ive had two, and still want another. hold off on the elky project until i WANT another project. right now, i just want to drive them, not work on them. matter of fact, i think thats what ill do. drive my current truck like it is until it either sells, or gets totalled. then wory about it. i really dont need the added stress/worry/aggrevation right now.

thanks for being my sounding board, guys. thats why i come here.

and what the hell does swmbo mean?