I didn’t know how lucky we really are until I traveled to Michigan a couple years ago and saw cars that were less than ten years old with fenders & rockers COMPLETELY rusted through. I met a friend of a friend who has an old C10 with ZERO rust, but certainly not a “creampuff.” Probably a $3,000 truck here. He said he routinely turned down offers for CRAZY money.
I briefly kicked around the idea of finding older rust-free runners down here once or twice a year and flipping them up there.
If anyone wants to relo to Michigan, I assure there is a business model to be had just buying 15 year old trucks in Atlanta and shipping them up there quarterly. I swear rust is like the cold and Stockholm syndrome: people that live with it don't understand there are alternatives.
There's a dealer in Northern Ohio that specializes in smuggling rust-free trucks from the '70s-'90s from the West Coast. Usually the minimum advertised price is $5,900.
I disagree a bit.
LA was like absolute GOLD for me. Maybe because I am into older cars. I started a $1500 club which ended up only being me. The rules were you couldn't spend more than $1500 on a car as your DD.
I had a string of amazing, rust-free gems. Atlanta definitely has more cars, but they are not anywhere as cheap as LA. LA's free section is rarely without a free BMW or Mercedes that needs an engine or transmission. I have never lived in Atlanta, but shopped for cars there many times and I found that you don't get what you pay for, you pay for what you get
Some of my LA finds:
Pristine E30 cabrio for $3500
73 Impala with 58k on the odometer
78 P30 Step Van running and driving with 84k for FREE
74 Maverick 302 for $500
62 Caddy SDV for $1500
Curtis said:I disagree a bit.
LA was like absolute GOLD for me. Maybe because I am into older cars. I started a $1500 club which ended up only being me. The rules were you couldn't spend more than $1500 on a car as your DD.
I had a string of amazing, rust-free gems. Atlanta definitely has more cars, but they are not anywhere as cheap as LA. LA's free section is rarely without a free BMW or Mercedes that needs an engine or transmission. I have never lived in Atlanta, but shopped for cars there many times and I found that you don't get what you pay for, you pay for what you get
Some of my LA finds:
Pristine E30 cabrio for $3500
73 Impala with 58k on the odometer
78 P30 Step Van running and driving with 84k for FREE
74 Maverick 302 for $500
62 Caddy SDV for $1500
OMG I'm so jealous of that wagon, can you please tell me the story behind it, how you found it, what you searched for, whatever happened to it, etc. Thanks!
Yeah. I was originally looking for a hearse when I found it. It was actually outside of LA in the desert so I lied a little. It was on Ebay and CL and I knew it would bid high on Ebay so I contacted him through CL and made an offer which he accepted.
It was an older guy. He bought it new in 73 when his boys went to college. He had the seats and floor covered with clear vinyl to protect it like so many old folks did back in the day. It was in his barn under an old army canvas tarp so it was mostly pristine except where the bats had crapped on the canvas and it fouled the hood a little. He mentioned that the passenger rear door had probably never been opened because they had lived in Santa Barbara and parked on the street and he never let the boys enter or exit on the street side. Sure enough, the weatherstripping on that door was fully glued to the doorjamb and I had to replace it.
My favorite part was that it STILL HAD NYLON BIAS PLY TIRES ON IT. He had warned me that the tires were no good but I didn't expect nylon. Last registration showed 1982.
Options included 454, 12-bolt rear with 3.23s, A/C, and nothing else. I pulled the distributor to spin the oil pump and fired it up, handed him cash, and drove away. I pulled the 454 and made it a 468 with headers, cam, 049 heads, intake. Did a ton of work to the Qjet and really got it perfect with adjustable step ups, electric choke, massaged the ported vacuum pinhole for more signal to the distributor... I had that thing tuned so perfectly. Drove it cross-country twice from LA to PA and ONT and averaged 11 mpg. Let me see if I have more pics on this computer and I'll upload them.
I sold it on Ebay to a guy who shipped it from LA to upstate NY and I think he still has it.
Somewhere in Utah
Interior after I took out the clear vinyl covers on everything
The new 468 in place ready to fire up
Side shot with 9C1 wheels on it. I eventually put Truck Rally wheels on it with trim rings
Silv-o-lite coated pistons .060" over and installing main bearings. check out the 57 Belvedere in the background of the second picture. That's one my buddy and I built with an LS6 and a 4L65E and we kept the pushbutton shifter with a conversion kit.
Here is what the Belvedere ended up being as a finished project. It ended up being featured in a few magazines and TV shows.
Awesome story, thanks so much for sharing, that's my dream to find a barn find like that some day, and good for you for doing a cross country drive like that, that's what the wagons were made for, so sweet.
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