Posts Tagged ‘Feature’

Porsche Bubble (Butt) – 1979 Porsche 928

June 2, 2014

With all this talk about the bubble in Porsche values, you’d think there was not a single affordable Porsche for the whiners to purchase. Sure, it sucks that not everybody got their hands on a 911S for $12,000 in 1990, but are you in this for the money, or the cars? If you are looking for Porsche engineering with a low cost of entry, you have to find the cars at the bottom of the depreciation curve. Back in the 1990s or the aughts (did we ever decide what the last decade was called?), 911 targas and 914s were the accessible Porsches. Ten to twenty years on, the accessible cars are 924s, 944s, and 928s – and who knows, perhaps in 20 years, someone will be complaining about the bubble in 928 values. Want to get in on the ground floor? Check out this 1979 Porsche 928, for sale for $3900 in San Carlos, CA.

1979 Porsche 928 left front

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Odd Ford #2 – 1977 Ford Pinto Cruising Wagon

June 2, 2014

Beyond suicide doors, retro kitsch is another good reason to look at and buy old cars. Who doesn’t at least crack a small smile at the Pierre Cardin AMC Javelin, the Frank Sinatra Imperial coupe, or the Ford Pinto Cruising Wagon? With the kustom van craze in full swing, the marketing types at Ford thought, why not make this easy on people? How many people want to go to the trouble of applying wicked stripe schemes, airbrushing murals, and fitting heart, diamond, and bubble windows to the back? All that work is so messy, even if it is in the name of getting in good with the ladies. So they came out with the Ford Cruising Van, and for the fuel-conscious ladies’ man, the Pinto Cruising Wagon. Being a throwaway car, there are few survivors, but if you can’t resist the call of the van, check out this 1977 Ford Pinto Cruising Wagon, for sale for $2750 in San Jose, CA.

1977 Ford Pinto Cruising Wagon right front

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Odd Ford #1 – 1968 Ford Thunderbird Landau 4-door

June 2, 2014

If you’ve been here before, you might have noticed some triggers that will get otherwise ordinary cars listed – convertible tops, suicide doors, turbo/supercharging, rarity. It’s not very common to find affordable post-war cars that have suicide doors, but among that short list is the fifth generation Ford Thunderbird, built from 1967-1971. It has many of the design cues of the 1960s jet age school – grill mimicking a jet intake, sparing use of chrome in reaction to the excesses of the 1950s, coke bottle rear fender peaks, and simple, clean interior design. You can find this 1968 Ford Thunderbird Landau 4-door for sale for $2700 in Santa Cruz, CA.

1968 Ford Thunderbird sedan left front

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