Suggestions? - a free 58 Buick Caballero

These are always the problems buying farther away. To spend time driving to get the vehicle then hauling it home takes time and money. Some people still have jobs and can't take time off.
And if flying out to look at it you still have to fly back home, hope it's a good driver, or find someone who will take it and you back home. In this case jmt will fly out and it is not a driver. Therefore finding transportation is the only choice.
At least jmt hopefully got the wagon for a decent price and it is worth much more even if only made into a decent driver.
I can see where some vehicles would not be worth the extra expense and hassle of moving very far.
I have always bought my cars no farther than across town or once at a car show 50 miles away. Always driven them each home except the Model T basket case and Mercury basket case which were trailered free.
Had someone given me the Caballero or sold it cheap I'd taken my 18' flat bed and gone after it. Cost, fuel and my valuable time.

 

I thought about going to get it myself, but I don't have the equipment and borrowing/renting was going to cost as much as the transporter.

I have a good friend who would have loved to take a "road trip" with his truck and trailer to pick this up, but he is recovering from recent back surgery and there's no way he could make this trip.

I'm flying out to prep it for transport. The flight cost was about the same as my expected fuel cost to drive out there.

Everything is a trade-off on a move like this. It's difficult to get hard commitments from the transporters for pick-up dates and times and I am trying to minimize moparandfomoco's inconvenience, so I plan to stay there for several days until the car gets picked up by the transporter.

I can't thank moparandfomoco enough; he's being extremely helpful!

 

Transporting is cheaper than what I thought it would be. Got a quote to ship from California to SC and it was cheaper than me trying to fly and drive or drive and haul.

 

Yeah, when I found the Way Back Machine, I figured out the fly-out / drive it home scenario, and counting plane fare, hotel (minimal), food, and gas, it was about the same as shipping. Would have done the trip but for the weather (winter).

 

What? What?, What? :confused:

I sorta figured shipping would be cheeper and prolly a safer option..........hope it's home safe and sound soon! Seems like the chrome refurb(one of the big ticket resto items) might not be an issue with this NM car!

 

Notice in my post I said "better to ship............"

 

That was the ONLY part of your post I understood!

 

I found the rest very simple...... "don't step over a dollar to save a dime" = Why try to save a buck and spend a lot of wasted time money and effort when in the long run it's gona cost more, just hire some one and it's dealt with

 

Update from New Mexico

Time for an update!
I'm having trouble uploading pics, but I'll try to get a couple in here.

Moparandfomoco (Bill) met me at the airport Wednesday night. After a quick meal at one of his favorite spots, he dropped me off at my hotel.
Next morning, we headed up to Santa Fe and I got my first look at the car. It was exactly what I expected, except some of the stainless moldings are a little rougher than I thought.

We got the car up on jack stands and discovered that the front end of the torque tube was already chained to the cross-member. A quick trip to Harbor Freight for some ratchet tie-downs and we were able to lock the rear axle in position.

Rear tires wouldn't hold pressure, but I had brought along some inner tubes. A few minutes at Chihuahua Tires and we were good to go!

We set the car back on the ground and the three of us (me, Bill and his son, Anthony) pushed the car to the end of the driveway...no small feat, given the incline!

Thursday's weather was great. High in the mid-80s and the forecasted rain never showed up.

Bill and I went into Albuquerque for a late dinner...hard to believe all the neat old cars on the roads and in the neighborhoods. We saw a REALLY cool 65 Imperial in town. Beautiful leather interior, perfect chrome and stainless and nicely patina'd paint...

Friday morning we went back up to Santa Fe and met the tow truck for the move down to Rio Rancho, where the cross-country hauler will pick it up.

As I write this, the car is safely under cover and we are all taking a break from the 101F heat.

 

MotoMike asked about paint codes and trim codes.

The trim tag shows N-N paint. That's Garnet Red top and body.
Trim code 665 indicates Tan and Beige Cordaveen (vinyl).
I haven't confirmed it yet, but it shows a "B" accessory code, which I assume is the underseat heater.

It's a Mitchell-Bentley body, from the Ionia Michigan plant.
The car was assembled in Arlington, TX.

It's a 364-300HP, with a Dynaflow transmission.

Can't wait to get it home!

Huge THANK YOU to Bill and Anthony for their help and hospitality.
They are being wonderful hosts and great helpers!

 

Thanks much for the update. Station wagon members are great! It's almost like this is OUR wagon and we are anxiously awaiting it's arrival home.

 

Thanks for the update, glad things went well. Underseat heater on a NM car, seems kinda odd? :confused:

The bumpers......are they inside the car? :confused:

 

You haven't been in northern New Mexico in the winter, I take it???

 

Haha.....nope.

 

This so exciting, did I miss it along the way, how long will it take to get the car home?