Wagon Picture's fer not faint of heart

That is a trip worth taking.

 

We'd get up early Saturday morning, usually two or three guys, and head either east toward Saskatchewan, West toward BC or south and right into Montana. Troll gravel roads and old paved ones for hours, find a small town restaurant for lunch and ask about old cars there (support the locals and they'll tell you lots), any time we hit a small town we'd stop for a pop and goodies and ask there too, then make notes for future more focused trips. Found some nice cars. One in particular I remember was finding a '57 Olds 88 Hdtp that used to be four doors down the street from us when we were kids, hotrodded at that time and we were so impressed, and it was quite a shocker to see it sitting partially stripped at a farm about 90 minutes from home.

I'm hoping once my wife retires that we can redo some of those trips, keeping to the paved roads when we have the wagon, camp in the small town civic campgrounds, and that always attracts folks who will mention they know where there are other old cars if you are interested. We've got friends who do this now and find lots of neat stuff, and it is also a fun way to see the real country, not the highway blues stuff I get so tired of.

 

HUGH....i thought we were pals....why ya gotta be like that???



ya know whats really sad...there were only 720sumthin made of the 58 Edsel Bermuda....and it would seem that 20 are on deaths door in someones yard...

Hugh....i was missin ya too.....

 

Where ya been, FF?? Some of those cars look saleable.

 

Some are on the east coast of US and other's are on west coast...I was not the picture taker of these but you all good people here so I posted them for your enjoyment....
Sorry not been on here physically but not always able to do what you want...
Tis amazing the beauty that is still left in these cars in their retirement...

 

Yeah, FF. Some of that beauty, I think, is in the memories they bring back. Many of the cars themselves are still standing tall & proud too. I have seen wagons that were worse than some of these on eBay!

 

Yeah - like this one......

http://losangeles.craigslist.org/lac/cto/1595427287.html

$8,500 .........

 

OK....I lnow that's a rare car but.............$8500 !?!?!?

 

Sometimes folks need a reality check on their pricing. They see a B-J car go for a bazzillion bucks and then think their pile of rust shaped in the form of a car is worth at least 50% of that.:banghead3:

Then they try to sell it and they learn that reality can really suck

I was so lucky when I bought my '57 that the people were realistic about their price. Mind you, that was before all this hype auction crap hit the TV too.

 

I often wonder what kind of a person it is that prices cars like this at astronomical heights? I know what I'd like to TELL them.

 

Hey someone has to pay Arnolds Smog tax

 

We once found a field of cars near Medicine Hat, Alberta. This would be spring of 1980. The guy literally had hundreds of cars way back off the beaten path. There was a '57 tudor sedan, a real beauty, he wanted way too much for IMHO. WAY too much. My buddy bought it. Traded a nice little '55 Chevy big window truck in original running condition (not new by any means but a driver) and traded a bunch of other stuff and I think may have even slid some cash over the desk. I was surprised. But he got what he wanted although much to my disappointment he let the guy keep the original engine and transmission. But I felt he paid well over double or more for the car. In hindsight he did almost zero body work before paint and the chrome was decent driver quality so maybe he didn't do so bad.

But the rest of the cars were of similar quality and the prices were exorbitant. I doubt he ever sold them, I suspect given they were so far out of the way that the majority of them are either still there or have been crushed. So rather than sell them for reasonable prices to people who would turn them into drivers they get wasted. Sad.

So Fox, I agree with you. Yeah, some one might find a lucky person at some point but in my view the vast majority of them think they have a pot of gold just waiting for a sucker to come along and snap it up. So you watch the car continue to rot until it is no longer salvageable. Grrrrr.

 

I mean no offense to your friend, Saf....,but, what angers me as much as these jewelry store prices is a person that will PAY it.

 

Don't worry about my buddy, he got what he wanted and was willing to pay the big bucks, but I shake my head still after 30 years when I think about it. Just blows me away. I agree with you 100% - and the old saying "there's a sucker born every minute" proves out daily.

I'm glad I'm not twenty and just starting out in this hobby. It must be daunting to many and kudos to those who have the patience to wade through all the $8,500 type of deals and find the real cars to play with....