What are the chances of me trading a '93 Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham for a clamshell?

Well, I am wondering what are the chances of me trading my nice '93 Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham for a clamshell wagon or a 73-74 Country Squire? I hate to sell/trade it, but I think its the best thing for now.

With my '72 Kingswood Estate still out of commission, I am thinking of trading my '93 Fleetwood Brougham (kin to the 91-96 Caprice/Roadmaster) for another wagon and selling my '72 Kingswood Estate. Not sure if I put it here, or who all knows, but I recently won, yes WON a brand new 2012 Honda in a contest! I have to file on my income tax only, so I was planning on selling the Cadillac to pay that, but now not sure if I want to do that, or trade the Caddy for a wagon and then sell my '72 for the tax money I will need.

I thought my dad would have had his retirement by now, but its been a slow go and actually a court battle, but I will not go into all of that. With that said, I don't know when he will get his "big lump sum" he is expecting to get. lol. I had mentioned before that he insisted on having this car restored for me when he got it. I didn't want him to do this, but he insists, so if it makes him happy, I dont want to stop him. lol. If I end up selling/trading, I am sure he will want to do something else for me. I want to move on. I want a nice classic to drive to the cruise this spring, yet I want the $ to pay the tax on my new car. I had thought about selling the Cadillac, putting back what I will need for my income tax, then take whatever is left and see about paying someone to get my '72 at least in running and driving conditions and do the body work as I can.

My Caddy is valued at $3600 (KBB private party value), but due to hail damage and some mechanical woes, I was going to ask $2600 (FIRM!) for it, which would be a loss on it for me. I have more than that in it. It has a like new interior, like new paint, only 121K miles, but has some hail damage and needs some minor mechanical work, as it has a few minor, but nagging issues such as a grumble at highway speeds, HVAC blower started working sporadically recently, wiper arms stripped out, driver seat bottom does not work back/forth, valves rattle sometimes on acceleration and that is about it. I am sure a DIY'er on these cars could get it back up to par easily. These cars used to bring pretty good $ and collectors items.

I was thinking of selling for $2600 (at a loss, which is also $1000 below KBB value) or trade for a: 1973-74 Caprice Estate, 1971-73 Buick Estate (preferably with woodgrain option), 1971-73 Pontiac Grand Safari (with woodgrain), 1973-74 Ford Country Squire, or even a 1968, 1969 or 1970 Chevy Caprice 4dr hardtop sedan, as I am also a fan of those cars. I had a '69 before buying my '72 wagon and regret selling it.

Am I dreaming thinking I can trade this Caddy for one of these cars? (and sell my '72 for around $2500-$3000 or so, also which would be a HUGE loss since I have $5000 invested in it!) I really haven't decided what I feel like I would have to get for my '72, but I am tired of seeing it set.

What advice can I get here? lol.

Here are pics of the Caddy... (I may go ahead and post it here as a trade offer)





















More pics below...

 

More pics:

 

... then here is my wagon of course...

 

Won a new Honda? That's fantastic!

As to what you should do.........

I'd suggest you do a couple of things with the Fleetwood:

1. Call up a qualified PDR tech ('Paintless Dent Repair') and get an estimate to fix the hail damage. You might find it's less than you think. If it isn't, at least you'll have something to go on.....

2. Post it up for sale on ImpalaSS Forum (has a lot of D-body Fleetwood owners as well...) Chances are pretty good there's someone there who will be interested, especially with that color combo.

Good luck.

Marshall

 

Thanks. Yeah, I won a brand new 2012 Honda Civic in a local contest a week before Christmas. I dont have to pay sales tax, but do have to file on my income tax and it was a $21,900 car, which is about what I make per year (before taxes, insurance, 401K, etc are removed).

Well I have posted the Cadillac there for sale and really no interested. I recently reduced the price on there to $2600, which would mean a loss for me on it. We will see. I am not much on the idea of getting the hail damage repaired... insurance and gas on all of these cars I have has left me broke. I couldn't afford it if it was $50 to remove the hail damage. lol.

I prefer to sell this car as-is, or trade it off.

Thanks again.

 

You won a car!? That's great! (to bad it's a Handoo. not a fan) Listen to Krash. He knows what he's talking about. Hard to see the hail damage, but I'm sure it's repairable. Don't rush into anyrhing. Wait for the right buyer and I'M sure you will come out on top.

 

Lol, yeah, well the choice of cars I could choose from was this 2012 Honda Civic LX 4dr or a 2012 Toyota Corolla LE 4dr. I have owned several Hondas and Toyotas over the years and a fan of both, but not much of a fan of small cars... I would have rather had an Accord, but hey, it was free... not everyday someone gets a free and new $22,000 car. lol. I liked the Toyota as well, but that body style was more outdated, as was the interior. It was also rated lower MPG's and it was only a $18,500 car... the Honda stickered for $21,500. I love it though, it handles like a breeze and I get 40 mpg on the highway and 30 mpg in town.

Yeah, the Cadillac hail damage is hard to see in any pics I have taken, but they are there. Most are on the hood and trunk. None on top thankfully since its a padded top.

Yeah, there is a couple that said they would pay my original asking price of $3000 after they get their income tax. Maybe I should be still and wait.

 

Mate its a remember Fonzie GIVE BACK the H-thing your current collection is Gorgeous(whats a H worth in 5 years) and lets not talk about what you guy like to drive anyway its AUSSIE Day downunder

 

How about some lateral thinking here? Sell the Honda. It will sell readily for good money. Pay the taxes. Take the balance, and you may have enough to fix BOTH the wagon (or at least get the engine issues sorted) and the Fleetwood. Running right, on the highway, the Caddy should be close enough to the Honda for fuel consumption that there is not an issue. This leaves you with 2 cars you love, versus one car you don't mind. Seems like a winning solution to me, if it is practical.

 

A friend of mine won a truck at the Autorama here, it was also valued at 22k. He had no cash to pay the tax so he went to the bank with the title and got a car loan to pay them. The bank was more than happy to give it to him with a brand new car for collateral, said the taxes were just under 6k.

 

In a word, yes. I think the likelihood is very tiny that someone who owns a clamshell wagon would suddenly think to himself that he'd rather have a '93 Cadillac. It's obviously worth asking as it costs nothing to do so and you never know. But if you really need some money out of the Caddy, you need to be prepared to sell it the old fashioned way.

One other comment: you've mentioned several times that you're listing a car "for less than you've got in it." You can't think like this. One of the oldest truisms in the old car hobby is that you don't get back for a car when you sell what you've spent to fix it up. Money spent on a car doesn't translate dollar for dollar to an increase in its value.

Rather, the money you've spent on your cars is a sunk cost.

Here's the relevant two sentences from that Wikipedia definition (I've bolded the best parts):

"The sunk cost is distinct from economic loss. For example, when a car is purchased, it can subsequently be resold; however, it will probably not be resold for the original purchase price. The economic loss is the difference (including transaction costs). The sum originally paid should not affect any rational future decision-making about the car, regardless of the resale value: if the owner can derive more value from selling the car than not selling it, then it should be sold, regardless of the price paid. In this sense, the sunk cost is not a precise quantity, but an economic term for a sum paid, in the past, which is no longer relevant to decisions about the future."

It's a very important economics concept that time and again has caused people in all walks of life who aren't aware of it to suffer economically. The point is, what you've spent on your cars is gone. You can never get it back. If you need money from your cars, sell them for what the market will bring you, and be happy. That's what they're worth now.

 

Well I actually want to keep the Honda, its a great little car. This is coming from someone that has NEVER owned a brand new car, so this car has some special meaning to me. Its like, "I finally have a new car that I have never been fortunate enough to own". The newest car I have ever owned was 4 years old when I bought it and it was a junker. lol. I have worked hard all of my life, been with my company for 13 years, never been late, never missed a day of work, but have never been able to afford a new car because of lousy wages. I am actually in the corporate office now, behind a desk at an office job, but still not a super paying job, but I like it.

The Honda is going to be my work car, because I drive about 500 miles per week to and front work on the freeway. The Caddy is supposed to get 26 mpg highway - I have not checked it, but I don't think it gets anywhere near that, the Honda gets around 40 mpg on the highway and that has been confirmed. The Honda stickered for $21,500 and is basically still a new car, it barely has 300 miles on it and is only 3 months old, but I am sure I could not get anywhere near the sticker price of it. I like the Caddy, but I am not that in love with it. I wanted a 94-95 Fleetwood when I was searching, but this 93 popped up locally and they are rather hard to find cars, you have to do a little searching for one if you want to buy one, so I would not mind no longer having it. Its just so nice on the inside, I am sure I would have a hard time finding another with an interior as nice. I have seen 40K mile examples with interiors not as nice as this one. Thanks for that advise though, it would work out that way, but I really want to hang on to the new car. I had been in the market for a new car anyway.

Thanks. Well I don't have to pay sales tax, but do have to file on my income tax. According to my calculations, I will have to pay about $2000.

Oh yeah, I know. I have rarely ever sold a car for more than I paid for it, but it has happened before. I had a '84 Mercedes, paid $1700 for it, sold a year later for $3300 and didn't do anything to it. I traded my '89 Safari that I paid $700 for, for a 89 BMW that I sold for $2100 and there has been a couple of others. Most of the time I lose money and I guess that is normal. I just wanted to mention that I am losing money on both of these cars if I sell for what is advertised for, which seems odd because I thought I could make $ on the Caddy if I ever sold it. When I was looking for one a couple of years ago, these were commanding very high prices. Seems like I since I purchased mine, they are not as desirable as they once were.

I thought I would ask though about someone with a wagon wanting to trade. I thought someone MAY have one of these that may have wanted a more modern car. I bet in 1993 someone would have quickly and happily traded a 70s clamshell for a $45,000 Cadillac Fleetwood wouldn't they? lol. In the early 90s, the clamshells were all over and worthless. My how times have changed. I like both, just seems like there may be some fans out there of the old wagons that are also fans of these Cadillacs... both are big RWD V8 GM classics now, so I thought I would at least ask. These Fleetwoods have a pretty high collector interest now. 20 years from now, I am sure this would be a super neat car to own.

I will probably wait and see what the couple that said they would buy it for $3000 wants to do and go from there. That would leave me with enough to pay my taxes, reduce the insurance from one car and maybe get my wagon back on the road.

I asked for advice and got it, maybe not what I wanted to hear, but I asked for it.

Thanks again.