Coming To A Garage Near Me

[Weldangrind]

Even free stuff has a cost, I guess.

[cheesy]

Originally Posted by Weldangrind

Even free stuff has a cost, I guess.

Yup. Just like a 'Free Puppy'.

[cheesy]

Looks like the deal for the Fiat may be dead.

I'm not going to lose any sleep over it, though, because, yesterday my Dad asked me to take this off his hands.


It's a 1948 De Soto Club Coupe. The pic isn't of his but his is an exact match. And it is fully restored.

The car is willed to my oldest daughter but my Dad, who recently turned 80, has started to divest himself of many of his toys. Dad wants me to have the car for the time being until my daughter gets a garage to keep it in. Which could be awhile.

Bit of a background on the car, my Dad has owned it for almost forty years. The restoration took almost ten years. During that ten years, he and Mom hauled my kids all over the upper midwest and western states chasing down parts for the car. My oldest fell in love with car and Dad told she would have it some day. It was pretty cute when she called it "Her Soto De".

6 cylinder flat head, slush box, radio, and heater. I built up a 6 volt positive ground alternator for it a few years back that Dad never installed and I have a rebuilt water pump for it sitting under my desk.

Maybe it was karma that I cleaned out my garage.

[cheesy]

Heck, I looked on line a bit more and here is Dads' De Soto. I know the license number and that's one of his friends in the background.

[SpudRider]

That's a beautiful car.

[Weldangrind]

Very, very nice. I'd be all over that.

My Dad has a '49 Ford that's mine when I'm ready, but it's far from perfect. That's ok, because I'm far from ready.

[cheesy]

Originally Posted by Weldangrind

Very, very nice. I'd be all over that.

My Dad has a '49 Ford that's mine when I'm ready, but it's far from perfect. That's ok, because I'm far from ready.

I work with a couple of guys that would be all over that 'Shoebox Ford'.

[jct842]

Those old cars sure are nice. Owning one would never temp me though. I look at them as a huge liability. They cost a fortune to own, insure and maintain if they are driven. I would much rather have a modern vehicle that I could use. I have ridden in a lot of them before they were collectable and of course owned a couple too, they were not nearly as special then. I wonder if 75 years from today if many of today's cars will be collectable. Probably not with the amount of them made comparatively.

[Bruce's]

I had one of those for my very first car ,8500 km on it and it had a blown headgasket so the original owner traded it in and I got it for $950.00 .$23.00 later I had it running and was terrorizing the neighbourhood .The car although new ,was a complete p.o.s. ! And it had lots of bugs ,and at 32000 km ,the steel nipple for the fuel line fell out of the fuel pump and the car burnt to the ground .
Mine was a 1978 or 1979 ,and was one of the last ones sold in Canada the importer closed up shop around that time ,which is why the original owner traded it in in 1981 as he couldn't find anybody to fix it .I used to bring 3 others skiing in that car ,1.5 hours each way in a cold canadian winter often with the hardtop removed ,and have fond memories of driving it home in a whiteout with a friend outside the passenger side door up to his waist looking for the snow bank on the side of the highway so we knew we were still on the road .
The paint fell off of it just sitting in the driveway ,and as soon as the paint dropped the metal was rusty real bad .For some reason it ate ignition rotors and caps ,good thing I had a few spares as one night about 2 am a rotor flew through the distributer cap in a very dark and deserted highway .I had done the rotor and cap so many times ,it took me about 10 minutes without a flashlight in pitch black conditions .Despite all that ,I would love another to fool with .
If I remember ,the oil filter was the same as a ford v8 and the old chryslers used the same filter just a little shorter than the ford .In case it haven't been mentioned ,fiat stands for fix it again tony ! .

[Weldangrind]

Originally Posted by cheesy

I work with a couple of guys that would be all over that 'Shoebox Ford'.

Especially this one, being a two door coupe.

Mrs. Weldangrind and I used it as a wedding car. The fuel pump pushrod picked that day to wear out, and it stalled several times during our drive for photographs. Strangers actually got out of their cars in traffic to push start the car.

[cheesy]

Originally Posted by jct842

Those old cars sure are nice. Owning one would never temp me though. I look at them as a huge liability. They cost a fortune to own, insure and maintain if they are driven. I would much rather have a modern vehicle that I could use. I have ridden in a lot of them before they were collectable and of course owned a couple too, they were not nearly as special then. I wonder if 75 years from today if many of today's cars will be collectable. Probably not with the amount of them made comparatively.

I will have to disagree to a point. Old cars, yes, can cost mondo bucks to own, insure, and maintain.

Some reasons for high cost are owners insisting on NOS parts, still in the box. An 1157 bulb in a box marked Studebaker isn't any different from the 1157 bulb found on the rack at NAPA, it just costs more. Many owners also will not take on any repairs or maintenance themselves, thereby raising ownership costs.

Insurance is a crapshoot. The De Soto is valued at $14,000 by Hagerty and will probably cost less to insure than my Jeep. The 1991 'vette I had considered a couple years ago, valued at $10,000, was in the $1000 a year range. A lot more than I pay for Jeep.

The De Soto has been pretty cheap for my Dad to own. One reason has been parts availability. Chrysler still makes the engine for industrial applications. Many of the brake components are used in fork trucks. Bearings are bearings. Where the cost is high is trim parts, mostly concerning the grille.

It's just me, but I find modern cars boring.

[Weldangrind]

Originally Posted by cheesy

I will have to disagree to a point. Old cars, yes, can cost mondo bucks to own, insure, and maintain.

Some reasons for high cost are owners insisting on NOS parts, still in the box. An 1157 bulb in a box marked Studebaker isn't any different from the 1157 bulb found on the rack at NAPA, it just costs more. Many owners also will not take on any repairs or maintenance themselves, thereby raising ownership costs.

Insurance is a crapshoot. The De Soto is valued at $14,000 by Hagerty and will probably cost less to insure than my Jeep. The 1991 'vette I had considered a couple years ago, valued at $10,000, was in the $1000 a year range. A lot more than I pay for Jeep.

The De Soto has been pretty cheap for my Dad to own. One reason has been parts availability. Chrysler still makes the engine for industrial applications. Many of the brake components are used in fork trucks. Bearings are bearings. Where the cost is high is trim parts, mostly concerning the grille.

It's just me, but I find modern cars boring.

I agree with all of your statements here. Add to that, eBay makes searching for parts much easier than 20 years ago.

All that said, I think Bruce was referencing the Fiat, not the De Soto.

[cheesy]

Bump.

My wife just got a text from the owner of the Fiat this thread started 5 years ago, asking if I wanted it for the same deal as before.

I hemmed and hawed and finally said no. Then I think I said yes.

[cheesy]

Dammit, I did say yes.

[Bruces]

I do not remember this thread ,but I was referring to the Fiat many years ago when I replied above lol .I loved that car and hated it at the same time , I would love another to mess with ,possibly take for a top down ski trip in -30 temps lol .