- Thread starter
- #61
You spent $20k to make your $2500 truck worth $4k?
Why y'all acting surprised? At least, I am trying to think before I get to a point where I have spent $25K to make my $2500 truck worth $2k!
Where do we go from here? To replace my LX or not?
- Thread starter ClassyJalopy
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Why y'all acting surprised? At least, I am trying to think before I get to a point where I have spent $25K to make my $2500 truck worth $2k!
Just beat it likes it owes you money
They shouldn't be, it's like the universal religion of car enthusiasts, except for maybe those guys who buy brand new Porsches and put 100 miles on per year..
You’re being generous with that $4kYou spent $20k to make your $2500 truck worth $4k?
BullElk
SILVER Star
Like I said on another thread that can also be said here...."Don't underestimate the initial purchase. That is where the "deal" is made." But that certainly didn't happen in the transaction above.
Lol
It's painful to add up after the fact but yeah it's easy to get to that point. I bought mine for $12K back in 2016 and since then have spent $8K in parts (and a little labor like timing belt) and who even knows how much in upgrades
This. A friend asked me the other day what I had in mine, and I shot him an ES+D look "we don't talk about that".
I've still got another $7-9K to go before it's what I'd consider "finished" before I'd move on to another project. But that's all upgrade 'want' stuff.
Yes.
Doesn't he??
The truck isn't worth anything to sell it, and anything else you get to accomplish the same things you use the truck for is still more money. IMO, keep it, keep beating on it, add in whatever you like to replace it for regular duty.
I've got a really nice W123 that I've probably got close to $15-18k into at this point. It's only worth $5k on a good day, so not worth selling. It just sits in the garage, I tinker on little things here and there, and drive the piss out of it when I'm able to. Sound financial advice? Absolutely not. But, when you're dealing with enthusiast-type vehicles, financial responsibility goes out the door. It's pretty hard to make an 'ok' or even 'poor' car into a 'nice' or 'very nice' car without crossing the threshold of being upside-down in it. Even 'nice' 100s will need PM and baselining that can easily bring the owner past the point of book value before they ever get into mods. That's why there hasn't been much money in flipping vintage cars for a while- it's cheaper to just buy them finished.
@ClassyJalopy
I didn't have the time to pick this thread apart because I'm super busy right now but I happened to check here tonight and scrolled through.
Here are my thoughts - it depends on your budget. Can you afford a clean 100 or 200 on top of keeping a reliable older built 100 with some flaws? Are you financing or can you find a perfect one that has a title in hand and bring cash? Only you know those answers.
I would not bother selling that car. It has a bunch of nice mods and maintenance done, but with that mileage and condition there is zero rationale in unloading that car. The money you'll get in return for it will be a pittance. It will be like the terrible mistake I made in selling my BMW E30 5-spd years ago (in perfect shape for $3700 at the low point of the E30 values before they skyrocketed). I regret it to this day.
Keep your beater 100 and don't spend money on new mods for it, but keep it running. Find a clean, rust-free 100 or 200 if you can do it. You have to travel. Madison is terrible in winter (but it's a great city and I loved it there) so you have to go look for a clean one. I am in NC and most 200's are still insane prices. Occasionally you find a 100 in clean shape with no rust within a few hours. Most are clapped out though. It took me months and I drove 5 hours at 3 AM with my pregnant wife and existing kid, but it's the price you pay. Keep the one you have and go on the hunt for another one so you can start to gradually move on. You know the writing is on the wall, you started this thread
I didn't have the time to pick this thread apart because I'm super busy right now but I happened to check here tonight and scrolled through.
Here are my thoughts - it depends on your budget. Can you afford a clean 100 or 200 on top of keeping a reliable older built 100 with some flaws? Are you financing or can you find a perfect one that has a title in hand and bring cash? Only you know those answers.
I would not bother selling that car. It has a bunch of nice mods and maintenance done, but with that mileage and condition there is zero rationale in unloading that car. The money you'll get in return for it will be a pittance. It will be like the terrible mistake I made in selling my BMW E30 5-spd years ago (in perfect shape for $3700 at the low point of the E30 values before they skyrocketed). I regret it to this day.
Keep your beater 100 and don't spend money on new mods for it, but keep it running. Find a clean, rust-free 100 or 200 if you can do it. You have to travel. Madison is terrible in winter (but it's a great city and I loved it there) so you have to go look for a clean one. I am in NC and most 200's are still insane prices. Occasionally you find a 100 in clean shape with no rust within a few hours. Most are clapped out though. It took me months and I drove 5 hours at 3 AM with my pregnant wife and existing kid, but it's the price you pay. Keep the one you have and go on the hunt for another one so you can start to gradually move on. You know the writing is on the wall, you started this thread
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- Thread starter
- #69
You always have the most level-headed stuff to say here! I admire your gumption and perseverance with fixing up your 60.
While I absolutely love working with my hands and have dreamed about learning to weld, I unfortunately have almost zero free time between my job, my family of 3 kids, a sick mom and weekend school! Wrenching time is often late at night or on days when weekend school is off. Add severe lack of space (cruiser is parked outside year round!) and I can't imagine welding being a viable option, at the moment at least.
I have had a couple of shops look at the rust. Most run-of-the-mill body shops won't touch it with a 10 foot pole. They only want insurance work of replacing panels and painting them. Of the shops who will do specialty work like this they are either show-quality stuff producers and are thus very very expensive (seriously one shop quoted $10k for body work!!) or are of the variety that do a poor job inexpensively.
There are a couple of old-timers fighting to keep their one-man-show shops afloat is these tough times who are willing to take my truck as a challenge but both the shops want to cut out the rear quarters and rocker panels and replace them with either a good used example for about $2500 or replace them with new panels (yes you can still buy new body panels!!) for about $5000.
So to conclude, with the cost of body work being so high, this truck might have to live out rest of its life with risty panels or become even more expensive than it already is!!
Unless somewhere in a bigger city I can find one body shop that would do quality work at an affordable price - Chicago folks feel free to chime in here please.
- Thread starter
- #70
Spoken like a person who uses his cars and keeps them in good shape! All the money you have spent on your W123 are great investment as long as you enjoy it otherwise $15K is a lot of money to spend something pretty to look at!!
The truth is that if you use your truck, it will cost money! I could have perhaps shaved off a couple of grand of the total cost of ownership if I knew what I know now but that's what I call a 10% learning tax.
This thread is not me publicly regretting the expenses on the truck thus far, this thread is to look forward and make the best decision, given where my truck and I are at the moment and what the future plans are.
Thank you for your comments!
- Thread starter
- #71
@ClassyJalopy
I didn't have the time to pick this thread apart because I'm super busy right now but I happened to check here tonight and scrolled through.
Here are my thoughts - it depends on your budget. Can you afford a clean 100 or 200 on top of keeping a reliable older built 100 with some flaws? Are you financing or can you find a perfect one that has a title in hand and bring cash? Only you know those answers.
I would not bother selling that car. It has a bunch of nice mods and maintenance done, but with that mileage and condition there is zero rationale in unloading that car. The money you'll get in return for it will be a pittance. It will be like the terrible mistake I made in selling my BMW E30 5-spd years ago (in perfect shape for $3700 at the low point of the E30 values before they skyrocketed). I regret it to this day.
Keep your beater 100 and don't spend money on new mods for it, but keep it running. Find a clean, rust-free 100 or 200 if you can do it. You have to travel. Madison is terrible in winter (but it's a great city and I loved it there) so you have to go look for a clean one. I am in NC and most 200's are still insane prices. Occasionally you find a 100 in clean shape with no rust within a few hours. Most are clapped out though. It took me months and I drove 5 hours at 3 AM with my pregnant wife and existing kid, but it's the price you pay. Keep the one you have and go on the hunt for another one so you can start to gradually move on. You know the writing is on the wall, you started this thread
Appreciate the comment. I bet whoever bought your E30 made bank on it. I see the most clapped out, half the floor missing, wheels barely attached automatic E30s being sold for $5k+ these days!
"don't spend money on new mods for it, but keep it running" --> that is the hardest part. You know I have a front locker on the shelf that is $2k in immediate update right there!
I can't street park 2 land cruisers in my neighborhood, so the nicer Cruiser will have to replace our daily driver, a 2012 Sienna. Having driven a couple of LX570 in last 6 months, I have convinced by wife that it would be good replacement for our Sienna when the time comes. But as @Kabanstva said Sienna is head and shoulders above for daily liveability over the same year LC/LX unless you live in a jungle.
All of the discussion in this thread has helped me clear my head. I will post a summary soon.
gregnash
Anal Retentive Analyst
Yeah see that is what I was getting at... If the time is there, the ability can be learned. I have a one car garage that the wife's 4Runner occupies most of the time. Normally I will let her know that I am kicking her out of the garage for a couple days to do that stuff, or in the lucky situation where she is working late or out of town on business I can take over the garage. Was never more than a few days at a time so was something that I was very specific about what I was getting done. First few times of welding looked like bird s*** on a panel, but I started to get the hang of it and things came together.
And you are right, most shops will not touch that kind of stuff because all they want is the quick money with insurance work. Don't discount the old timers that want to throw a "used" panel in there. That is what I did with BeBe as new panels were somewhat hard to find (aftermarket) and they were UBER expensive. So really, the used panels aren't a bad idea. Usually the edge of the rust you can see you need to cut back a good 3-5" more past that to ensure you have good steel. That is part of what makes the job difficult, something that looks to be the size of a quarter can actually be the size of a softball (ask me how I know).
At this point, your best bet is to just keep running her and enjoying life in her. Take that extra money and start tossing away for the day you will be able to easily afford the 200 (or a pristine 100) and just keep that squirreled for now. That is at least what I would be doing, I go into these trucks with the intention to keep them forever, plan to hit 300k on this truck if nothing else. I had planned to never get rid of BeBe and do really miss the old girl, but circumstances changed and the easier solution was for me to sell her off for the 100.
My thought on rust is this: If it is not leaking water or noxious gas into the cabin, run it. If you feel inclined... slow it down.
I am going to try and slow my rust down by sand blasting and treating with POR15. It's worked on a couple of Jeeps I've had.
bought at 7.5k, stopped logging into my excel spreadsheet at 17k, it should probably be over 20k now. but i love it.
as for op, you cant look back at what you spent.
look ahead realistically. can you AFFORD to fix the issues? if so, keep it.
as for op, you cant look back at what you spent.
look ahead realistically. can you AFFORD to fix the issues? if so, keep it.
- Thread starter
- #75
Excellent idea! I will try and loan a compressor and sand blast the rusty bits and throw some rust reformer on there!
That seems to the majority opinion here. Thank you!
Ok wait a sec... If the 100 wasn't a good substitute for the Sienna given the reasons you mentioned (at least one was fuel mileage), why would a 200 fit the bill?
Not a 'gotcha', just making sure we're following what you're looking for to give the best suggestions.
gregnash
Anal Retentive Analyst
Something to go off this... Are you active in your local LC Club? If so, know of any guys in there that weld? Maybe pick parts and work with a couple guys to "pay them" to replace stuff for you as time/money allows you. Maybe something where you are going on a trip and won't need LC for a week, so you drop of with them with agreement that XYZ portion will be replaced with new steel, you do late night prep work (remove stuff, sand, etc.) and they are ones that pop in new steel for you, then you handle the priming, painting, reassembly, etc. afterwards?
- Thread starter
- #78
200 won't fit the bill either but that is the closest I got to rationalize purchasing another cruiser
gregnash
Anal Retentive Analyst
I think this is referred to as N+1200 won't fit the bill either but that is the closest I got to rationalize purchasing another cruiser
I am capable of repairing rust holes in sheet metal... learned how to weld patches while working on a couple of Jeep Comanches. The juice just isn't worth the squeeze with a cruiser that will be at 400k miles in a couple of years. There are plenty of clean units can still be found down south.
