UPDATE: Considering purchase of '64 F-85 Conv/4spd
September 14th, 2010, 09:54 AM
#1
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UPDATE: Considering purchase of '64 F-85 Conv/4spd
Hello!
About a week ago, I started a thread by asking everyone's opinion on a '64 Cutlass F-85 4 speed Convertible w/posi I found for sale.
Here's a recap of what the owner told me:
Nice driver, has some bondo in the rear quarters, trunk has been replaced, there were a few patches in the floor, has a recently rebuilt 330 (original), new clutch/pressure plate/throwout bearing, edelbrock carb, brakes, ball joints, exhaust, tires, rims. Body is a repaint in the original color midnight blue, white interior that's all there, no major tears or defects, but there are a few splits along the back seat seam. Top needs a rear window, power assist does not work, but all the parts are there and the roof can be raised and lowered manaually.
The car has also had a long, narrow sheet metal repair along the firewall, just below the body ID tag. The owner says that it runs a few feet, and was probably a repair to the pinch seam.
Bottom line price is $8000.
Several of you thought that it was a nice car, but almost everyone expressed concern about the frame (myself included), because of the trunk repair. After posting pics of the frame, several people said that the frame had been patched and didn't look original. One guy said "there was a stench around it"
Almost everyone urged me not to buy the car withough getting it inspected. Thanks to someone on this board, I did. Here's what he found, with a few new pics:
Overall, a nice car. It drove and tracked straight, tires are worn evenly. although it does need a front drag link. Tranny felt like a close ratio 4spd, shifted smoothly. Engine ran strong. Body is straight with no visible rot. Paint job is an older repaint in the original color, maybe a 20 footer. Has all the chrome, missing the antenna, all the glass is good, no holes in the top, but it needs a rear window, maybe just a zipper. Convertible mechanism is there, top moves very easily, but power does not work. Dash is good shape, has 1 small crack, factory console w/factory tach. Dash is cosmetically a bit worn, a few scratches, etc. Interior lights don't work, may just be bulbs. Overall, the car is very straight.
As far as the body and frame goes, the trunk was replaced, but the repair was very well done. Frame is very solid. Car does not appear to ever have been hit. Although he could not say positively wether the frame had been patched, he said that if it was, it was a very good job, and that it was basically impossible to say for certain that it was (I will repost the pics I have of the frame). All body mounts were solid.
Net, when I asked him if he would buy the car at the price of $8000, he said yes.
Main question - what if the frame has been patched, if the work was very well done, as was confirmed? It seems that if even if it was repaired, it was well done, is hard to tell, and has not affected the car's performance in any way.
Still seriously considering this car, and listening to all opinions.
About a week ago, I started a thread by asking everyone's opinion on a '64 Cutlass F-85 4 speed Convertible w/posi I found for sale.
Here's a recap of what the owner told me:
Nice driver, has some bondo in the rear quarters, trunk has been replaced, there were a few patches in the floor, has a recently rebuilt 330 (original), new clutch/pressure plate/throwout bearing, edelbrock carb, brakes, ball joints, exhaust, tires, rims. Body is a repaint in the original color midnight blue, white interior that's all there, no major tears or defects, but there are a few splits along the back seat seam. Top needs a rear window, power assist does not work, but all the parts are there and the roof can be raised and lowered manaually.
The car has also had a long, narrow sheet metal repair along the firewall, just below the body ID tag. The owner says that it runs a few feet, and was probably a repair to the pinch seam.
Bottom line price is $8000.
Several of you thought that it was a nice car, but almost everyone expressed concern about the frame (myself included), because of the trunk repair. After posting pics of the frame, several people said that the frame had been patched and didn't look original. One guy said "there was a stench around it"
Almost everyone urged me not to buy the car withough getting it inspected. Thanks to someone on this board, I did. Here's what he found, with a few new pics:Overall, a nice car. It drove and tracked straight, tires are worn evenly. although it does need a front drag link. Tranny felt like a close ratio 4spd, shifted smoothly. Engine ran strong. Body is straight with no visible rot. Paint job is an older repaint in the original color, maybe a 20 footer. Has all the chrome, missing the antenna, all the glass is good, no holes in the top, but it needs a rear window, maybe just a zipper. Convertible mechanism is there, top moves very easily, but power does not work. Dash is good shape, has 1 small crack, factory console w/factory tach. Dash is cosmetically a bit worn, a few scratches, etc. Interior lights don't work, may just be bulbs. Overall, the car is very straight.
As far as the body and frame goes, the trunk was replaced, but the repair was very well done. Frame is very solid. Car does not appear to ever have been hit. Although he could not say positively wether the frame had been patched, he said that if it was, it was a very good job, and that it was basically impossible to say for certain that it was (I will repost the pics I have of the frame). All body mounts were solid.
Net, when I asked him if he would buy the car at the price of $8000, he said yes.
Main question - what if the frame has been patched, if the work was very well done, as was confirmed? It seems that if even if it was repaired, it was well done, is hard to tell, and has not affected the car's performance in any way.
Still seriously considering this car, and listening to all opinions.
September 14th, 2010, 12:14 PM
#8
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Join Date: Feb 2009
Posts: 2,031
The things that stand out as it being wrong are the 4 holes in the outside for the regular crossmember. The vert pic I posted doesnt have them. And the part where it goes around the body mount hole is cut at right angles around it, the vert frame goes right passed it. And the seam where the frame is welded together in front of the rear tire. That is a regular frame Cutlass feature, I think vert frames were all one piece.
September 17th, 2010, 01:33 PM
#9
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Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: WHERE THE ACTION IS!!!
Posts: 156
Yes, I would stay away from this car at all costs, unless you can locate a vert frame that you can drop the body on at some point, which you don't even know if the body is in that great of shape with all the repairs to the cowl and trunk, I suspect much more elsewhere. In any case, it's not valued at what he is saying it is with all the hack jobs present in the pictures. If I saw this I would run as fast as I could in a straight line directly away from this guys garage probably screaming. 
There are plenty of 64's out there to invest in if you look hard enough. Cutlasses fewer, 442's even fewer yet, but you should be able to find a vert from '64 with time and some hard looking. I would be awful suprised if the doors shut without flaws along with the other moving compoenents. Just my thoughts, but it looks like a regular frame converted to a vert frame by joe blow in his garage with minimal metal welding/fitting experience or it was done in haste.
On another side note, can you get me some more pics of this "midnight mist" color. I'm planning on painting mine back to the original and would like to see how it may look with a new paint job, which is the same I think as this vert. PM them to me if you can. Thanks.
There are plenty of 64's out there to invest in if you look hard enough. Cutlasses fewer, 442's even fewer yet, but you should be able to find a vert from '64 with time and some hard looking. I would be awful suprised if the doors shut without flaws along with the other moving compoenents. Just my thoughts, but it looks like a regular frame converted to a vert frame by joe blow in his garage with minimal metal welding/fitting experience or it was done in haste. On another side note, can you get me some more pics of this "midnight mist" color. I'm planning on painting mine back to the original and would like to see how it may look with a new paint job, which is the same I think as this vert. PM them to me if you can. Thanks.
Last edited by dmcianfa; September 17th, 2010 at 02:14 PM.
September 17th, 2010, 01:51 PM
#10
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Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: Jacksonville, FL
Posts: 2,680
The firewall "repair" is unacceptable...pop rivets are probably the only thing holding the patch. The car has a lot of rust, which could add up to big dollars in the future, and the frame....stay away from this car, there are better ones out there.
just my .o2
just my .o2
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