New user here from Pittsburgh PA. I am the owner of a 64 Olds F85, though I am torn between trying to sell or restore it.

 

Welcome aboard

I keep asking for one of you guys to fax me a Pamani Brothers Sandwich. Sardine and cheese wold be awesome.

Post some pics of you car when you have time.

 

A primanti bros eh? A fax wouldnt do the sandwich justice :P

Here are a couple of the car as it stands right now.

 

 

 

S-W-E-E-T

Ride ride

What's the red ting-a-ma-jig on the drivers side fender well. It looks kinda like the thing on my boat to switch batteries.

I'm so hungry I could eat a fax Pamanti Bros.

 

Its exactly that! The previous owner had a switch put in for the batteries... it has two batteries - one on each side of the engine bay. Not quite sure why, but its there...

 

The car also has a rebuilt Olds 350 in it. The car is alot of fun to drive.

 

On my boat when it's docked, I have a bllge pump to pump out water on one battery. Then when I'm ready to start it up I switch to both and start it up and recharge the bilge pump battery while running.

The only car I had two batteries in was an Old GMC Jimmy with roof mounted off the road lights that would run down one battery.

 

no red thing-a-ma-jig; however, have a custom pickup with a 500 out of a 71 eldo. have 2 batteries in series to boost cranking!

 

My red thing-a-ma-jig has a switch that read 1, 2, all.[maybe it's both] I can't berbember.

Anywho cool car.

Now what's the box on the fan shroud?

 

That box would be a control switch for an additional fan the previous owner had installed on the front of the radiator.

 

Gottcha

I've got a Vista Cruiser that the previous owner had wires running all over everywhere for a boom box, alarm system, and lord knows what else.

 

In my opinion the car looks very restorable. I guess it would also depend on if you want to make it a trailer queen show car or just a nice cruising while looking good car. I prefer to drive them as much as possible while fixing it up over the winters. Way too much salt on the roads here in winter to drive anything you want to keep forever.

 

Nice 4-door. Looks very straight. If your asking for an opinion I say restore it.

#1 its a great sleeper with the 350
#2 Too many of the four doors have just been cut up for parts
#3 Ii's good to be different

Just my 2 cents

 

Keep it and restore it. You can just as much fun with a 4-door.

 

I think I'll be contrary and say SELL IT!


Time for a reality check.

As it sits there in your driveway, it's worth about $2000 to $2500, IF you can find someone to buy it. As has been pointed out, the most likely buyer of a car like this would be someone who plans to part it out.

If you restore it to showroom condition, it's value, according to the Old Cars Price Guide, will rise to $7,500 to $8,000. In general, you will spend more on a restoration than you will get back when you go to sell the car, pretty much regardless of the car. Certainly this will be the case for a relatively less popular body style like a 4-door sedan.

If you're concerned about selling the car once you finish the restoration, it's worth coming up with a rough figure on what you'll need to spend to bring it to the condition you want and then decide if there is a reasonable chance of recovering that value in a later sale.

Now, for most people, the joy of this hobby is in the doing, not the owning, so regardless of cost, they want to restore. They might sell the car one day, but they would also be perfectly happy to make it part of their estate. If this describes you, then you don't worry about future value and what you'll spend, you just have fun with it, even if it takes 10 years to complete the restoration.

It all depends on what your motivation is. The fact that you're considering selling it at all suggests that you have some doubts about the restoration process, whether it's the search for parts, the cost of parts, the worth of restoring this particular car, your confidence in your own skills and abilities, or something else.

 

It does look pretty clean and straight. Were you planning on restoring it to a driver condition or show condition? Personally I think anything old that looks this good is worth saving. But, what does it need and how much money do you want to put into it?

 

Good points Jaunty. He did specify "restore" and not "build up" or "hotrod". Sam, I think if you would desire to do the former then I agree with Jaunty, if you are doing any other, then......go for it! I can just see that car given the same treatment Richard did to his Cutlass, maybe even with the top chopped down just a few inches. That would be one sleeper, put steel wheels with dog dish hubcaps. Most people would not be able to tell it wasn't stock without a close second look.

 

Oldsguy makes a good point here. If you are looking to modify or hot-rod this car, then most of what I said above is irrelevant. What people spend to modify a car ranges from near nothing to quite a lot, and there is really no way to predict the future value of modified car if selling it at some point is your intention. Personal taste comes into play here, and what one guy might like another guy might not. Quality of the workmanship matters here, too. If you DO modify, make sure you do a da*n good job of it!

This car looks like a good candidate for this because, from the pictures, it looks basically solid, and since it isn't a terribly intrinsically valuable car to begin with, it's not like you would be lowering its worth by modifying it.

The situation would be different if it were a convertible and you were thinking of modifying it. Probably as many people would consider that modifying it would lower its value as would consider that doing so would raise its value.

 

Thanks everyone for their comments.

Like I have said, I am torn. I am trying to sell the car, but after seeing so many cool rides on this site, I would be sad to see the car go.

I am trying to sell the car mainly because:

1. I have no place to store it.
2. I have no budget for it - major house renovations and car renovations dont go well together in a happy marriage :P

I bought the car from a friend's father who had serious health issues. At the time I bought it just for fun and not really thinking long term. Now that I have come to really like the car, I would hate to see it waste away.

If I cant sell it for a fair price, Ill just hold on to it for awhile till I get the money to restore it. A little body work and some paint and the car would look great.

 

Wow. Two serious reasons. Even if you don't have a budget right now, having a place to store it until you CAN get at it would be nice. But with no place to store it, you're putting it outside. A car-cover would help. Do you have even an outdoor place to keep it? I noticed that all your photos of it show it on the street. Is that by necessity?

 

I have a place to store it, but then I would have to displace my wife's vehicle which wont happen at the moment. If I dont sell it, a car cover will be ordered.

 

Which is the same thing as saying that you DON'T have a place to store it!

 

Exactly!

 

Welcome to the site.