In the last two installments I detailed out what cars I was initially interested in from the two auction sites. This time around, we will explore a selection of others that hold some interest as well. Let’s explore the rest of the yards for the treasures within.
As you may have noticed, next to the yellow 1975 Camaro there were two other F-bodies, but newer. First up is a 1985 Chevrolet Camaro which was in much nicer shape than the 1975 one. Paint was a bit shabby, but it had aftermarket wheels and the overall condition was pretty ok. From what I recall this was a 305cid V8 and automatic.
If you prefer your third generation F-body more in the Pontiac variety, we have a 1983 Pontiac Firebird here. This one was actually in quite decent shape. Equipped with a 305cid V8 and automatic it is well worth reviving. Just not for me.
How about a pair of Taurus SHOs? One was a five speed manual while the other was an automatic. These were marked parts cars only, unfortunately.
While a little dirty, these are still one of the best looking modern intake manifolds.
This 1986 Mercedes 300 SDL looks pretty decent, does it not? Anyone care to guess the mileage? Scroll down for the answer.
This one had racked up an impressive 512,049 kms. It had been smoked in during that time, so not for me, but reviving a high miler like this is likely foolhardy.
The Jeep hiding behind is a 1989 Comanche pickup truck that definitely has appeal. It had the desirable five speed manual but unfortunately it appeared to have out of province registration status and high (not quite Mercedes high) mileage.
Here is a 1987 Volkswagen Fox wagon, which is not a common sight around here anymore. This one sported a slightly old school four speed manual transmission. There were a few small pieces missing in the interior but a solid looking car overall. Bonus points for gold rims.
This 1963 Pontiac Parisienne sedan looked like it may have been someone’s parts car at some point, with most of the front chrome gone.
This 1984 Buick Skylark station wagon sported a four cylinder engine teamed to an automatic transmission. According to the owner, it had made a road trip to Utah and back not too many years ago.
Here is a rare and unique car, a 1989 Buick Reatta, down on its luck. This one has made its way through town with a several different owners. About five years back it was at a local used car dealership with a top dollar price tag. Then fell into disrepair somehow. It is apparently in need of some engine/electrical work and now without keys. Semi-recently the driver’s side window got broken along the way and the interior has been left open to the weather, doing it no favors.
This front end body style of this 1970 Chevrolet Impala is less seen these days. It appeared to be a solid car and would have made a nice project, but on the big side for me. I realize that seems silly given my interest in the 1995 Cadillac from part one, but at least that does not need painted.
This 1970 Dodge D300 was equipped with a V8 and manual gearbox. It appeared to have had a cube box on the rear by the looks of the remaining structure out back.
This 1970 Datsun pickup truck looked rough, with the driver’s side fender and the grille missing completely, but oddly the box was remarkably rust free. It had a new looking carburetor but missing spark plug wires. Odd.
A two door 1967 Plymouth Fury II that I did not look all that closely at. There were a few motorbikes and ATVs behind it in a cage for some reason.
Back at the other lot they had a few classics as well in addition to the mostly modern stuff. This 1973 Volkswagen Beetle was in pretty decent shape overall. Volkswagen folks can be a funny lot sometimes, and I figured it would go above my price threshold. Spoiler alert; it sold for $4,739.44 including buyer’s premium and tax despite a missing passenger side window.
This 1981 Jeep CJ7 was certainly a draw but missing a windshield and both doors. The story on this one was that it had been used on a local farm for several years before being sold to the car dealership. Like the Volkswagen, I figured it would go for bigger bucks than I was prepared to pay.
Among some of the more interesting modern cars, there were four pony cars. Two Camaros from the nineties, both sporting V6 engines. One was a five speed and the other an automatic. The automatic had been fitted with a nitrous system and the manual car (pictured) had been sitting for at least a decade on the lot. It was no doubt a really nice car at one point.
On the Ford side there was this 1992 Mustang with the 2.3L four cylinder engine paired to an automatic transmission. I remembered this one sitting near the Fiero my son had bought. It was remarkable for the rather low 84k kms on it. There was also a 2001 V6/auto Mustang as well, but it appears I was not even interested enough to take a photo of it. The 1974 Ford Ranchero next it came from the same estate as the 1995 Cadillac in part one, but was not a part of the auction.
A pair of matching 1991 Dodge Stealth ES sports cars is not a common sight. One had a salvage title, so made sense as a parts car to the other. Both were non-turbo cars but were equipped with a five speed manual transmission.
Rounding out the rest of the interesting cars were a 1967 Chrysler Newport Custom, 2002 Chevrolet Tracker, 2003 Toyota Celica GT, 2007 Mitsubishi Eclipse GT, and 2008 Nissan Altima coupe (V6, 6spd). The rest were more like the photo above.
So that wraps up the selection of vehicles at the auction that I am going highlight. As I mentioned in the first installment, it did not go completely to plan but I did snag myself at least one vehicle. My good friend Rod also bagged himself a bargain vehicle. Feel free to speculate what I might have bought in the comments, as the purchase will be revealed next.
CC Goes to the Auction: Part One – Daily Drive Fodder
CC Goes to the Auction: Part Two – Potential Projects
CC Goes to the Auction: Part Three – The Others
CC Goes to the Auction: Part Four – The Purchase
CC Goes to the Auction: Part Five – 1992 Ford Mustang LX Budget Makeover
The 1966 Plymouth Fury is really a ’67.
Thanks. Updated. This one is already being flipped.
https://www.kijiji.ca/v-classic-cars/lethbridge/67-sport-fury-2-door/1531583878
Different car – Fury II vs Sport Fury
Thanks. I stand corrected.
I believe it has a Dodge Fratzog hood emblem from the flipper pics
That is incredibly low miles on that Mustang. I assume the interior was in reasonably good condition too? Definitely would need some time with the heat gun, plastic razor blade or the eraser wheel to get rid of the cheap stripes that are still hanging on. Hopefully the ghosting wouldn’t be too bad.
I like the Fury, but it’s a big project. Don’t like the look of what’s left of the engine in the flipper ad, although $2500 is reasonable.
Not surprised by the beetle price, and although I see all the passenger side glass (??) parts are still readily available and inexpensive for these cars.
Looking forward to seeing what you got!
1970 Impala Custom for me! Mainly for sentimental reasons, as my dad had the ‘69 version.
I had to go back and read the previous installments. If you’re looking for a driver, the best deal, on the car that is the best shape is the rule to follow. You’ve got to be flexible on the type and model of vehicle. Looking for a project, then I think the choice will be more subjective. You would be looking for a car that you might really like. Condition is also important, but parts availability is also a factor. Hard to find, as well as source, parts will bring any project to a halt, taxing your resources and wearing down your resolve. Cases in point: my ’70 mustang coupe. Parts available everywhere, and fairly inexpensive. A satisfying experience. Then there’s my ’51 Jag. Car is in pretty fair shape but finding affordable, make that any, parts for the brake hydraulics at a reasonable price is impossible. Therefor the project has stalled out. Frustrating. Then there is my Jaguar XJS convertible, V12 of course. Parts are more easily obtained than you’d think, but the DIY repair process can be maddening. The jury is still out on this one but the process continues.
Of the cars you’ve displayed, I’d mention that those late 90’s V6 Camaros are a good bet, especially the one with the five speed manual. The V6 was rated at 200 hp. and is a good match for the transmission. Contemporary road testers liked the cars. I would think that insurance might not be too bad for a young person. The performance should be close to the Mustang GT of the time. Anyway it’s fun to look and dream, though I’ll do my searching on the net. Good luck.
Gotta say, the 83 Firebird is the diamond in this rough for me, black with T tops is hard to beat. There are definitely better collector cars and more interesting cars but they all seem to have an Achilles heel. The Comanche is really cool too though, despite the miles parts should be easy to find.
I love the Taurus SHO V6 manifold too, I keep meaning to buy one as wall art when i find them but the longer I procrastinate the more scarce they get. I really miss when cars went from having deliberately beautiful looking engines to them being shielded under swaths of plastic covers. There are a lot of things I dont like about the direction of automotive trends in the last 20 years, but that’s the worst. I could marginally tolerate a bloated ugly hatchback that is the crossover if the higher spec ones had something to look at under the hood. Its not like SHOs were that exotic to look at on the outside either.
Hmmm. I would take a closer look at that Pontiac Vibe in the last picture. It’s both: a practical daily and a modern day cult object. It would be hard to go wrong with it. Under the hood the Matrix and Corolla parts will fit.
The Vibe might be a good pick, but I don’t think David would want to invest in painting the front end. I’ll cast my vote for the Saturn(?) down that same row as the car he came home with.
The 1989 Comanche would be a great second vehicle if I had room in the driveway. Parts would be too big an issue, but these had a tendency to rust.
I don’t know how you would manage to pick a project out of some worthy cars. There are three I am looking at which are better than projects and so drivers. A 82 300D Turbo with 220,000 miles, a 98 Explorer with V6 and 5 speed and 140,000 miles, and a 88 240 wagon in good shape with 240,000 miles and a 5 speed. Usually what happens with me is that when there is more than one choice I can’t quickly decide and procrastination kicks in. That means they are gone by the time I do decide.
I came across a twin to that Jeep in the junkyard a while back and looked it over. As I passed by it again an hour later someone was…removing the windshield!
I think the Geo Tracker (mentioned but not in detail) looks interesting at the right price, certainly the SuperBeetle although the sales price means it would have been going home with whoever won it anyway, and lastly the VW Fox wagon, my college dorm neighbor had one (new at the time) and it was a great car.
Even without those though there seem to be lots of good options. Most with less rust than you usually seem to end up with. 🙂
Given your diverse automotive tastes, it’s hard to predict what you’ll buy. But I’m fairly confident it’s not the Reatta.
I think if I were to choose a daily driver from this group, I’d pick the Fox first (for practicality’s sake), and the Skylark wagon second… I mean, it’s a brown Buick wagon; what’s not to like?
I see that nice Mustang w/that wheezy 4 cyl engine. I also see the Taurus SHO parts cars. I wonder if you could put the good engine from one of the latter into the former:
https://www.fordmuscle.com/news/old-school-taurus-sho-meets-fox-body-mustang/
That would certainly be a nice combination!
The 5-speed SHO would be my pick.
Flagged as parts only so cannot be registered for the street without a massively expensive salvage inspection unfortunately.
If weather and critters have stayed out of the Mustang, it’s #1 in today’s comfort zone. Don’t care about the stripes (factory or otherwise) or the 2.3; getting it reliably streetable unlikely to be a money pit, and when I want to sell, there’ll be someone happy to get a clean one to stuff a 302 into, I’d think.
Nobody has mentioned that lead picture of the 40s Mopar. That would have been a great candidate if someone had not already ruined it. And, of course, something like that is becoming harder to re-sell unless it goes to the RestoMod crowd.
Either the VW Fox wagon or the 67 Fury hardtop would be the one to float my boat.
The 40s Mopar is a Plymouth of unknown exact year. I would have made a nice hot rod candidate for someone. Lots of missing parts including engine, front sheet metal and side doors unfortunately.
The 70 Impala is the one for me, though I have no garage space left. It’d make a nice addition to my 67,68, and two 69’s. That 67 Fury also interests me. It’s a Canadian only variant as US Fury II models only came in two and four dire sedan body styles. The Jeep pickup brings back memories. My Father in law had a 1990 he bought new. By 1999 it was in need of a clutch. I drove it numerous times at that point. Fun trying to change gears with a slipping clutch
As you can’t get a ’67 Fury II two door hardtop in the U.S. I would have been all over that one and it might have even had a final year (for Canada) 318 poly in it. My other choice which was in the background of one of your Camaro photos would have been the fast top ’67 Chrysler Newport. I have some leftover parts salvaged from my ’67 Sport Fury I could use towards the Fury II. As they are, they’re spares for my ’68 VIP fast top.