Should I trade my 96 Firebird for a 70 Cutlass?

Moby and Lucille

Moby and Lucille

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Okay, I think I'm gonna do it, but I figured I'd take it to the polls first.

Amazing find: 1970 Oldsmobile Cutlass S in silver with a black vinyl top, black vinyl interior, working AC, new tires and a 350 Rocket V8 (108,000 miles) The car could use a repaint and a little bondo (a little bit of body rot, nothing major though) and the steering wheel's got some wear on it, but otherwise it's pretty much mint. The brakes are a little mushy, otherwise it drives perfectly and boy is it fast!

In mint it's worth $10,000. In good condition it's worth, like, $6,500, and even in piss poor condition it's worth $3,300. This car is definitely worth at least $6,500, in it's current condition, probably more, and she's offering it to me for $3,500.

Sweet!

Here's the catch: As all of you (or most of you) know, I have a 1996 Pontiac Firebird V6 Auto.

It has a broken carrier bearing (so it's immobile) I've been quoted about $1000 for the replacement of the driveshaft (as the carrier bearing by itself is no longer available) After the carrier bearing is fixed, there will be no major problems with the car, it'll be reliable and pretty fun.

But it'll still be a V6 Firebird. I don't think I'd be happy in the long run with a Firebird that's not a V8.

Sure, I could drop a V8 in there (which had been the plan from day 1) but I'd have to replace damn near everything else at the same time and if I'm lucky the whole schmeer will cost me about $6,000.

Here's the crux of my problem:

I have a two and a half car garage, I'm not gonna have room for the Cutlass, the Firebird and the Continental and I refuse to give up the Continental, so if I get the Cutlass, then the Firebird's got to go. Even if I don't want it to.

IT ALL COMES DOWN TO 1970 CUTLASS 350R VS. 1996 FIREBIRD V6

So here was the thought:

The Firebird in good condition (which this one would be after the carrier bearing repair) is worth right about $5000. I would offer it for $2,500-$2,000 and find some gearhead who'd not flinch at doing the carrier bearing and be glad for the half-off price, then I'd sell the Town Car (not the Continental) for $1,500-$1,000 and there I'd have enough (or more) for the Cutlass.

I was gonna sell the Town Car anyway, but the proceeds were going to go towards fixing up the Firebird and/or the Continental, now they'd go towards buying the Cutlass.

What should I do? I'm definitely leaning towards going for the Cutlass and wishing the Firebird a good, long life elsewhere. But I'd also kinda feel like I'd be abandoning the Firebird, which even with a V6 is still a really cool car. (I love the styling of it!) But on the other hand. $3,000 off for a real deal highly sought after collector's item thats a hoot to drive around!

Should I get the Cutlass, or shouldn't I?

Help!

p.s. 99.9% of the people on this forum know exactly what a 1970 Cutlass and a 1996 Firebird looks like, but for the 0.01% of you, I've included a picture of each for reference.

Firebird Rear.jpg


Firebird Front.jpg


Cutlass Rear.jpg


Cutlass Front.jpg
 
But it's my Lucille. :(

Heh, if I get the cutlass I'd have to change my LvC member name (or more acurately, stop using this one and create a new one) :)

I've already started thinking of names for The Cutlass. The lady who owns it calls it bullitt (which I realise is blasphemy, but hey) I will probably call it "The Silver Bullet" or "The Rocket" or "The blade" or "The Knife" (since a cutlass is a sword)

So that'd make my new user name be either "Moby and The Silver Bullet" or "Moby and The Rocket" etc etc. (they sound like bad short stories) :)
 
Moby and Lucille said:
But it's my Lucille. :(

Heh, if I get the cutlass I'd have to change my LvC member name (or more acurately, stop using this one and create a new one) :)

I've already started thinking of names for The Cutlass. The lady who owns it calls it bullitt (which I realise is blasphemy, but hey) I will probably call it "The Silver Bullet" or "The Rocket" or "The blade" or "The Knife" (since a cutlass is a sword)

So that'd make my new user name be either "Moby and The Silver Bullet" or "Moby and The Rocket" etc etc. (they sound like bad short stories) :)
Click to expand...


Get the Cutlass! Yeah you can change your user name here to "Moby and The Rocket"!

sound great!


Jason
 
I've posted this same poll on four different message boards, and in just over 24hrs, between the four message boards, I've had 40 voters (including myself, which I only counted once though I voted all four times), and only six out of all 40 thought I should stick with the firebird and one recanted.

So 35 out of 40 thinks I should go with the cutlass.

Ironically, all six (five) firebird votes came from the same message board, Atari Age. Lincoln vs. Cadillac, Crown Vic.us and The Car Connection were all unanimously in favor of the Cutlass.

I had already pretty much decided to go for the cutlass, I just wanted some validation and reinforcement of my decision and it looks like I got it.

So this is it, it's official. I'm going for the cutlass. I'll sell the firebird right away for $2,000 with the bad carrier bearing, and then in Sept I'll have the fundage to flip the other $1,500 and then I'll have a cutlass.

I'll have a bill of sale, of course so she can't back out and I can't back out. She said if I paid $3,000 she'd let me have it and we'd work out arrangements for the last $500. I wonder if she'd let me have it at $2,000 with the promise that I'd have the other $1,500 in one month...hmmmmmm, maybe I wont have to wait til September to get it afterall. (one can hope)

Thanks for the input though, everyone!


I guess I wont be posting as "Moby and Lucille" for much longer.
 
You know though, This firebird isn't any old firebird. This is Lucille. This was a car that was basically given to me by my brother who's now in DC. And it was his pride and joy that he loved, and hated to get rid of to me even. And I'm gonna just be giving it away.

I have attachments to this car. That's why I needed the extra nudge to do what my head had been telling me from the instant I became aware of the cutlass I'd be stupid not to. My head isn't what needed convincing, friends, I just needed that nudge, that extra validation to enable me to let my heart not get in the way.

I wasn't looking for a car, I was fine with the Firebird. No, I didn't find this car, it found me. And now I'm gonna go get it. I will not hesitate any longer. But I will miss Lucille and hate to see her go.

Call me a sap if you want. :)
 
You made the right choice, unlike myself when I sold my 69 Mustang Mach I (428SCJ "r" code). I can never kick myself in the behind enough times. Here is
a pic;

69.jpg
 
Okay, so here's the update: I called Judy, (the lady with the cutlass) and told her it was a deal. We're gonna get together Tuesday or Wednesday to do up the bill of sale and purchase agreement binding both parties to the deal.

I had told her that I was gonna sell the firebird right away and give her the $2000 once it sells, and that in Sept I'd pay her the remaining $1500 in one lump sum.

Not only was she fine with that, but my hope that she'd release the car at $2000 instead of $3000 was realised. I didn't even have to ask, she just offered Woohoo!!(truthfully, I doubt I would've asked)

So, that's it. All we're waiting on is the firebird. And if worse comes to worse and the firebird doesn't sell by mid september, I'll pay the whole $3500 out of pocket and reimburse myself with the proceeds from the firebird.

It's a done deal. :)

I'll post back with pics and updates. (I'll try to get some pics while we're there making up the purchase agreement.)
 
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