RM Auctions is a Canadian brick and mortar classic car auction house along the lines of Barrett-Jackson and Mecum that started auctioning cars in 1991. In 2015, Sotheby’s (a British auction company founded in 1744, run by a dude named Lord Dalmeny, owned largely by a Chinese life insurance company called…can’t make this up…Taiking Life) […]
This next car comes as a tip from David who writes: Look, run it, don’t run I’m aces either way. But just tell me that’s not actually the air cleaner mounted on what should be the top of the quarter panel. As the proud owner of a ’90 C4 Corvette I’m tempted to get this just to confuse everyone. Yes David, that is a rare optional headrest/aircleaner attached to a single piece Vettish fiberglass body sitting on a Beetle chassis. Wow, that was harder to write than I expected. Find this 1973 Volkswagen Beetle Custom Corvette offered for $1234 in Apopka, FL via fiberbook glassplace.
The Oldsmobile Custom Cruiser needs no introduction around these parts, but I’ll give you the short version because I’m in a sharing mood. Oldsmobile was a brand founded by Ransom E Olds in 1897 and was folded into the general morters corporate machine in 1908. For the next 100 years, GM squeezed every last drop of blood from that turnip and shockingly managed to sell over a million Oldsmobiles in 1986. One of them was this full sized beasty called the Custom Cruiser. You can find them for about $4k around the interweb (in fact there is an ’89 example on eBay with Maroon paint and wood trim) but this next example seems especially nice for the asking price. Find this 1986 Oldsmobile Custom Cruiser offered for $4400 in Medford, OR via craigslist. Tip from Rock On!
I responded to the sight of this car with a visceral utterance that was something between an “uggg” and a “whoa”. What happened to the boxy lines of the 80s Corolla? Was it really necessary to turn it into a giant 4-wheeled suppository? Oh. This is a Tercel, which Toyota occasionally badged as the Corolla II and Windy. Find this 1992 Toyota Corolla Windy II offered for $4750 in Seattle, WA via craigslist. Tip from JB1025.
This next car comes as a tip from Zach who writes; If only there were people who knew how to make keys. Or screwdrivers, this is a vintage British car, you could probably start with a key from a can of Spam. Mmmm, spiced ham. I’m hungry now. Find this 1978 Triumph Spitfire 1500 offered for $3,600 in Westminster, CO via craigslist.
I’m not a huge fan of bucket seats on a big American muscle cruiser — I think they should have vinyl bench seats and column mounted shifters…but the center console on this next car is amazing. Like a drunkards’ nose, it is huge, red and prominent. The shifter sticks out of it like an alien monolith and it just makes me happy. Find this 1966 Ford Galaxie 500 XL offered for $13,975 buy-it-now or make offer in Rapid City, SD via ebay.
It is hard to understand how small a vintage Fiat 500 (Cinquecento!) is unless you see one in person. They are 116.9 inches in length, which is 3 inches shorter than the wheelbase of a Stellantis Chrysler 300 sedan. Haha, Stellantis. Anyway, at 1100 lbs curb weight, the vintage Fiat 500 is a zippy little city car, but if you want something fun with an Abarth badge, this is the way to do it. Find this 1971 Fiat 500 Abarth offered for $18,900 in Miami, FL via ebay.
Tipper James sent in this next car with the subject; Please be real. I’ve have to agree that this car seems too good to be true…because a 1974 model year Datsun 260Z (that was the only year they were sold in the USA) offered for $10k, even if it is the less desirable 2+2 version with the later 1974.5 big bumpers, is a good deal. I guess it is a good thing for the brand (and maybe car preservation…but that is debatable) that Datsun’s Z is finally getting the price appreciation it didn’t see for decades…but today’s example is priced from a decade ago. Find this 1974 Datsun 260Z 2+2 offered for $10,800 in Brookhaven, NY via craigslist.
I’d love to post every tip that we get into the DT inbox (well, maybe not the strange “missed connection” links that Kaibeezy always sends in…those we’ll keep for…ummm…nevermind). The point is…I’d post every single tip if I had the time, but I’ve got a job and a mortgage and kids that need to be driven to soccer practice and Buicks that need maintenance and a tinnitus in my right ear from welding on a muffler filled with unburnt exhaust gases and then there are those “missed connections.” Regardless, despite that, incongruently, I’ve got to report an event on the level of a cosmic conjunction, similar to the 2020 Christmas star when Jupiter and Saturn were seen on top of each other late last year. This next car was tipped by not just one, but by two legends of car hunting, juggernauts of the DT tips line — imagine Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan teaming up to kick some ass at the same time. Yes, that level of awesome. This next car was tipped simultaneously by both FuelTruck and Rock On! Find this 1985 Volvo 240DL Wagon offered for $3,600 in Palo Alto, CA via craigslist.
Let’s pretend for a minute that you (yes, you) aren’t a bot reading DailyTurismo searching for a way to insert some spam links, and let’s instead pretend you a fresh college graduate living in Houston. You’ve finally gotten a decent promotion and now you need car that is an upgrade from your Mom’s ancient hand-me-down Saturn you’ve been driving for the past 5 years, so you head to your local Toyohondaistubishi dealer with $20k in your pocket. What can you get? Uggg. Some nasty looking econoboxes with CVT transmission and all the soul of a Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen made for TV movie and all the character for a Walmart t-shirt. Disillusioned, you head out onto Auto Mall Blvd with your head low, but then you spy a big black beauty at in the back of a BMW dealer lot…could that long wheelbase luxury sedan really cost less than a medium spec Accord? Find this 2012 Audi A8L offered for $21,591 in Houston, TX via cars.com. Tip from Jeff.