First Muscle Car Purchase - General Advice

Selling the Honda is the American thing to do, but, it's also the STUPIDEST thing you could do...

The Ranchero can stay in storage somewhere cheap and out of the way in Tacoma and you can drive it on nice weekends...

Drive the Rice for economy for mileage, to save money on rainy day's for those Sunny ones!

FE

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i got **** to saybut keyboard not working will get back to ya

Ft. Lewis, huh? I'm just a bit north of you in Federal Way. Need to get you up to Pacific Raceways when you get back, or this coming weekend for the season opener.

I remember a guy back in '75 - '76 that had a 429CJ powered '71 Ranchero, shaker hood and all. They do exist.

My .02 is keep the Honda for a driver and use the Ranchero, or whatever you end up with, as your cruiser. Always easier to work on a car you don't need to drive in the morning than it is to build up a daily driver.

Another consideration is to find a car that has needs that match your skills. If you are good at bidy work find one with good interior and drivetrain, if your talents and passions run more towards engines then look for good body and interior. You get the idea. I've seen a lot of projects not get very far because the whole car needs to be worked and it ends up just being to daunting of a task, no access to right tools, etc.

Drop a line if you go to Pacific next weekend, I'll buy you a beer. (My son is at Ft Irwin, a nephew is 1st Mountain.)

Murff
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On 2007-04-21 23:00, Anc wrote:
. Okay, my dreamcar is a 1970 Ford Ranchero with the 429. Am I being completely retarded, as my father thinks (he says just buy a newer Mustang)? Are these cars possible to find? Impossible to work on? Prohibitively expensive?

Any and all help greatly appreciated!
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First, you're NOT being retarded..[img]/forums/images/smiles/icon_smile.gif[/img] Every one of us has a dream car, whether a muscler, a traditional hot rod, a race car or whatever that they'd give their left arm to own. Rather than lead you on, I'll give you some dowsides of your choice first and then a possible way to make your dream come true.

First, finding a factory '70 429 Ranchero in decent shape for $12K is going to be nigh impossible unless you're very lucky. Ford didn't build that many of these to begin with, plus the pre-'72 Torinos/Rancheros rusted badly unless one lived in a dry climate for 37 years. Front fenders, cowls, bedfloors, quarter panels and particularly the unibody structure rotted like crazy on these.

But here's what I would do. I'd start watching Auto Trader, newpaper classifieds, Craigslist, eBay or even freebie papers from the desert southwest for a running untampered with '70 'Chero in decent shape. In addition to watching traderonline.com, you can subscribe to any Trader Publication from any area of the country and have it mailed to you. Since you're not ready to buy tomorrow, this is the time to do your homework as to prices.

When you're ready to buy, I'd have put back a few bux for an Arizona and Desert California vacation. I may be WAY off here, but I'll bet that you can buy a rustfree 302 powered drivable '70 Ranchero out there for well under $4K.

Then it's time to build your dream! 429-460s arent expensive nor are the parts to build one. Other than paint, wheels, interior, suspension and such to your liking, the only other semi-expensive stuff will be the 429 specific parts for a '70-'71 Torino. But by joining a few Torino groups....think there might be a national club, watching eBay, boneyard shopping, horsetrading, etc what you need will turn up.

Can you do all of this and own a BB 'Chero for $12K? It's within the realm of possiblity if you and your buddy can do most if not all of the work yourselves and find some real deals.

I'm not commenting about your Honda other than wondering why you drive one if your dad owns a Ford store??... [img]/forums/images/smiles/icon_confused.gif[/img]

Jan

Murff: yep Ft. Lewis, although presently Camp Liberty. Unfotunantly as much as I would love a beer, I won't be able to make it any time soon. [img]/forums/images/smiles/icon_wink.gif[/img]

As to skills, what skills? According to my ASVAB I got alot of mechicanical ability, but I've never done any serious work on cars before. Closest I've come is handing my buddies tools and drinking beer. Which is why the idea of swapping engines kinda scares me. Although I guess I could just take care of some of the other stuff first and then focus on the motor, but that is a pretty long time to wait. I'm not sure if I'll ever have that skill level.


As to keeping the Honda, any idea how much insurance for a 25 yo would run for a muscle car?

Jan: Thanks for the tips, I'll scope out that website. As to the Honda, I needed a good reliable car and it was on my father's lot. It's a good car, and got a little V-6 w/Vtech so I'm not complaining. (Besides of course pointing out that the older son who graduated Magna Cum Laudi is driving an '00 Accord, while the younger brother who's gotten kicked out of two colleges got an '05 Mustang.... I always knew they loved him more... [img]/forums/images/smiles/icon_wink.gif[/img] )

You're at Camp Liberty. I work at JMMT-I at BIAP. Was Camp Buehring, Kuwait before here. I take care of your snail mail. The Ranchero you're looking for is out there but hard to find. Not many made and most were rode hard and hung up wet. Possible to build one for a good price. Ebay is a good start as is torinocobra.com

Thanks for the websites. This thread has been worth it for the links alone.

BIAP kicks the **** out of Buehring. Bet you're glad to be outta there.



Okay, consensus seems to be that the Ranchero is a go whereas the 429 is a no go. So heres my question. Say I was to get a regular 70/71 Ranchero. How much work could I do to it that would stick with it if/when I am able to upgrade engines? Or would I just leave the hood closed until I was ready to upgrade?

As far as the Insurance goes you can insure it thruogh some of the specialty company's (Hagarty, others ) for cheap if it's not your daily driver.

Putting the bigger engine is easy. The motor mounts are the ones that have to be right. Some try and use 351C and they're a little lower mounts. But Ford did it so all the parts, headers, bigger springs, manual or power steering, disc brakes setups, crosmembers for auto or stick, etc. Buehring is run by losers that can't do it anywhere else. They use the NGs there so they can get their ticket punched for OIF then put the lower ranking people on S&%t details. Waste of good people and then to many trying to run around justifing their useless jobs.

Define 'easy.' LOL

I have to agree on all counts about Buering. Please don't take this the wrong way, but it seems the poguest of the pogues run the place. Only decent people were the KBR contractors!