I'm struggling here, boys. Most of you know by now that I have an affinity for the '56 Ford. I have on numerous occasions announced that it is my favorite car ever, especially the 2-door hardtop version. I've owned several through the years, driving one from Washington state across country to New York back in '81. Anyways, I attended a large swap meet here a week back, and an elderly gentleman approached the booth where I was hanging with some buddies of mine, and asked me if I knew anyone who might be interested in buying his '56 Ford Fairlane 2-door sedan? Okay, now that he has my attention, he proceeds to pull out a stack of pictures of the car. It's nice. It's
really nice. It's even the same colors as my hardtop project '56. I recognized the car, and asked him if he had bought it here (at the swap meet)? He had...last year. Paid $14,500 for it. Unfortunately, he suffered a mini-stroke, and now finds it difficult to deal with the manual steering and brakes. It's got an "allegedly" rebuilt 312 Y-block in it, backed by the Ford-O-Matic. He said it needs a headliner, but otherwise, the interior is very clean.
The gentleman said he'd like to get $10,000 for it. Said he just can't drive it anymore, and he hates to have it just sit. We talked about our love of the '56 Fords, swapping stories, and then he says to me that it's obvious that I know the cars, and that he would take a "reasonable offer" from me, instead.
Whooh.
I can afford to pick it up (meaning that I have the money,
not that it's a smart thing to do). I could buy it now, thereby securing the car, and sell some other stuff off to replenish the bank account, or I could sell stuff off, and hope that he still has it when I eventually acquire the needed funds. Or I could just forget the whole thing. What pains me is the knowledge that I could sink $10K into my hardtop project, and still be nowhere
near the condition of this car. Then again, I love working on cars, and generally prefer a shitter-car to a nice one. So many things to consider!
Here's a "pic of a pic" of the car. Opinions?
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