Welcome to Craigslist Crapshoot, our weekly search for the most bizarre, awesome, and/or terrible vehicles that the online classifieds has to offer.
Wranglers aren’t just jeans, they’re also Jeeps, and that’s what we wen’t looking for last week, Wranglers and CJs, all for under five-grand. We’ll what’s off the road and on the table in a sec, but first this week’s quest.
As always, we want your finds to go down in infamy and not in the site’s spam filter. Since we’ve changed commenting systems, you may need to update your commenter account. Make sure you have a Disqus account – they’re free and easy to get – and then comment away.
Got that? Good, now let’s talk about a heap ‘o Jeeps!
Who knew there were so many cheap Jeeps out there? Let’s start up North as Spin found us a crazy rock-hopper in Canada with a guy driving it that looks like an angry Putin. Heading south a bit we got a creepy-cool M170, found by mdharrell. If you refuse to let rain nor snow nor dark of night get in your way, then maybe you’d like the very stylish DJ5 that was offered up by Fuhrman16. That one was even left-hand drive, which I don’t think I’ve ever seen before as I’ve only ever seen these as mail carriers.
Our big winner came from Jofes2, and engendered all kinds of jokes about “going commando.” By the way, was “going commando” even a thing before everyone’s favorite episode of Friends? Whatever the original source, the 1984 Jeep Commando offered a funky top, a 2800-cc Perkins Diesel engine, too-far apart headlights and a 4,000-euro price. It gained the most up-votes and wins our little Jeepscapade.
Congrats to Jofes2, and thank you all for your excellent contributions. Now, let’s go and plot a Coupe.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/8953bfc0c9569f1ad6a6936246bb000b806c171662a7ffa395b953cfe2e5daf4.jpg A nice 125k-mile 1999 Buick Riviera coupe for $5,000 even.
https://tinyurl.com/nxsaoxq
“Body is in good condition” https://stlouis.craigslist.org/cto/6064318403.html
https://images.craigslist.org/00m0m_1K13hflZTcV_1200x900.jpg
Body in good condition, sure, but brain hurts.
Arguably the biggest of the big coupes – ’78 New Yorker that’s just about the size of New York. Oh how I want this. All this metal and still only $4500!
https://images.craigslist.org/00H0H_ia2Tblh5rTU_600x450.jpg
https://minneapolis.craigslist.org/hnp/cto/6084428721.html
Angry ‘Bird.
https://images.craigslist.org/00c0c_iM5ZXu3gOMA_600x450.jpg
https://sandiego.craigslist.org/nsd/cto/6032488882.html
This ’78 Thunderbird ticks all the right boxes, poor photography aside.
That lovely blue interior — so clean!
https://images.craigslist.org/01414_3pkwOhvM1Fi_1200x900.jpg
https://images.craigslist.org/01212_c8JCKgAMhZz_1200x900.jpg
https://kansascity.craigslist.org/cto/6080629929.html
It’s definitely big – too big to fit in the pictures.
This ’78 Caprice fits your description, and at just $2k, you can probably get it running and looking less like something bound for the crusher and still be within your $5k budget.
https://images.craigslist.org/01717_lGnJrE9UTqu_1200x900.jpg
https://kansascity.craigslist.org/cto/6080948400.html
“What defines big? Well, I’ll leave that up to you.”
Okay, then. Here’s a Topolino for $4000:
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/752f9fbfa7dfeb9dee71942fd18328d7f5662db47e803bb65a494656e0d529ee.jpg
https://seattle.craigslist.org/see/cto/6083238197.html
At least you didn’t explicitly open the even worse can of worms labeled “definition of coupé.”
$3900 for this bucket of excellence! Not recommned for blasting Mulholland however….https://losangeles.craigslist.org/wst/cto/6075043125.html https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/815b44efb30e061d6b4d197e91e55a7f382df3b9806a57a2b2b714ed99b90c6d.jpg
Glad to see these land yachts are still affordable.
*gets tape measure out to measure the gap round the side of my Irish end of terrace house*
Travel with style! White on baby vomit must be some style, I guess.
A US-spec Porsche 928 in Norway, with a sorry interior, “starts and runs fine”:
https://images.finncdn.no/dynamic/960w/2017/2/vertical-3/10/5/906/591/45_1629086261.jpg
https://images.finncdn.no/dynamic/960w/2017/2/vertical-3/10/5/906/591/45_775877381.jpg
Adjusting for import taxes, 65kNOK are exactly 5kUSD, I’m sure.
There is no such thing as a cheap 928, they all cost you at least 20k one way or another. 😉
The regular questions on a forum would be “How to turbo it” , “will 19×12″ fit” and “do Miata seats fit”. After two weeks, you’ll find it on CL again…
I agree on the “back on sale” in two weeks bit, but up til recently, the average question might have been “why won’t it start” and “HOW MUCH FOR AN ENGINE REBUILD???!!!!” ..I know someone who bought one, unprepared for what’s involved in running a 70s GT car, and my only experience of it was helping it out by meeting a recovery truck in the hotel car park he had to abandon it in. Values are on the way back up, so at least now they’re getting the sort of work they need. I had a hot wheels (I think, maybe matchbox) one as a kid and it was my favorite toy car, it looked so fast and futuristic. I knew so much about the car as a kid that I ended up completely boring my primary school teacher (I think I was seven or eight at the time) on the specifics of its construction. My cousin in the UK is restoring one, but he knows what he’s doing..
Right, my version is more for somebody who bought a runner…
After they learned about the rebuild costs, a flash of “Is there an LS swap howto?” often lights up the thread, too..
I have a 944, and I would love a 928, but I am a coward, both wrt. to the wrenching and to the defense of the expenses at Nanoop family board…
F-85 Cutlass is big. Big win! Aluminum 215 V-8 powered 4-on-the-floor for $3000
https://mendocino.craigslist.org/cto/6076332585.html
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/3f4c23897f767a7306221653f2552c9025a8058d69a147a85c3102e08cafe9b2.jpg
And heck, if you’re gonna leg it all the way to Leggett with $5K, why not come back with…
2 (two) 1940 Ford Customs for $2500 and 1 (one) 1957 Jaguar Mark Eight for $2500? Sure, they’re 4-door sedans and not coupes like this weeks Crapshoot is looking for, but you get to visit Leggett!
https://mendocino.craigslist.org/cto/6076532751.html
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/45d900d62fb19928ae18af47c0831cb1f5c1a866f671714a344b2dd57057d3cd.jpg
https://mendocino.craigslist.org/cto/6076331114.html
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/179c2ff4770ae4f8f97e509e2d7e8be405f9ca4c1d497c0c68e526314e3527f4.jpg
I vastly prefer the sedan but this thing has been on the local CL for a very long time. I’m betting he’d take less. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/554f4a9eed0e582050b0d8477a1444b2be79720e3c4687ea11b5c59696a3f0c1.jpg https://kansascity.craigslist.org/cto/6070576062.html
$1500 for a ’73 Continental Mk. IV. Quite the pounds to dollar ratio. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/c7042c6ba03ac3aafd9fb235413bf382a41723dccaabdd0459b42c73e3161e8f.jpg
https://siouxfalls.craigslist.org/cto/6040188823.html
’88 Thunderbird Turbo Coupe! $5000 and it’s listed as a 5-speed.
https://siouxcity.craigslist.org/ctd/6054068049.html
http://img.arrivesafeautos.com/12715/28310640/1.jpg
The first thing I thought was “Continental”:
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/580893ba1120236ea4efb468b6aee69128dc447a0fc9498e3de740b9f8375041.jpg
https://portland.craigslist.org/mlt/cto/6085545727.html
With the rare period-correct* hubcaps, I see.
*1990-1999
Mercedes-Benz certainly made some attractive big coupes over the years, so there ought to be one example in the Crapshoot. This is a 1989 420SEC that has apparently sat for a few years, so it probably needs a replacement of most rubber parts, but $4,000 CAD (~$3,000 USD) seems fine for one that is otherwise very clean.
http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/NDUwWDgwMA==/z/1U8AAOSwA29Y5WmR/$_27.JPG
http://www.kijiji.ca/v-cars-trucks/kingston-on/1989-mercedes-benz-420-sec-2-door/1252674434?enableSearchNavigationFlag=true
I consider the 1989 Buick Riviera one of the most successful mid-cycle updates ever – it turned a car that looked too much like the cheap compact N-body into something that looked luxurious enough to fit the Riviera name. All this was done with by lengthening it 11 inches (total) in the C-pillar and trunk.
Here’s a very clean 1989 Riviera in a lovely blue colour for $4,000 CAD (~$3,000 USD).
http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/NjAwWDgwMA==/z/4E4AAOSwhQhYyHUy/$_27.JPG
http://www.kijiji.ca/v-classic-cars/belleville/imported-from-usa/1246729206?enableSearchNavigationFlag=true
Much like the Riviera, the Oldsmobile Toronado was saddled with compact N-body looks when the new generation debuted for 1986. Also like the Riviera, the mid-cycle update, which added almost 13 inches to the rear in 1990, did wonders for the styling. Unfortunately, sales overall were in a decline and the Toronado was discontinued in 1992, a year before the Riviera of the same generation.
Here is an incredibly clean 1990 Toronado Trofeo, the sportier version, for $6,300 CAD (~$4,750 USD).
http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/NjAwWDgwMA==/z/7B8AAOSwzaJYBsMi/$_27.JPG
http://www.kijiji.ca/v-classic-cars/gatineau/very-rare/1209106664?enableSearchNavigationFlag=true
This somewhat bends the rules, as the car itself is located in southwestern Quebec, but it’s listed in the Ontario Kijiji, so here it is.
Cool for cats. And, $4,600 in change:
/Users/ostrichvanrotor/Desktop/conti-cat.jpeg
https://portland.craigslist.org/mlt/cto/6086104980.htm
Cool for cats. And, $4,600 in change.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/966aa1b7c070777dff86effd55750f357affc33d48324ab196ac0f9349abbe4a.jpg
https://portland.craigslist.org/mlt/cto/6086104980.html
Because I can, here’s a 1975 Cadillac Eldorado that I featured here more than 6 months ago ( http://hooniverse.info/2016/09/28/craigslist-crapshoot-189/ ), which is somehow still for sale, and now reduced to $3,000 CAD (~$2,250 USD). That’s certainly a lot of cubic inches and mass for the price!
http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/NjAwWDgwMA==/z/LGYAAOSwiLdV9x4u/$_27.JPG
http://www.kijiji.ca/v-classic-cars/windsor-area-on/1975-eldorado-reduced-again-no-emails/1102753127?enableSearchNavigationFlag=true
http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/MzYwWDY0MA==/z/8~oAAOSw~CFY7ZCS/$_27.JPG
http://www.kijiji.ca/v-classic-cars/oshawa-durham-region/1981-chrysler-imperial-2000-obo/1254517742?enableSearchNavigationFlag=true
Pick it up for $2k CDN and build a replica of one of the weirder things to be fielded in NASCAR? Why not?
http://www.imperialclub.org/Yr/1981/Buddy/bamirada.jpg
Well, it’s big on the inside…
http://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C854347
http://www.carandclassic.co.uk/uploads/cars/renault/8578209.jpg
I really wanted to use a ’77 New Yorker Bro in L.A., which has every option, I think,but I was beat to triple-white malaise New Yorkers.
However…I’d rock this.
https://dallas.craigslist.org/dal/cto/6053530396.html