As Seen on Craigslist – 1975 Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham

If you thought last week’s car had a mouthful of a name, this week’s Goodfellas set piece goes and one-ups it with the classic “Brougham” moniker.   I can’t imagine anyone wanting a 500 cubic-inch, brown – ahem “Rosewood” – land yacht in today’s $3.50 gas world, but here we are, at an asking price of nearly $12k.  That said, I’m really only featuring this car because of the upholstery.  If I can quote from the full ad (which I suggest you check out), the “Rosewood Monticello velour” waits to caress your backside while you – get this – put your feet up on the rear carpeted footrests.  Vinny the Bull approves.  Impress all your wiseguy buddies with this behemoth, just watch out for those FBI helicopters.

I would have had this post up a half -hour earlier, but I can’t stop staring at the pattern in those seats.  I swear I saw Ringo Starr’s face in the pattern after ten minutes.

As Seen on Craigslist – 1966 Mercury Park Lane Breezeway

The name might be as ungainly as the styling, but this one appeals to my love of formerly state-of-the-art technology.  Under that bizarrely cantilevered roofline is a rear window that rolls down, allowing for Renault Avantime-like open-air travel.  Unfortunately, this retro-cool piece of kit is wrapped in a decidedly boring (and you might say ugly) four door sedan, not to mention the wacky roofline.  That said, it’s rare, has low miles and looks to be in good shape, and it’s cheap.  I don’t think there’s anybody out there that really WANTS one of these cars, but it would be kind of fun to drive in the summer.

As Seen on Craigslist – 1966 Buick Electra 225

Normally I make fun of folks who can’t get the entire car in one picture when posting on Craigslist, but I’ll make an exception here because the car is so big you probably need a panoramic lens to capture it all.  I’m not normally a fan of red cars, but it works on this boat and it looks like it’s in good shape.  There are some cosmetic issues and it looks to me like the car has been sitting for a while – the tires are oxidized and sunken into the ground a bit and the grille looks funky – but if it’s rust free it would make a great summer cruiser at this price.  The lack of interior pictures may be cause for alarm, especially with a convertible – there might be more mold in there than a college dorm shower.  That said, interiors are generally easy and often inexpensive to repair, so I’d rather have that than a rusty mess to deal with.  Check behind the back seat and under the carpet, and get ready for Spring.

As Seen on Craigslist – 1969 GTO Judge

I’m not a restoration snob, so the lack of the original engine doesn’t bother me much, but either way $25k for a legit Judge is easy money.  Orange paint hides a lot of flaws, but if this car is straight and is a legit Judge, this was probably a $50k car three or four years ago.  Soon enough, the boomers will start dying off and the price will plummet even more (at least that’s my theory).  This car was the meanest thing around in its day, and up through the late 90’s it would probably still have smoked most factory hot rods – at least in a straight line.  But nowadays, with cheap turbos and stock Mustangs and Camaros making 500+ horsepower out of the box, these cars, at this price point, have little more than nostalgia to offer the average enthusiast.  Having said that, I’d probably rather have this than a new Camaro.  It just has that ineffable cool that modern cars struggle to attain.  It might not win as many stoplight drags these days, but that’s not really the point.