Good morning! Today we’re looking at two ultra-low-mileage cars that I’d be willing to bet are estate sales. They’re both in beautiful cosmetic condition, but need a little mechanical work before being put back into service.
I admit that yesterday was kind of a joke, but I really wanted to feature that Cushman. Of course it lost; unless you want it to promote your business, it’s basically worthless. There is exactly one place I can think of where it would be perfect: The Vintages, a resort in Oregon that consists of a bunch of permanently-parked vintage travel trailers you can rent out. If they don’t already have something like it, this little Cushman would be ideal for running around the grounds.
For everyone else, there’s the big, brawny Ford F-250. That truck, for that price, is actually a screaming deal – so good, in fact, that some folks from Opposite Lock spent the day trying to figure out a group buy deal. It’s a gas hog, but it could do just about anything you need a truck for, and for the price of two or three payments on a new truck. I don’t expect it will be available for long.
It’s not uncommon for an estate sale to include a car. No one in the family needs or wants it, and it wasn’t bequeathed to anyone in particular, so up for sale it goes. I can’t say for certain that that’s what’s happening with these two, but based on the mileage and condition of them, along with the types of cars they are, it wouldn’t surprise me. But as clean as they are, sitting around isn’t good for any car, so you’ll need to put in a little work to bring them up to snuff.
1984 Plymouth Reliant – $3,800
Engine/drivetrain: 2.2-liter overhead cam inline 4, three-speed automatic, FWD
Location: Glendale, AZ
Odometer reading: 17,000 miles
Operational status: Runs and drives, has been driven around the block regularly
If there were a hall of fame for boring cars, as ironic as that would be, the Plymouth Reliant and Dodge Aries twins would have pride of place. With styling that a five-year-old could duplicate, and a drivetrain that’s about as spicy as milk, these cars are nobody’s idea of fun. Sturdy, yes, and cleverly designed, and the engineering is a master class in doing more with less, but exciting they are not. But hey, not everybody wants excitement. Sometimes you just want to get to the grocery store and back.
This is the quintessential grandma-spec Reliant, a four-door sedan with a bench seat, a column-mounted gearshift for the Torqueflite automatic, and a manual tune radio that I’m pretty sure picks up both AM and FM stations. The standard issue 2.2-liter four was still equipped with a Holley two-barrel carburetor in 1984; fuel injection would arrive one year later with the styling refresh. This car has a scant 17,000 miles on its odometer, documented as original; the seller has paperwork going back to day one. It has been started and driven around the block regularly, but it still has a few cobwebs, and you should probably replace some belts and hoses before going too far. And check the date codes on those tires.
It’s in damn near museum quality condition inside; the seats hardly look like they’ve been sat in. Chrysler made a big deal when the K cars were introduced about them being true six-passenger cars, three in the front and three in the back, but I’ve spent quite a bit of time in various K and E cars over the years, and I can tell you that those six passengers had better be slender, or know each other really well. And in this case, they would be wise to double up on the deodorant; it has air conditioning, but the Freon has long since contributed to the hole in the ozone.
I’m guessing it has been an Arizona car all along, and kept in a garage; there’s no rust, nor is there much in the way of sun damage. The paint is still shiny, and the only fading I see is on the rub strip on the rear bumper. And it has all four original hubcaps.
1986 Cadillac Fleetwood d’Elegance – $3,999
Engine/drivetrain: 4.1-liter overhead valve V8, four-speed automatic, FWD
Location: Smithtown, NY
Odometer reading: 24,000 miles
Operational status: Runs, but won’t shift out of first gear
In the mid-80s, Cadillac’s full-size lineup switched to front-wheel-drive. But not all of it; because Cadillac did a huge business with limousine and hearse manufacturers, it couldn’t abandon the body-on-frame RWD design altogether. But while the car was all-new, the nameplate was recycled, and things got a little muddy. The new FWD car was the DeVille, or in fancier trims, the Fleetwood, while the old RWD car became the Fleetwood Brougham. The seller calls this a Brougham, but it is in fact a FWD Fleetwood, with the hoity-toity d’Elegance trim package.
The engine is Cadillac’s HT4100 V8, a carryover from the old RWD car, mounted transversely and driving the front wheels through a Turbo Hydramatic 440-T4 transmission. The engine is fine in this one, but the transmission needs help: it won’t shift out of first gear. This is not an electronically-controlled transmission, so whatever is causing it to not shift is a mechanical problem. My money is on the throttle valve cable, which controls shift points; if it broke or came disconnected, it could keep the transmission from upshifting. But obviously you won’t be able to drive it home like this, unless you live in the same neighborhood as the seller.
The interior of these 80s FWD Cadillacs is a very nice place to be, with cushy seats, an easy-to-read digital dash, and plenty of room. As you would expect from the low mileage, it looks practically new inside. It’s hard to tell from the photos, but I don’t think it has a stereo installed; it looks like there’s just a hole where it should be. But the lack of one of those old Delco stereos is no great loss. You’d want something better anyway.
It’s clean and well-kept outside, with no rust. Someone has replaced the rectangular sealed-beam headlights with those awful retrofit LED lights, and then completely mis-aimed one of them. On behalf of every driver who might be going the opposite direction at night, please, please get that re-aimed right away.
Super-low-mileage cars like these can be a good deal, as long as you realize that they’re going to need at least as much work as a well-used example. Sitting around is bad for cars, and so is driving only a couple miles at a time. Honestly, the best thing you could do to either of these cars, after fixing their issues, is change all the fluids, replace the tires, and then take them on a road trip. Add a few hundred miles to the odometers at highway speeds, and I bet they’d both run a lot better when you got back. So which one will it be – the plain-vanilla Reliant, or the stuck-in-first-gear Caddy?
In the 80’s, my grandmother first drove an Aries, and then a Chrystler LeBaron (with a gold, vinyl top!). Neither of them knew the definition of “go”. I came out of a 1978 4-cylinder Mustang II and these cars seemed slow to me. Stomp the gas on the LeBaron, and you’d get passed by a kid pedaling a 10 speed bike from a dead stop in 1st gear.
That said, the specs on the Fleetwood don’t look any better, in spite of the V8.
I think I’ll go with the 10-speed bike.
Stylewise, the Caddy looks like the last gumdrop in the bag.
I’ll take the brutally basic Reliant, order up a steel wheel/premium tire package from Auto Rack and be pleased with myself.
That’s too fancy. Junkyard alloys, some suspension bits, and the best Walmart tires that fit.
OK, if that Caddy was in fabulous condition and actually WORKED, it would easily get my vote. But it doesn’t, so it’s easy in the other direction. I don’t love K-Cars, but this one will definitely be more reliant than that Caddy.
Of course in real life I wouldn’t touch either of them. I am already feeling a personal malaise, why would I want to drive vehicular malaise as well?
Don’t forget to don your juicy couture velour tracksuit when checking these out.
I had “a nice Reliant automobile” as a company car one summer. Just like this one, except it was a wagon. That was the worst car I ever drove. I hated every minute driving it. Power steering with no feel, ultra soft suspension, the engine fell into a torque hole with every upshift of the execrable transmission, which would never downshift unless your foot was flat to the floor. Uncomfortable bench seat…
The Caddy has been molested by the grandson but it should be possible to fix the damage.
There’s more to the story on the Caddy, let’s put our Matlock hats on.
It’s been a long time since I’ve been under the hood on one of these but that mass of wiring on the driver’s side is not factory; and was likely used for an amplifier install. That plus the missing radio, and poorly installed headlights point to it’s post-estate life. It’s trans is likley busted from neutral drops, not negligence. I’ll take the K-Car that I can drive, thanks.
Came to say exactly the same, especially the suspicion about reckless neutral drops leading to transmission damage. That plus the missing radio and associated wiring mess, plus the Autozone retrofit headlights spell some younger, ignorant driver messing about with it. Hey, everybody deserves their time to make mistakes with cars and learn from them. Not here to judge — but I don’t want to take on fixing the mistakes. And this generation of early FWD Cadillacs wasn’t a particularly interesting one; there’s just no incentive to burn time or money on it.
The K-car is unpretentious and just works. The A/C issue is straightforward to fix with bolt-on modern retrofit parts. It’s a time capsule of basic transportation and there’s something to be said for that kind of simple honesty.
There are worse forms of self-flagellation to drive from the same era — like a stripped-down Chevy Citation with only the Iron Duke 4-cylinder wheezily lugging its heavier ass around. The K-car is thrifty but cheerful in comparison.
Gummies and neutral drops for the win today.
I’m guessing the poorly-aligned headlight is related to the even more poorly-aligned hood to fender, suggesting a piss-poor repair after either Grandpa or grandson smacked something.
As for the non-factory wiring mess, it might be related to an aftermarket alarm system.
The misaligned hood caught my eye as well, but I can’t tell if it’s from a sloppy repair or the factory sloppy build quality.
Look at pic #8 in the ad, (passenger front view) you can tell the bumper sprung loose somewhere along the way
Aftermarket alarms are even worse IMO, but the wire gauge is too large for that, or it was installed by someone using the wrong wire for the job. Both are red flags.
“As for the non-factory wiring mess, it might be related to an aftermarket alarm system.”
But then I have to ask… why would anyone be worried about THAT car getting stolen? I would argue that having that HT4100-equipped Caddy stolen would be a blessing.
Presumably it would have been added in the 80’s when Grandpa was proud of his new Caddy. I can’t imagine anyone would go to the trouble in the 21st century.
I’ll take a functioning peasant’s car over a broken luxury car every single time. It’s time to drive to Old Country Buffet at 7:00am and 4:00pm in grandma’s old car.
I mean, it’s no White Chrysler LeBaron, but I don’t have a Million dollars, so I’ll have to buy a K car. At least it shifts out of first gear.
Easy call for me today. Reliant all the way. BNL references aside, it’s in truly remarkable shape.
Growing up in my family in the ’80s meant a steady stream of K-cars and their derivatives, with some Omnirizons mixed in, so I have an idea of what I’d be getting into.
Toss a Weber on there and cruise (slowly) to RADwood or your local equivalent. The 2.2 is no performance marvel, but it’s as sturdy as you could ask for and parts grow on trees. The 3-speed TF may put you into a Rip Van Winkle-level coma but it’ll still be working flawlessly when you wake up.
Your event page doesn’t have a time listed for your May 10 event. The movie event does have a time listed though.
I’d love to see some of those cars. I’m in the general region.
That was an oversight, I’ll be updating the website this week with information on the next Saturday morning event at Brier Creek, it will be the 2nd or 3rd Saturday in August. I’ll also be adding a photo gallery from the May 10 Neon Spring event.
Also, we usually get a pretty good group together at Cars and Coffee Morrisville on the fist Saturday of the month.
I would much rather have the Caddy if it were working, but I have no interest in sorting out the transmission and the missing head unit and atrocious headlights are big red warning flags to me.
But the seller says the Caddy’s transmission just needs a new filter, and a seller would never lie about something like that!
The Reliant for sure, it looks absolutely mint! Caddy has a garbage engine and a transmission that’s already broken, could just be the TV cable like explained earlier but I doubt it.
I rode in a friend’s early 80s Buick recently, and cars from that era are all so different from anything modern that I can’t imagine the Caddy feels all that much different from the K-car. At least not for the miles either one of these would be driven.
I have zero desire to spend money fixing either one, so the one that drives gets my vote.
One upside to the Caddy.
With its gray color and dealer badge, you could call it “The Battleship Potamkin,” and that would be funny to some film nerds.
The K-Car gets my vote. It’s what I love: straightforward, robust, simple. The Caddy is hiding secrets. Someone has taken to it with ham fists. Is that rust on the seatbelt buckle, btw?
FWD Cadillacs from that era aged poorly. The rear suspensions disintegrated and rattled. The HT4100 is its own brand of nightmare. The interiors are disgusting to begin with – leather that feels like plastic and seats designed to mimic those supremely uncomfortable recliner couches that Rent-to-Own places love to trap people in years-long penury for.
And it’s broken.
Sure, the Reliant isn’t luxurious, but I haven’t seen one that nice in a long time, and AC repair isn’t all that much voodoo.
First instinct: I’d rather have the Caddy, of the two. But what am I going to do with it after sinking time and money into fixing it? I’d still have a barely interesting 80’s Cadillac and a transverse v8 to deal with.
At least the appliance white K-car is ready to be refreshed with a stop at O’reilly’s and driven to keep miles off something more interesting.
They’re both more than I’d want to pay. Nose-hold vote for the K
“. But what am I going to do with it after sinking time and money into fixing it? “
Drive it after you quit your current job to become a pimp?
That Reliant is simple and honest. I don’t believe it’s been messed with and it’s the same thing my grandma would have had at her “summer” house while she kept the nice car at the winter house. If that Cadillac had a radio, and didn’t have the A-lee-on headlights I would be less suspect of the history. Something just feels “off” with it though. So, K-car today for me.
“Reliant”? Oh, K… 😀
Those 80’s Dodge/Chrysler products were the nadir of the US auto industry and they give me an overwhelming feeling of malaise just looking at them.
Still, if you were ever going to get me to vote for a K car, it would have been today. I’ve never seen a nicer one. But it still doesn’t beat a broken down Cadillac.
They look odd and someone misaimed one, but you know what is even more awful? Trying to see at night with old, sealed-beam headlights, after living with luxury car HIDs and LEDs for ~25 years. I still have to endure sealed beam lights at work and it feels unsafe.
Didn’t Cadillac have halogen headlights by the 1980s? Not that they are great, but I thought the sealed beam era ended in the 1970s.
Sealed beams were the only thing until 1986 in the US. However, there are far better looking conversions to halogen bulb units than what’s on there.
Hella “off road use” lights are cheap and they fit right in. Get yourself some H4 and H1 bulbs (careful on the wattage – I had 100/130s that generated too much heat and the lenses cracked from thermal shock in the snow, I could see GREAT tho) and a handful of relays to trigger from the stock headlight wiring and power directly from the battery (not the alternator, batt. will act as a smoothing capacitor) and off you go.
But that’s possibly the least of the issues with the Cadillac (and there are housings in the Reliant’s size, too)
Gotta hand it to Mark, he’s never gonna give up on making us vote for K cars. This one is pristine but the Caddy would be a nicer place to be once fixed.
“but the Caddy would be a nicer place to be once
fixed.AS LONG AS YOU DON’T HAVE TO FIX IT, MAINTAIN IT OR DRIVE IT”There… fixed it for accuracy.
I just remember these K cars when they were new, especially this era of Reliant, and they were boring wet cardboard boxes on wheels back then. I can’t imagine they’re any better now but godbless Mark for carrying their torch, somebody needs to.
Well today’s choices are basically terrible (the Reliant) and Really Terrible (any vehicle with the HT4100).
The K-car might be boring, but at least it’s in mint, unmolested condition and without any issues.
Can’t say the same thing about that Cadillac.
In reality today is definitely a Neither option, but that’s not how the game is played, we have to pick at least 1 with our pretend internet money and I’m choosing to spend some of that pretend internet money on a pretend internet shop to work on the Caddy for me.
Well now you’ve done it. Your pretend-mechanic hates you for bringing him a vehicle with a terrible transverse-V8 motor that is hard to work on.
https://photos.classiccars.com/cc-temp/listing/135/7586/20879548-1986-cadillac-deville-std.jpg
Oh we’re even, I’m putting his pretend kids through pretend college with my pretend car purchases.
This is just like the premise of the first season of The Good Place. (Spoilers incoming)
On the surface, these look like they’re good cars. So clean and low mileage and cheap. 1980s radness!
They are actually the Bad Place.
K-car A/C blows, but not cold in Arizona? That blows, certainly. Nightmare feedback carburetor instead of fuel injection? Mid-1980s Chrysler ‘qualtiy control’? Most people found better cars and bought those, Pope Lee.
The Caddy with only one working gear in the transmission? ‘High technology’ 4100 V8? Ripped the Delco radio out, yet swapped those headlights in? Could you have swapped in a modern head unit and left the headlights stock? Granny already let her grandson muck about with this car.
These might be good props for the next season of Stranger Things. 1980s nostalgia looks better on TV than in person.
They’re certainly both pieces of shirt.
Holy forking shirtballs!
Since I live in the PA town that gave this Caddy its name, the choice is obvious. Beyond that, I drove one of these around for a while as a loaner. This body/drivetrain are routinely buried by Caddy lovers, but I really liked it. It may be small by their standards, but it felt big and comfortable enough to me. For power, it’s adequate…but who buys one of these to race around in? As for the transmisison issue, it doesn’t seem like much of an issue to me – analog mechanical components are easy enough to sort out. I’m a little concerned about the stance in the one pic that seems to indicate that either there’s something heavy in the trunk or perhaps an air ride system is leaking? Don’t even know if this had it as an option, but it wouldn’t suprise me. Regardless, that’s not terribly hard to deal with either. THis would be a great highway car and I would be happy to rock this unloved ride that wears the badge of my little town.
I voted Reliant K. I don’t want to work on a transverse mounted V8.
I wish the K was a 86 or later with TBI instead of a carb. Also, I like them after the 85 facelift. To me the chef’s kiss boring square Mopar is the Acclaim/Spirit towards the end of the run.
Oh man big neither from me today, but gun to my head, the Caddy looks like a nicer place to be, and though it has more pressing issues, and the awful headlights, I just don’t want the carbureted K car. A kei car would be tempting, but not a K car.
As a child of the 1970s and 1980s I saw typical white boxy sans everywhere driven by little old ladies. They are in my head a grandma car.
this time I’m going to pick the grandma car for that price. It’s too good to pass up. I know what I’m getting with the boring box but it’ll last a while after some light maintenance.
Those must have been 24K SCREAMING RPM miles on that Cadillac.
The headlights give me pause, were the originals too cloudy or yellowed that they decided to go on Temu and get the cheapest stock-sized replacements?
Still voted for it. Despite the Plymouth being a “nice reliant automobile.”
Those are the bulbs. It has sealed beam headlights.
Sealed beam headlights are glass, they don’t cloud or yellow. This was probably owned by a high school kid who thought those new lights looked cool at the Pep Boys
The sealed beam lights probably were more expensive to replace than the LED replacements. Even back in the 80’s they were expensive!
If you consider $20/ light expensive, I’ve got two cars with them right now, and that’s about the going price for a reputable brand
I don’t know what those LED ones go for though, just like I can’t tell you what fake stick-on chrome Ventiports or fuzzy pink steering wheel covers cost
$5 was expensive?
I believe I paid over $20 for one in the late 1980’s, which was expensive. Maybe this was an outlier.