'73/'74 Buick Century?

I've recently had no luck with cars.

There is a '73 or '74 Buick Century 350 available locally for $600 o.b.o. with 98,000 miles.

Here's my current situation:

'91 Ford Tempo automatic. Girlfriend drove it, until she slid into a curb, cracking the frame, messing up the alignment. Possible to have it fixed relatively cheaply at a body shop school. Timeframe uncertain. Gas mileage: around 20mpg.

'84 Mazda RX-7 manual. I drove it, until I popped an apex seal. About the equivalent of losing 1/2 the engine's compression. Exhaust is loud, uncertain of it's condition. The car is driveable, but mileage has gone down, has 1/2 the power, and is very loud. Possibly getting help rebuilding the engine. Gas mileage was around 23mpg. Now it's definitely under 15mpg.

'88 Mazda MX-6 GT manual. Fairly good shape, aside from it having had a bad head gasket. I removed the head and replaced the gasket, and now the compression is still low. Still in the process of re-evaluating what is now wrong. Sitting in the garage untagged.

I drive about 560 miles total a week. If I have 2 cars, the mileage will be split about 240/200 with my girlfriend. She only drives automatics currently, and the RX-7 is a chore to drive right now anyhow. So as you can see, gas mileage is a concern.

There's a few under-$1000 cars I can get. A CRX HF tops the list at 45+ mpg but it's manual. Getting another manual means either assuming the Tempo can be repaired, or that she can learn manual reliably.
A (year not known yet) Chrysler 5th Ave 318 V8. Appearantly another reliable engine, for about $700.
'88 Camaro for $1000. V6.
'88 Honda Prelude 4WS. Wants $1200, but has been for sale over a month. I've had a similar (lower powered) Prelude, and my major problem I had was having the carburetors rebuilt because no major places would touch them, and the dealer just replaces not rebuild.
And the '73/'74 Buick Century with the 350.

So...any advice on course of action? I am curious what kind of mileage I should expect, being that it'll be mostly 45-60mph driving for 20 miles+ at a time.

I've seen some nice early 70's Buicks on the net in the last few hours, but mostly I see them with under 100,000 miles. At my current rate, I'll be racking up 30,000 miles a year, if I can split the time with another car, maybe only 10,000 per year. But still it's gonna have more than I'm seeing as being commonly listed.

Lastly, I may end up changing jobs in the near future due to the current commute. That could cut my commute to less than 10 miles each way. Then mileage is of almost no concern anymore except I'd like something for trips out of state to visit family.

 

A few thoughts

Your situation is a challenge. If your girlfriend is willing to learn to drive a manual transmission it would greatly open your options as well as improving your gas mileage. Some people just don't want to learn.

Here's some recommendations:
Forget the Tempo, I've driven them and they are just plain nasty, ugly, loud, poor mileage (for the lack of power they have). A light unibody is very difficult to straighten properly, I think you'd be wise to write this one off.

I'd also write off the RX-7. Those seals are the achilles heal of the rotary engine. Once they go the engine will never be right again. These engines have a shorter life than piston engines and the 2 good seals are against the same metal as the broken seal. Their life expectancy isn't much.

The devil you know is probably better than the devil you don't. This means you could be buying unknown trouble with a car that you don't know the owner or its' maintenance.

If she doesn't want to learn to drive a manual, then you're definitely looking at buying another car. Considering what she did to the Tempo I'd wrap her in a BIG car. Skip the CRX. Camaro's rarely live a pampered life. Generally they are beaten to death, you'd think the V6 would lead people to go easy, but they just push the engine harder. GM's V6 if it's the 2.8 has had reliability problems. I think they ride terrible, with a V8 you can call it a performance ride, with a 6 it's just harsh without reason. The Prelude is a risk. Honda's have great reliability but the 4WS stands for 4 wheel Steering which adds a lot of complexity to the rear suspension, could be big bucks to fix anything back there.

That leaves the Chrysler and the Buick. Both have good engines with cheap parts available. Assuming both bodies have roughly equivalent bodies and a mechanic doesn't turn up major problems with either. This could come down to your girlfriends preference.

That leads me to the following recommendation: Focus on the MX-6. Spend some time or money finding out what's wrong and cajole your girlfriend into learning to drive a manual. If the manual is not possible get the Century. (of course I'd recommend the Buick).

I'll also recommend you look up some charitable organizations that get cars donated to them. There are some real bargains to be found through them. I picked up an Acura Legend 5 spd for $1,800. I put $1,000 in repairs into it 3 years ago and haven't done anything but drive it since.


Good luck and let us know how it turns out!

John

 

The choice is obviously yours. I can't say that I've ever seen a group like a Chrysler 5th Ave 318 V8, '88 Camaro, '88 Honda Prelude 4WS and a 73/74 Century for consideration.

First, I would guess the head on your MX6 is warped and/or a valve is seeping compresion.

For your choice, you do have to decide what kind of car you want to drive. I drove a 73 Century 350-4 to college. I tuned it and rebuilt the carb and I got 15mpg city and 20 mpg highway. That is likely better than you would get with the 5th Ave. The Camaro will probably get around 18-19mpg city and 22-25mpg highway. The Prelude would be the gas miser of the group. For durability I would narrow it to the Buick and the Honda, but that's me.

 

Thanks for responding...this is gonna be a decision over probably the next 2 days.

In defense of the rotary...it has just shy of 230,000 miles on the clock. If that isn't good life expectancy, I don't know what is. I don't expect a rebuilt engine to last as long necessarily, but maybe by the time it needs it again I'll be better prepared to keep it in tune and do more major work myself.

Basically...looking around online I see comments about the Chrysler 5th avenue as a taxi/police duty quality car. 200,000+ miles is appearantly not uncommon. I just am not coming across the same kind of mileage tolerance info on the Buicks. Can anyone set me straight on this?

BTW, I had the head off the MX-6 before putting it back together, had it pressure checked and levelled. I can't say much for the block, however. I'm told it could be the piston rings if not a bad job on the head gasket. That's more work, which I'll take on if I can confirm it's the problem.

 

I decided last night on the Honda, the Prelude. But the guy hasn't shown up today, he was supposed to drive it here, only 12 miles or so away, so we can go do the title. That worries me.

I hate to go back on my word, but I told him to consider it sold. Needs it's own battery (he was using his only one) and some other things. Why don't people mention speedometers not working, cracked sunroofs, disconnected intake filters, etc in their ads? That bugs me, and my stomach is turning.

But I NEED a car.

 

Well I should revise this.

I had decided on the Prelude. Then I slept on it. Or I should say...I didn't sleep when I thought about it.

Recalling the disconnected air filter, and several other issues with it, I got the impression it was a project, and he just wanted it gone. He probably got tired of working bugs out of the engine install. It being a direct swap, exactly the same kind of engine and transmission, I don't think it should HAVE any bugs to work out. Also, he didn't show up the next morning to do the title. Instead, he was up until 5:30am working on his car, and slept in until about 3pm. While I understand, that's just not good etiquette. Then he wanted to go pull a brake line for the car at a junkyard, but couldn't do that until the next day, and it became clear that he wasn't serious about selling it in any kind of decent condition. So I've passed on it.

I went to see the Buick last night. Unfortunately, it ended up being night to see it, which is of course not my preference. It had also rained. That at least would show any leaks. He did have towels on the floor in spots. With no A/C, I suppose that was to dry any water that came in through partially open windows, to keep from steaming up. I didn't find any significant rust on the floor around the edges, but there was some dampness to the towels. The windows rolled all the way up, I did notice the weather stripping was questionable.

The body seems in good shape. Some surface rust spots. There is rust under the battery, there is now a new battery. He offered to repair the rust in that spot. The driver's door was brushed by another car, leaving a not too deep, wide dent. He suggested a plunger to pull it out (suggested to him by a friend). He claims the A/C should work with freon added. Inside driver's handle doesn't work. I've dealt with worse, and with bench seats and a column shifter, it shouldn't be more hassle than sliding out the passenger side. Driver's window handle knob is broken. It works, but will need replaced (repaired?). Passenger side mirror is off. Has the mirror, not broken or anything.

I didn't hear anything at idle or driving that sounded like a miss. No unusual sounds from the engine. It was already warmed up, because he had just gotten home from work. Tires had a lot of tread, front and rear. Brakes squealed a little coming out of the driveway, but as I said, it had been raining. I didn't get it up to much over 30mph where we were at, and it being late, on a wet road, not on a main road.

He applied for the title last week. So I have to wait 2 weeks before I could even legally buy it.

Perhaps between now and the time I can buy it, I will find a mechanic to look it over. I've always heard its a good idea, but never done it. With a 30 yr old car, maybe it's time to. :Smarty:

BTW it's a 4 door. All the pictures I've seen were of 2 doors, so I assumed it was going to be a 2 door. All things considered, I think for the price it's worth it.