Mileage Opinions?

Discussion in 'General Station Wagon Discussions' started by MAK, Feb 8, 2018.

  1. MAK

    MAK Well-Known Member

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    Ok all I seeking opinions on mileage. Got the 85 Colony Park a year ago (Dec 2016), mileage around 56,800 just took the car to all my stores today and noticed - round trip 267 miles - it now has 59,780 - should I:

    Keep driving and not worry about the miles?
    Let it roll over 60,000 and then keep it under 65,000?
    Car is 33 years old, so I would think anything under 80,000 is "low Mileage" am I wrong?
    If the car had less than 50,000 I would think it's a trailer queen or something is wrong, correct?

    at what point would the mileage on an 80's wagon become a issue that would effect the price?

    My buddy has a original 70 XKE 9 (paid $65.0) with 64,000 miles on it and drives it all over the place, and has a totally restored number matching 76 Porsche turbo Carrera with over 200,000 miles on it and turned down $175,000- So does mileage matter?
    upload_2018-2-8_21-31-4.png
    The CP; 70 Jag and far right 76 Turbo
     
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  2. KevinVarnes

    KevinVarnes Well-Known Member

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    I personally don't care about mileage. Condition trumps mileage in my book any day, but I know some people feel differently. These are probably never going to be high dollar cars, so why not just enjoy it and drive it as much as you want?
     
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  3. jaunty75

    jaunty75 Middling Member

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    The car will never be a sought-after collectible, no matter how low the mileage. Drive it. Enjoy it, and let your estate take of selling it when the time comes.

    There is no standard definition of "low mileage," especially if you read the craigslist ads. It seems that anything under 1 million is "low mileage" or "original mileage". To my mind, for anything over 100,000, the "low mileage" ship has sailed. Anything under 100,000 on a car that's 20 years old or more is "low" mileage, but not earth-shatteringly low unless it's under 50K. Then you've got something, but, again, the low mileage alone isn't going to make the car valuable if it isn't otherwise desirable.

    As nice as the car is, no one will ever have their mouth set to drooling over an '85 Mercury station wagon. As I said, drive it, enjoy it, and let the next generation worry about selling it.
     
  4. Thirsty islander

    Thirsty islander Well-Known Member

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    Drive it like you stole it.......just keep it nice! I bought my cars to drive but I take VERY good care of them.
     
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  5. 101Volts

    101Volts Well-Known Member

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    My 1990 Mercury Grand Marquis has about 233k on the clock. Don't worry about it, just keep up with maintenance and condition, that can mean more than a low number; if you take care of it well enough and still drive it, people will wonder how it's in such spectacular shape.

    Castrol GTX is supposed to be a good conventional oil though I haven't tried it. Make sure to prevent rust especially; spray the easy to access rust -prone areas with some corrosion preventer like Fluid Film and fix paint chips as soon as you can especially if they're small but don't expect the color to match 100% when you buy correct color-coded correct paint.

    If you want to use a good painting tool for paint chips, use one of these Loew-Cornell Fine Line Painting Pens; they're very good, I have one and while it's not quite laser-accurate it's a big improvement over using a brush which can make touch-ups look like a blob:

    [​IMG]

    https://www.dickblick.com/products/loew-cornell-painting-pens/
     
    Last edited: Feb 9, 2018
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  6. Silvertwinkiehobo

    Silvertwinkiehobo "Everything that breaks starts with 'F.'"

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    Not to mention, any maintenance records you have, keep those. A high-freeway-mileage car with no recorded maintenance is less desirable than an in-town juggernaut with every severe service done, recorded and has each receipt.
     
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  7. 101Volts

    101Volts Well-Known Member

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    Agreed. My cars all have personal maintenance records since purchase; I jot down the mileage, date, what was done (including detailing and filling up with ethanol free fuel for winter) and what was spent. I'll also write down whatever I see that's gone awry, just as a reminder. It's a very good way of arguing what value the car has.
     
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  8. elB

    elB Well-Known Member

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    The ONLY time mileage truly matters is when the car is still under warranty. After that, it's a total afterthought to overall condition of the car. Drive it and enjoy it.
     
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  9. OrthmannJ

    OrthmannJ Always looking for old ford crew cabs

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    Doesn't mean a thing to me.
    I plan to enjoy my vehicles to the fullest extent, and to me, that includes driving them.

    Very well said, I agree completely.

    I think Thirsty islander summed it up perfectly.
     
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  10. MAK

    MAK Well-Known Member

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    1 more dumb question
    repaint - car looks shinny in picture right? - well is a great 10' car - up close is not so shinny - clear fading in places, buffed burned to beat the band in others
    so do I repaint or leave "original patina"
    love that phase - really nice way of saying - it looks tired and beat
     
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  11. 101Volts

    101Volts Well-Known Member

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    That's your choice, I'd go either way (depending on the car.) Sometimes I like the car to show its age a little but I'd hate to allow rust to pop up. If you repaint it then what happens when you get a stone chip? Still, if you refinish it the touch-up paint will probably match better. Then again, don't shiny cars attract thieves more? Your wagon has no car alarm but you can get one or more GPS chips to place in or on the car.
     
  12. elB

    elB Well-Known Member

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    If a car has presentable paint as-is, I do my best to live with that and do NOTHING else. SO MANY cars wind up forgotten as projects or abandoned due to the criminal behavior of most paint shops that take your money, strip your car, and forget about it for 2-10 years.

    This assumes you are farming out the paint and not doing it yourself.
     
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  13. MAK

    MAK Well-Known Member

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    elB
    I could do it myself, but no longer have equipment, haven't done it in LOG time, and the time
    even thought the car will never be high dollar, it won't go to a Acme Paint and Body from the road runner cartoon.
    figure it will cost what I paid for the car to get it right
     
  14. OrthmannJ

    OrthmannJ Always looking for old ford crew cabs

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    It's not a dumb question. You're looking for others opinions, which means you're taking a thoughtful approach.
    I'll turn it around and ask you a question: Will you be happy keeping it the way it is? And a follow up: Would painting it cause you to be more happy? IE enjoy it more?

    Whatever your answers are to those questions should determine the direction you go.

    Take my wagon for example. It's an original paint car. It's got many miles under it's belt and it shows. Overall it is very presentable. I wouldn't want to repaint it. However, there is a section on the passenger side, below the trim on both doors that could use some attention. I've had people tell me "it's part of the cars character, leave it alone" Problem is, this section drives me nuts! I plan to have it fixed some day. It's my car and that's what I want to do.

    So, to answer your question, it's your car. Do what you want to do.

    I hope that helps.
     
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  15. MAK

    MAK Well-Known Member

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    OrthmannJ
    Thanks, you brought me back to reality - car is shiny enough from 10' - will probably tke my wife on a vacation with the $.
    I'd like that better, yeah after 40 years, she is still the best thing in my life, perhaps not hers but mine for sure.

    know what you mean about the sections that drive you nuts, when I got the car the rust on the inside bottom of the doors drove me nuts, no one saw it from the outside, but every time I opened the doors i just wanted to gag.
    So I fixed them, still have to paint over the rust preventive paint, close but not quite
    thanks
     
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