When to say YES...

Discussion in 'General Station Wagon Discussions' started by sward247, Oct 6, 2019.

  1. sward247

    sward247 Active Member

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    I'd like some input on when to say yes. Mostly on what you can live with or without.

    I've owned many wagons and several old ones. Since we are not buying new we can't always get the trim or equipment level, condition, engine size, color, etc. My question for discussion is how do you decide on the compromises?

    I recently saw a wagon which is pretty close to what I want, but the color is hideous. It's yellow and I am struggling with the idea of a 4,000 pound banana in my driveway.
     
  2. Silvertwinkiehobo

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

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    If color is so important to you, then you put up with it, repaint it in a color that can still match its interior, or pass it up and keep looking. I've had hideous yellow cars (I hate yellow just out of general purpose reasons), and you deal, change or pass it up.
     
  3. Krash Kadillak

    Krash Kadillak Well-Known Member

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    For me, a lot depends on timing........
    I remember when we had the 1985 Mercury Grand Marquis Colony Park for two short weeks before it burned up in Las Vegas. I had a company car at the time, and I don't think we had bought our truck and 5th wheel travel trailer quite yet, so the Mercury was our only personal vehicle. I still wanted to replace the CP with a station wagon, but I didn't have the luxury of time to look around much. There seemed to be a few Taurus wagons around, so that's what we got. I did insist we find one with the 3.8 V6 instead of the 3.0 liter, which we were able to do. Had to settle for the mid-level 'GL' trim, though.

    I think I'm getting more 'picky' in my old age though. We recently had to buy another new (used) vehicle to replace the 2012 Ford Edge, which was totaled in an accident on July 13th. (younger daughter, visiting from So Cal, was driving...everybody OK.) We were looking forward to having the Edge paid off this coming January....oh well...... Anyways, the Mrs. was happy with the Edge, so we stuck with Fords. We looked again at possibly down-sizing a bit, and getting an Escape, but I just wasn't happy with the size. The Edge has some room. So, we settled on a new(er) Edge. We got picky in picking colors. Wife and were in agreement we did not want black or silver. The 2012 was white, so white was still OK. In looking at used units on-line, I saw one for sale in Redding, CA. that was a gold color (called 'white gold' by Ford). The Edge looked REALLY sharp. I was all set to make a deal and take a bus down to Redding to get it, a 2015 model. Then, a 2017 popped up in Southern California, that was even nicer. Wife said no. After we put 'looking' on the back burner for a few days, a gold one popped up in McMinnville, Oregon - only 80 miles away. We drove up there and bought it, a 2018 with 34,000 miles (ex rental) Nice 'Titanium model, loaded. Has the panoramic moon roof, which was one thing I insisted on.
     
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  4. sward247

    sward247 Active Member

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    color is so important to me. i found an old wagon in great shape but i just don't know if i can live with the color. but it's not like i can go to cars. com and search for another one. they don't make anything in kenosha anymore.
     
  5. Doghead

    Doghead Well-Known Member

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    When I see cars painted in eggyolk yellow, I always ask myself (mentally, of course) if the original buyer intended on keeping it until it was time to junk it. If he bought it with the intent on resale, that would have been quite a dumb move.
    The good thing about buying one of those is that you have the upper hand at haggling the price down. If you get it cheap enough, you can then use the savings for getting it repainted
     
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  6. OrthmannJ

    OrthmannJ Always looking for old ford crew cabs

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    I agree with what others have said regarding color. It's not something that can't be changed. Unfortunately these days even a cheap paint job can expensive. Especially when it comes to a station wagon. That's a lot of real estate to cover.
    For example: The clear coat is starting to peel on the roof of my truck. I have been told that there is no hope in just redoing the clear coat, so I looked into getting the whole thing repainted (it's a full-size crew cab with an 8 foot bed) and the quote was $5,500. I only paid $5,000 for the truck!
    So although color is technically easy to change, it can end up costing more than the purchase price of the vehicle to do so.
    Ultimately I think it depends on how much you are willing to spend on the vehicle and what your long term plans are for it.
     
  7. Silvertwinkiehobo

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

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    Are you sure that the top can't be wet-sanded to the paint, then re-cleared, with a blend-in at the point the roof meets the pillars? I've heard about people just redoing the clearcoat surfaces only.
     
  8. OrthmannJ

    OrthmannJ Always looking for old ford crew cabs

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    I've talked to a number of people about it. They say it's not impossible, but almost. The time and effort involved will surpass the expense to repaint it. If I were a a talented paint and body guy I would just do it myself. But I'm not. :(

    A fellow I work with said he could probably just re-do the rood in single stage, but any time you start something like that it can snowball.

    Sorry for hijacking you thread sward247
     
  9. KevinVarnes

    KevinVarnes Well-Known Member

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    Not to derail the thread even further, but I recently had some paint flaking off on the C-pillar on my '97 Thunderbird. Mind you this car is opalescent pearl which is very difficult to blend and it is 20+ years old and spent most of that time in AZ and CA. I found a hole in the wall body shop one man show who painted and blended the c-pillar for $350. Just an older guy that has been doing bodywork forever. All the other fancy body shops that don't want to do anything except insurance work quoted me $2k+. Needless to say I'm happy with the work and I'll have the same guy do some repaint work on the roof as well. I wouldn't rule out painting and blending the roof and if you find the right guy it might not be as expensive as you think.
     
  10. OrthmannJ

    OrthmannJ Always looking for old ford crew cabs

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    There are certainly options out there, and I haven't explored them all, More than anything I was using the scenario to illustrate the fact that repainting a large vehicle can be expensive, sometimes more than the purchase price of the vehicle.
     
  11. KevinVarnes

    KevinVarnes Well-Known Member

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    A full repaint is probably out of the question for most all of my cars by that measure.

    I think the original question can only be answered on a case by case basis and of course how much money you have to work with. I've bought cars that I didn't love the color, but could live with it. Engines, transmissions, and some options are easy to change. How much the asking price for the car is, how hard it is to find, how badly you want it are also other things that would factor into things I could or couldn't live with. Too many transaction specific conditions to generalize about. For the most part, I look for a clean rust free body and decent paint (regardless of color) since those are things I don't usually do. Mechanically, I wouldn't be concerned about much as long as it is fixable and parts are available.
     
  12. Doghead

    Doghead Well-Known Member

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    I caught Chuck Counts spray painting his car black with spray cans in highschool. He didn't seem to give a Duck about what anybody thought about it. It was a quick short-term fix and he wasn't inclined at fixing cars, except for leaving ones he didn't own radioless. I can see the logic of doing such, when a bunch of spraycans offer a quick fix for aleviating an otherwise excrutiating eyesore caused by eggyolk-colored illfated vehicles. His car wasn't yellow. I think, he had an old '67 blue-colored Plymouth Valiant or similar. He was casually drinking beer and toking. Therefore, I wouldn't pay his judgement that much credit, except that it sounds somewhat like a logical solution for a tight budget, nonetheless.
     
    Last edited: Oct 12, 2019
  13. Grizz

    Grizz Are we there yet???

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    Dog head made a point, you can always use the ugly color as a reason for a low offer and not feel bad about it. Then when people tell you how ugly the color is you say “well I only paid x amount”. One downside to that though is the seller could love that color and take offense that your taste doesn’t match. If you hate yellow find another car. I feel like a color change isn’t worth the money. Also doesn’t changing the car color bring the value down? Can we see a picture of the ol’ banana boat?
     
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  14. Doghead

    Doghead Well-Known Member

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    How could you bring the value down on a banana or egg yolk? As far as taking offence, anybody in their right mind knows that you don't order a car in controversial colors expecting a quick resale. Anybody actually taking offense or pretending to should grow up. Nobody has ever known to have ordered a Shelby Mustang fastback in pink. Then attempting to sell this vehicle to the likes of Steve McQueen or Lee van Cleef.
     
  15. Xenon

    Xenon Well-Known Member

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    In the current century painting a car because of it being wrong color is just plain silly...
    As most people want to retain the original color for "keeping it original" i.e., resale...
    Ok,, so keep original color and have the car w r a p p e d ...
    Yes, A vinyl coating applied that can be removed at any time fairly easy...
    And it is less costly than painting....
     

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