Best Muscle Car for Beginner

Brett_Murphy wrote: Also, if you're willing to stretch a bit, I'd say notchback '79 Mustang.

At that point it's just a 1st year Fox body. OTOH, it does have that certain late 70's angular/linear(?) styling you don't see in the more common later 5.0s

Camaro/ Firebirds oughta be in that price range

Man there are a ton of old cars being sold on craigslist. LOL never realized this until I started looking. New novas pop up like 3+ a day

Brett_Murphy wrote: I am a bit late to the party, but I am in Raleigh, too. I recently saw this: http://raleigh.craigslist.org/cto/3524018604.html Hell, I'd buy that myself. My father in law has a 360 just sitting in his shed.

Hello neighbor. I like that too but theres some stupid carbon fiber looking stuff on the dash now, straight out of fast and furious.

How's this?

1967 Ford Galaxie http://winstonsalem.craigslist.org/cto/3553388439.html

In reply to Coldsnap:

I looks good...definitely add it to the look at in person list. White cars with vague pictures can hide serious flaws that only show up in person.

In reply to Coldsnap:

Definitely look at that one in person. It looks great but the ad and photos leave a lot of unanswered questions. I love that body style and if it's rust free the price is right. The father of a friend of mine from high school had one that looked exactly like that but had a 390/c6 in it. It was a cool car and fairly quick. With a 289/c4 in a car that big there isn't a lot of "muscle".

In reply to Coldsnap:

There are most likely going to be personal touches and unoriginal stuff in most of the $5000 muscle cars you find. You have to work through (FIX) that, as original ones go for major dollars.

Drove this 4 door nova today

http://raleigh.craigslist.org/cto/3543528386.html

I have talked him down into the $3,000 price range. It was a pretty sweet car. Hardly any powered brakes is something I need to get use to, brakes felt very floaty and I had to start breaking like 20 feet ahead.

BUT DAMN DID IT START LIKE A BAD MORNING WHEN I PRESSED THAT PEDAL

Still think the 2-door Black Ventura is a better deal...

In reply to Coldsnap:

Did it have power brakes? If so, there's likely something wrong with them. Most cars in that era were over-boosted if anything. Nova's weren't too bad in that respect, but it shouldn't have felt like you describe. Even manual brakes should require more effort but shouldn't feel floaty. Did it have front drums? They feel very different from modern discs.

Gotcha, maybe it did have something wrong with it. My plan is to drive a bunch of stuff for sale. I feel like since I have no base to compare to the best thing I can do is get out there and get into a lot of cars. Of course ones that I'm interested in, don't want to waste the sellers time.

I'm talking the the Ventura dude

This is cool (although i think the asking price is a bit much like usual)

1974 Buick Apollo 350 http://charlotte.craigslist.org/cto/3556861003.html

How about this for a cool old car

http://raleigh.craigslist.org/cto/3567972401.html

That's a pretty great starter muscle car! The 318 is a good motor and you can swap in a 340 or 360 with no hassle (same blocks, so you can reuse everything). The 904 automatic is a little weak, but an easy to find 727TF bolts right in as well. It looks straight and original, which is important. The vinyl top would have me looking for rust, especially around the back window, the trunk floor, and the floorpans. Price isn't bad though.

it's also close to me, I've been pretty lazy at driving 1 hour to look at a car that the price is too high.

I will check this out. I like the olive color too and how the shifter thing is on the floor and not the steering wheel.

In reply to Coldsnap:

If it's rust free, I'd buy it. Really look close for those bubbles though. If it's got some (and I think it would), use it to negotiate a little.

okay, great. I got this reply

"it runs fine with no skips in the engine. Will need some brake work and has rust in the usual places ( rear quarters, etc) Door hinges do not sag at all and closes solid. Feel free to e-mail if you have more questions."

If it needs brake work, I'd just convert it to discs and get it over with. Super easy to do with factory parts, and won't even cost you much more.

Rusty lower quarters aren't that bad. Wheel lips, trunk floors, floorpans, and window surrounds are all increasingly worse and harder ($$$) to deal with.

Gotcha. I'd probably have to pay a mechanic to do the brake work, I'll be a shade tree mechanic and might feel sketched out putting it up on blocks.

hey look a video on disc conversion

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=raxP_WGb3Q0

Basically the same car mechanically as the Duster you were looking at earlier, but already a V8 car. Buckets and a console are a nice touch (although you said you did like the bench seat). Javelin's right on the money about rust. Vinyl tops do a great job of hiding rust so you don't see it until it's BAD.

Converting to discs really is pretty simple if you get the parts. I would adivise replacing all your rubber hoses (they get old, and they're cheap insurance) as well as springing for rebuilt calipers on the front and wheel cylinders in the back. The good news is that parts for these things are cheap and the only things that will be further away than your local parts store will be the spindles themselves.

DO NOT put the car up on blocks. Find a level concrete surface and use jackstands. If you search on here it seems like every couple of months someone loses a friend or acquaintance who didn't property secure the car when they lifted it and it fell on them.

Yea, that E36 M3 scares me. Which makes me want to buddy up with some of the wrenchers at my gym. Might have a good mechanic who could do the dangerous work for me.

I've liked so far what I can get with around $3,000. I learned that a lot of the cars posted up for $5,000 can be haggled down to $3,000.

dang someone from pitsburg VA snatched up that dodge dart! thats a long drive

I love the white on red of this Nova

http://charlotte.craigslist.org/cto/3569688392.html