I'm kicking around the idea of a one way flight to San Francisco this fall, and driving back. I have someone out there who would store something for me if purchased ahead of time.
So, it needs to meet the following criteria:
Cheap enough buy-in
Reliable enough to make it 3k miles
Cool enough to make for a good story
Easy to flip for at least what I paid upon return to the east coast, or so cool I don't mind keeping it
So far, here are my favorites:
What says GRM?
As much as I want to say galaxie because Ford, that mighty max would likely sell easy.
In reply to dropstep :
The Galaxie is tempting, just because driving it almost anywhere multiplies the ridiculousness of the situation. "Here's us getting as close as legally possible to Area 51 in some old Japanese thing" vs "Here's a berkeleying lowrider on whitewalls in front of the Area 51 perimeter sign holy E36 M3"
No RVs please, I still haven't gotten over last time. 
The early 4runner seems like a good choice, since they all rusted away over a decade ago here.
No RVs, OK. How about another option for sleeping in?
https://sfbay.craigslist.org/sby/cto/d/1973-ford-torino-station-wagon/6680838706.html
If you don't do the Galaxy you would have failed all of us. That thing is incredibly berkeleying awesome.
The lowrider is the only one that's interesting to me.
EvanB said:No RVs, OK. How about another option for sleeping in?
https://sfbay.craigslist.org/sby/cto/d/1973-ford-torino-station-wagon/6680838706.html
This is awesome, so much want.
I’d buy the galaxie when you get back if it’s as cali clean as it looks
Ooo.... interesting... and I still have that air-fare voucher... unfortunately, work has made it difficult for me to schedule the time off, but it may be possible if Sara can't go and you need a co-driver.
I agree about a 4Runner or pretty much any classic or semi-classic truck. Rust free examples sell for a premium in our area.
The Galaxy looks fun, but I'm not sure how easy it would be to sell once back east.
Personally - I like the Mighty Max. I used to drive those as a parts-runner back in 1988-92. I mainly drove the earlier carb'd version and they were deceptively quick, but the later ones with EFI were boarder-line over-powered. Even our retired old-guy drivers had trouble leaving the lot without spinning the tires (all the trucks were manuals). I've often day-dreamed about finding one and pulling the drivetrain for use in a Locost.
This Lowrider is so incongruous with the Allentown area that it begs grosh status ......Hell if Curtis catches wind of this he'd be at your front door $$$$ in hand.
the 4Runner as linked by EvanB, because nobody back East has seen one since 1993.
I would think the Galaxy could be sold without issue, the MAX would also sell, not sure on the old YOta.
In reply to ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ :
I like the idea of this. How do you check out the car before you buy it? Just ask for a ton of pictures/ videos?
It seems like any car I have bought or even looked at on Craigslist has not been as good as advertised.
Do the Galaxie!
That thing looks awesome.
The Galaxie and the Torino wagon are the only 2 that I would be tempted to keep.
If the Galaxie was a 2 door, it would be the clear winner, but since it's a crew cab, I'd go with the Torino!
Somebeach said:I like the idea of this. How do you check out the car before you buy it? Just ask for a ton of pictures/ videos?
It seems like any car I have bought or even looked at on Craigslist has not been as good as advertised.
In this case we have a friend who would look at it for us, but last time we did this we just asked the seller if it would make a cross country drive, he said yes, and we went for it. Car made it so... that's one data point I guess!
I took a rental car 400 miles and bought a 28yrold Buick Century Coupe. I asked the seller if she thought it'd make it 400 miles. She didn't recommend it, but I did it anyways. Drove 400 miles in the summer with no AC and sitting on 3 11yrold tires and a 28yrold doughnut. Kept it to around 60MPH and had no problem the whole way back (besides exhaustion from driving 800 miles on 3 hrs of sleep and sweating to death). Got 35MPG. Car had 134k miles.
Galaxy pimp mobile for the win!
That Galaxie is all kinds of awesome!
Pics for posterity:
Toyota van
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