Hey Cool Car Fans,

As The Cool Car Guy, I get to see some really cool rides on a regular basis and this truck that is owned by a guy who contacted me to let me know he was selling it I thought was too cool to not feature here at CoolCarGuy.com.

Especially, when he told me what he had done to the vehicle and how much he was looking to get for it.  I told him that I would showcase it on my site and write an article about it to see if any of my visitors had an interest in it, since he’s trying to get into a home and needs to find a new home for this classic ride.

Here’s what he shared with me about his truck…

“Hi John,

Here are some photos of my really nice 1964 Ford F-100.  It is the former show truck for Rockford Fosgate and has over 25k invested in it. It’s the perfect turn-key Sunday driver with less than 6k mi on everything. In fact, I drove it only 20 miles or less every weekend to cruise nights or go to dinner on nice evenings.

The motor is a fresh rebuilt 302, with a brand new automatic transmission in 2012 that cost over $3,000 and now it chirps 2nd at 6,200ft elevation where I live. It includes, new headers, custom 2 chamber side exhaust, (SOUNDS AMAZING! but not too loud), a new suspension, a custom radiator, custom gages, custom flip face Pioneer CD stereo with 8″ subs and direct iPod attachment with in dash controls, with low profile tires and custom wheels.  

It has a new battery, really cool looking blue LED volt meter, and professionally rolled and shaved body work with an awesome Charcoal Metallic paint highlighted with a very faint ghost flame on the lower front fenders.  The truck really does run and drive great and is absolutely perfect for a night out cruising just as it is.  

Like any older truck that has been rebuilt, there are a few small items that can be done to it down the road for the new owner.  The gauges light up and are powered, but they are not hooked up and the shaved outer door handles are not hooked up yet either.  It used to have powered auto opening doors but they removed all that gear when I bought the truck 8years ago and I never bothered to reconnect it, so that is an option.

The body is perfectly straight with some small road chips, a couple small door dings and light scratches since the paint is nine years old and it still looks amazing as you can see from the photos.  The drip rail above the front window has small bubbles, (this is very common unless you shave off the drip rail), there is some pitting and water marks on the rims, but nothing major and the tires still have plenty of tread left.

The only reason why I’m selling this vehicle is to buy a new house so my loss is your gain.  I’m going to miss this truck because it is awesome and I have never found another one like it!  It runs and drives excellent and always has people checking it out or giving me a thumbs up.  You really have to see it to appreciate it and thanks for putting it on CoolCarGuy.com to help me find a buyer.  

I think that with the small items addressed it could be worth $25,000, but I don’t have time to work on it before we close on the house.  Let me know if you have a buyer for it and thanks again.”

If you’re looking for a cool vehicle to cruise around in or add to your collection just let me know and I’ll get you more information about it.  He may sell it on his own fairly quickly, but he asked me if I could assist him by featuring it here on CoolCarGuy.com.  I wanted to showcase his ride and have him share some of the information about it, since it’s a classic and very hard to find truck that is currently available for under $16,500.

Drop me an email if you want more information about it.  If you’re looking for a sweet classic truck from the 1960’s era this is worth investigating further.

Hey Cool Car Fans,

Like many automobile enthusiasts, I have been watching Telsa Motors for years and the enormous fascination and love of the electric automobile maker by the public and the media.  This past Friday the stock was trading at $259.32 a share with a Market Cap of $32.32B, which is the most ridiculous and overpriced stock I can remember based on their annual car sales and product line.  Seriously, look at the number of car sales for Tesla Motors compared to Autonation, which is not an Automobile Manufacturer.

International Business Times reported that Tesla will sell 35,000 vehicles in 2014.  Autonation, which is a franchise automobile dealer and also a public company reported in a Press Release that retail new vehicle unit sales in the second quarter of 2014 alone were 81,394.  That’s not even close!  The stock price of Autonation though was only $51.44 a share and it has a Market Cap of only $6.1B compared to Tesla’s $32.32B Market Cap.  What about other competing specialty car companies like Mercedes Benz, Audi, BMW or others?  BMW stock price closed at $88.99 Euro a share and Mercedes Benz closed at just $63.70 Euro and they both have an electric vehicle that CarandDriver.com did a review about, but they are not getting the unprecedented and completely ridiculous media coverage that Tesla Motors has received.  Audi is releasing their A3 e-tron hybrid vehicle in 2015 as well, but it’s not a fully electric vehicle. They claim they will have one in about three years according to Audi and Edmunds.com.  And BMW reported the following on their website about their revenues and sales compared to Tesla Motors…

“The BMW Group continued to perform well throughout the period under report, recording its best-ever sales volume figures – both for a quarter and for a six-month period. The previous year’s second-quarter sales figure was topped once again, with 533,187 units delivered to customers (+5.3%). Six-month sales were also up solidly (1,020,211 units;6.9%), surpassing the one-million threshold for the first time in the first half of a year.”

My point in all of this is not to give stock advice, but simply to point out a fact that one company has an incredible amount of “hype” around their company based on their annual revenues and projected sales compared to other automobile manufacturers and even automobile retailers.  It’s a joke that Wall Street and the media power elite are helping Tesla Motors to be valued with a $32B Market Cap compared to Ford Motor Company for example that has a $64B Market Cap and sold 222,064 vehicles in the month of June 2014 alone.  Anyone with half a brain should see that the Telsa Motors is more hype than substance and the same holds true with their vehicles.  And even Fiat that owns Chrysler generates about $116 billion in U.S. annual revenues based on EUR $85 billion in sales.  Yet, I never hear a media outlet give Tesla any negative press compared to much larger and more successful car companies.  It’s crazy.

Sure, the Tesla Model S is a cool car, but they have limitations.  Such as only being able to drive about 300 miles before needing to be hooked up for almost five hours to fully recharge again.  Why is this not a big deal?  That would drive me crazy with the amount of miles that I drive each year.  I can get in a Model T and still put gasoline in that vehicle and drive it down the road.  Will you be able to do the same with the Tesla Model S and have it drive you anywhere you want to go even 20 years from now?  Probably not because it will be like your iPad and outdated technology.

There are finally a few articles that are showing up that are actually talking about some of the challenges of owning a Tesla Model S.   Like this article at Motor Authority written by a guy who talked about the claim that you can get a Tesla for only $500 a month, which is not reality.  The way the media and car enthusiasts promote this car you would think that it is the greatest invention since the wheel.   Personally, I think most of this media coverage is being purchased, but that’s my own personal opinion.  When I worked for a company selling Windsurfers back in the 1980’s, the company I was with frequently wrote the positive reviews for the magazine on some of their products because they spent so much with them on advertising.  If a bad review came out they called the Editor and told him they were pulling their ads and surprisingly the reviews became much better.  The exact same thing happened with a mail order computer company that I was with in the early 90’s.  Which is why I’m a bit skeptical of some of the things I read in many car magazines, on websites and through other media outlets about vehicles.

The other reason I’m skeptical is because as reported in the article “In Summary, The Tesla Model S Is A Dirty Car” the Government is giving Tesla Motors a great deal of help compared to other companies…

“The Government Subsidy Insanity – The Model S is pretty clearly not a ‘green’ car. Despite this, Tesla enjoys massive financial support from the Federal government, as well as various state and local governments: The Department of Energy (DOE) provided Tesla with $465 mln of low-interest loans under its Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Loan Program, buyers of the Tesla Model S luxury sedan gain $7,500 of Federal tax credits (at an annual cost to taxpayers of $150 mln at ‘full output’ of 20,000 Model S sedans per year) and state and local government incentives include a $2,500 rebate for Model S buyers in California, sales tax waivers, free parking, free charging and authorized travel in car pool lanes. Electric vehicle charging stations have also been subsidized, with Federal tax credits ranging from 30% of the cost of a home charger, up to a $1,000 tax credit, to $30,000 for the installation of commercial chargers. In addition, government environmental credit schemes forced other automakers to pay Tesla roughly $108 mln in over the past six months to “offset” the CO2 produced by their gasoline engine-equipped vehicles with credits generated by Model S sales. All of these incentives are designed to help promote Electric Vehicles (EVs) and reduce CO2 emissions, saving the planet from the devastating effects of Global Climate Change.” – SeekingAlpha.com

All of this hype with this vehicle and what appears to be a total scam on the American taxpayer, even though the internal combustion engine is still one of the greatest inventions of all time has me scratching my head.  Gasoline actually sits in your vehicle in hot or cold weather and doesn’t drain the power efficiency out of your vehicle like a lithium / ion battery that changes based on the weather.  The reality is the price of gasoline, government subsidies, media hype and the iPhone type “cool factor” is really what makes Tesla a viable company.  If gasoline was selling for $.47 a gallon in America like it is in Iran or $.88 a gallon like in Kuwait the electric car company would hardly be relevant.

Now I will wait for the negative comments from Tesla Model S fans.  Before you do though, let’s race from Denver to Los Angeles and I’ll drive my BMW 3 Series and you can drive your amazing Tesla Model S  and we will see who gets there first?  It’s about 1,017 miles from Denver to Los Angeles and about a 15 hour to 17 hour drive in a gasoline vehicle according to Google Maps with places for me to fill up all along the way.  So while you’re sitting around after 300 miles waiting four or five hours for your vehicle to recharge, so you can drive another 300 miles, so you can wait another five more hours and then drive another 300 miles and wait another five hours to go a whopping 900 miles total and then wait another five hours, so you can drive another five hours and finish your trip – I will already be there lying on the beach.  At which point I will ask you what your time is worth?  And after a few days of that nonsense to simply drive from Denver to Los Angeles, you will be ready to get out your high-tech iPhone, hop on Expedia and take an airplane home!

Hey Cool Car Fans,

I recently consigned a 1987 Buick Regal Turbo-T that is the same engine with many of the same features as the Grand National only in a different color and trim package.  It has the same 3.8 SFI Turbo and drive train that came in the black Grand National.  They only produced 5,905 of these vehicles with the Turbo-T W02 sport package and this has the Y56 package as well with only about 48,000 original miles on the odometer.  This is a very rare vehicle with a “cult” following for people who really know and love this car because they didn’t produce very many of them in 1987.

This particular Buick Regal Turbo-T is gray with gray cloth interior and it looks very cool and is in excellent condition with great miles and has been well maintained.  There is a great article over at Motor Trend discussing the black Grand National and the cool factor of this 1980’s throw back to the 1960’s Muscle Car with its 245hp motor for 1987.

1987 Buick Regal Turbo T / Grand National

Price: $23,500
Make: Buick
Model: Regal
Trim: Turbo-T / Grand National
Mileage: 48,234
VIN: 1G4GJ1172HP404512
Transmission: Automatic
Color: Gray
Interior: Cloth
Vehicle Type: Coupe
State: CO
Driver Train: RWD
Engine: 3.8L OHV 12V Turbo

What’s nice about this Buick is that it is all stock, except for the cold air intake and piping that you can see in the photo.  He still has the original intake if you would want to swap it out.  And the interior of this car is still like new. It’s definitely a 9 out of 10 or even a 10 out of 10 for overall condition.

It also has an updated rear-view mirror with temperature and compass, which is pretty slick.  It has a bench seat, the classic column shifter, power windows, power locks, key-less entry and power seats.  It also has the rear defrost and air conditioning with no cracks in the dash or the horn cap.

It has the big trunk with the trunk carpet kit and the Turbo-T floor mats.  He also has the original floor mats, which you rarely find with these vehicles.  The exterior paint is in great condition and all the chrome and black trim is in really good condition too.   One thing that I look for with the older vehicles is scratches or dents and there are not any on this vehicle.  It also has the grand national wheels with the BFG tires, which is a nice touch if you like it equipped that way.  He also has the stock wheels and tires and documentation to prove the mileage is accurate.

He even has the original manuals and window sticker!  That’s really hard to find in a vehicle that is this age and that didn’t start out as a collector type car.  The bottom line is that the car is in pristine condition and has always been stored inside as an original Colorado car, so no rust and my client is the third-owner. He owns another one too, so you’re getting a vehicle from a true enthusiast of this make and model.  I like the old school speedometer on this vehicle, that was something you saw quite a bit of in the 1980’s vehicles.

If you’re into this vehicle than look no further and get in touch with me before it sells.  I’m putting it up on Ebay this Weekend as well and hopefully we’ll find a new owner for this vehicle quickly.

I found an excellent Youtube Video of someone drag racing their modified high-performance 1987 Buick Regal Turbo that I thought would be worth sharing in this article.  It shows what can be done with this vehicle to make it extremely fast.  Check it out.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESQpuc5jFx0[/youtube]

Hey Cool Car Fans,

I get quite a few people who ask me about leasing vehicles because they want to have a lower payment when driving a vehicle.  First of all, I work with people from all walks of life and leasing is not for everyone.  You need a minimum 680 FICO score or a strong co-signer, but sometimes leasing can be an unbelievable way to solve an automobile payment challenge or eliminate negative equity.

Recently, I was asked by a friend to help a woman who was upside down on her high mileage SUV by $10,500!  She owed $40,000 on a vehicle that was worth only $29,500 and her vehicle was a 2009, so it was five years old at the time with miles that were to the point where costly repairs could start adding up.  She still had four to five years left on her loan, so her situation was really a disaster. I worked with a friend of mine and gave her a few options, one that included leasing a new 2014 Toyota Tundra Platinum at 15,000 miles a year and doing a five year lease.  This was not a manufacturer’s lease or something that could be done at the Toyota dealership to hit a payment that would work for her.

The second option was to lease a loaded Dodge Ram 1500 that I knew had $6,000 in incentives available through a great program that I could have used for her.  I know that some of you think it is crazy to lease a vehicle for five years, but keep in mind that people are doing six and seven year loans on vehicles now.  They don’t actually own their vehicles, so they are making payments to a lender instead of a leasing company.  They also do not have a guaranteed buyer for their vehicle five years from now, like you do with a leasing company.  Most people also don’t know that if you structure the lease properly on the right vehicle, you can usually get out within 42 months instead of going to the full five year term.  However, in both of these instances the numbers were pretty fantastic for eliminating $10,500 in negative equity.

I’m not going to go into all the details on this article. As The Cool Car Guy, I’m like a magician and I don’t share all of my tricks.  What I can tell you is that she ended up selecting the 2014 Toyota Tundra Platinum.  She is now driving a new vehicle that is under the full manufacturer warranty and the truck shouldn’t require anything more than oil changes for the next three years and very little maintenance over the next five years.

Her payment went up only slightly compared with what she was paying on her loan, even with the additional negative equity that is now being wiped out.  At the end of the lease term or possibly before, she should be in an equity position of about $5,000 based on current auction sales of the truck she selected.   I need to mention that had she selected the Dodge, she would have been in an even better position because of the $6,000 in additional cash they had under a special program at the time.  Although she would have had about the same payment as the Toyota, at the end of the lease term, she could have had much more equity based on the residual value of the truck, current Dodge auction sales and the incentives on the Dodge.

It’s all about the structure.  So, if you know someone who is frustrated about their vehicle situation, just have them contact me and I’ll see if I can work some magic.

________________________________________________________________________

Auto Consultant – John Boyd: The Cool Car Guy

John is an auto consultant with his license at a car dealership in Denver, Colorado. He can help you save time and money on any make or model, new or used, lease or purchase – nationwide! Call or email John about your next vehicle! jboyd@coolcarguy.com or Twitter @coolcarguy

Hey Cool Car Fans,

I spend a great deal of time each week cruising through the Dealer Auctions looking for vehicles for my clients.  I will often come across a vehicle that has been driven a ton of miles in a pretty short amount of time or just a great deal of miles in general.

It becomes a good data point for me when people tell me that they want a specific vehicle and they are concerned about how good of a vehicle it is for the money. I recently spotted this 2006 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited with 302,999 miles on the odometer.

I had to take a second look since a friend of mine has 350,000 miles on his 1997 Ford Explorer.  This Wrangler traveled about 37,874 miles a year and it is still in really good shape.  I pulled the CARFAX for kicks and it was a one-owner vehicle, so this guy bought it new and drove the heck out of it.  I thought I would take a minute and post the auction photos, including a picture of the odometer to show my visitors.

I think it’s pretty cool and this vehicle is still really clean, but it’s also a manual transmission that fewer people today know how to drive.  What is amazing is that it was still slated to go through the Dealer Auction for $9,000 in average condition, which is pretty crazy for a vehicle with 302,999 miles!   I doubt that it sold for that, but I’m tempted to see if I can go back and see what it did sell for just for kicks.  Regardless, I would say that the owner got his money’s worth out of this vehicle, wouldn’t you?

Many people I have met over the years will tell me about the ridiculous miles they have put on their Toyota, Nissan or Honda and they tend to believe that every other vehicle on the planet won’t go over 100,000 miles.  It’s just not true because I see cars and trucks in every make and model with ridiculous miles on them all the time.  Although, I do see quite a few high mileage Toyota’s, Nissan’s and Honda’s more often and I think it’s because those buyers tend to keep them longer than most.

I have a 1996 Honda Accord EX Wagon that has 192,500 miles on it and it runs like a champ.  I use it to drop off at dealerships or other locations when I’m picking up a vehicle and I just want to leave a vehicle.  I call it my “personal assistant” because it’s just an old car for running around.  What is crazy is that vehicle still has an NADA retail book value of over $3,500!

It’s true that you can lose money on vehicles because they depreciate, but it’s also true that if you take care of and maintain your vehicle it can provide you with a great deal of mileage on the road. I’m willing to bet that the second owner of this vehicle gets another 200,000 miles out of this Jeep.

________________________________________________________________________

Auto Consultant – John Boyd: The Cool Car Guy

John is an auto consultant with his license at a car dealership in Denver, Colorado. He can help you save time and money on any make or model, new or used, lease or purchase – nationwide! Call or email John about your next vehicle! jboyd@coolcarguy.com or Twitter @coolcarguy