For $54,900, Welcome to AMG Black Friday insuranceinstantonline.blogspot.com

insuranceinstantonline.blogspot.com ® For $54,900, Welcome to AMG Black Friday

S

It's Black Friday, the nominal start of the holiday shopping season, and that means everyone's looking for a killer deal. Today's Nice Price or Crack Pipe Mercedes is eponymous with the day, but will its price prove more than you bargained for?

Do you recall the Rampage we went on back on Wednesday? Or, for Americans at least, has the food coma from yesterday's epic feast wiped it from your minds? Either way, I'm here to help and I can tell you that backwards hood scooped custom turbo trucklette from the Bilbow family's private collection didn't engender much love for its seventy-five hundred dollar price. Yep, its rampage was cut short by a 60% Crack Pipe loss, sadly not giving the Bilbows one more thing for which to give thanks on Turkey Day.

Speaking of Thanksgiving - and yes Canadians, I know that your was last month, eh - yesterday was the day we in the U.S. take a moment to sit in reflection upon our lives and give thanks for what we have and how things could be a whole lot worse. It's also the prep period for what's considered to be the biggest shopping day of the year - Black Friday.

Now, this year a number of retailers said eff Black Friday, we're opening up on Thursday night because we want to stuff our employees' Thanksgiving turkeys with cat poo and sadness, with a bowl of steaming resentment on the side.

Now, I don't even leave the house on Black Friday owing to the mayhem and stupidity inherent in the event , and I sure as hell wasn't going to get up from the dinner table on Thursday evening, excuse myself to the rest of the family, and then race over to Target to fight other shoppers for the last Inappropriately Touch Me Elmo doll. But maybe you did.

S

If that's the case, and you are just now walking in the door, bloodied and bruised but still proudly clutching in your shaking hands your packed shopping bags full of conquest purchases, then maybe you'll still be up for determining one final shopping decision and that's whether or not this 2008 Mercedes Benz CLK63 AMG Black Series is a deal at its offered price.

You might remember the C209-based CLK Black as the car Jeremy Clarkson described as 'epic' and in fact as the Stig's favorite ride despite an aversion to other members of MB's AMG lineup. The CLK 63 in Black form is about as close to James Bond as you're going to get in a car- unflappable, brilliantly capable, but when necessary, brutally effective and uncompromising.

S

Much of that comes from the 6,208-cc quad-cam V8 that has been hand built by an expert AMG wrenched and signed-off as proof. This one was assembled by Kuut Bruss. Bruss' work results in over 500 bhp and 465 kb-ft of torque which gives the Black the kind of blistering performance you might not expect from a car wearing the three-pontes star. That's zero to one hundred in four seconds flat and a top speed that tickles the balls of two hundred miles per hour.

Keeping that inline as best they can are massive meats under fenders with so much flare it's like an ad for American Hustle. A heavy duty LSD and revamped rear suspension can't quite tame the big V8's output making these cars as happy to show their ass as a drunken frat boy.

S

Inside, the car loses its back seats, but gains wildly bolstered thrones up front. Seriously, these are so deep that you might not be surprised to find James Franco trying to hack off his arm in the pivot divot. One notable difference between the U.S. and home market Black is the addition of a cup holder in the console. Yeah, America!

Like most CLK63s presently on the market, this one looks pretty clean. It's being dealer sold so obviously it's been hand-detailed prior to the pics, but sadly the individual who did so didn't sign his work. The paint seems mar-free, and while the driver's seat does evidence some use it's not torn up or anything.

S

That's notable because unlike many of the other CLK63s available to buy which have milage in the teens, this one has a healthy 59,820 on its clock. Perhaps that's the reason behind it being one of the cheapest of the marque that I've currently found in the classifieds, coming in a good ten grand below average.

Today is a day when you might expect to get a good deal - that is of course unless you're a Walmart employee or something - and so it's now time for you to consider whether this Black Friday CLK Black might be included in that category.

The seller, an eBayer named Exotic Motors with a remarkable 100% positive feedback, is asking $54,900 for this Black, and again this one has a lot more miles on it than do some of the other more expensive offerings, so perhaps you'd want to factor in any potential wear and tear items the car may soon require into your calculations.

What do you think, does $54,900 prove that once you go Black you can never go back? Or, is this a Benz with a bends-me-over price tag?

You decide!

eBay, or go here if the ad disappears.

Help me out with NPOCP. Click here to send a me a fixed-price tip, and remember to include your commenter handle.

Related

For $7,500, Go On A Rampage

There has never been a more contradictorily named vehicle than the Dodge Rampage. Today's Nice Price or Crack Pipe pickup is a little more… Read…

For $54,900, Welcome to AMG Black Friday

For $29,900, Baby Kammback! insuranceinstantonline.blogspot.com

insuranceinstantonline.blogspot.com ® For $29,900, Baby Kammback!

S

Today's Nice Price or Crack Pipe Firebird features custom bodywork named a 'Kamm-tail' after the German aerodynamicist and auto designer who first proposed the turbulence-reducing shape, Wunibald Kamm. You'll need to decide if this Kammback's price will keep buyers coming back.

Not coming back but in the back, that's where yesterday's 1988 VW Vanagon Weekender keeps its motor. In this particular brick's case, that mill was a hot Subaru six, but even that wasn't enough to escape the massive 95% Crack Pipe vote that overcame it like a tsunami of rationality. Apparently paying for that Weekender would take too many weekdays, and so it fell.

Pontiac fell as well, the brand succumbing to apathy, Azteks, and the duplication of models from its more successful sister marques. Before it did however the arrowhead brand established a number of models that would carry at least its memory into the future, and perhaps the strongest bearer of that flame is the Firebird.

S

The Firebird was a derivation of the Chevrolet Camaro, and honestly if it wasn't for the Trans Am edition, and its staring role vexing Buford T Justice in Smokey and the Bandit, it would today only be known as that other car that looked like the Camaro.

The Pontiac pony had its ups and downs, and honestly by the late seventies the cars were not all that desirable, having lost their balls and possessing the handling enjoyment equivalent to Tori Spelling's Boobs. If you were to attach significant value to one of the later - say a '78 - models, it would have to be pretty damn special.

Well this 1978 Firebird Formula flips the bird at convention as it is some sort of custom Kamm-tail shooting brake. Now, Pontiac apparently thought this might have been a good way to improve Firebird sales at the time, but they only built a couple of prototypes, and this car doesn't seem to be either of those.

Still, despite the seeming lack of access to the load area other than by folding down the high-backed buckets and leaning in as though after a very late white rabbit, it's still kind of a slam dunk as far as styling goes.

S

The only kind of freakish bit here is the lip that's evident between the rear glass and the tail light panel. That's kind of an awkward styling choice. How awkward? Try non-Armenian 14-year old's attempt at a mustache awkward.

The ad says that the car is one of two and that the other is vacationing in Europe - the lucky duck. It also notes that the car rocks an Olds 403 (largest bore of any modern small block!) and a THM350 3-speed slusher. That engine pumped out 185-bhp in its day and with likely close to two tons to drag around, this custom Firebird is probably more for show than for go.

The seller claims the car to be a total head turner, but doesn't say if that's in the mode of the Exorcist or what. The bodywork looks clean in the limited Craigslist ad pics, while the interior is a mystery, inexorably masked in a shot that's darker than the inside of a well digger's ass.

S

There are a pair of what look to be aviators on the dash, which as you know makes the car out to be Dirk Diggler cool. But is it worth nearly thirty large? The seller is asking $29,900 for the honor of taking this Kamm back home to meet mother, and you now need to decide whether that's deal or not.

What do you say, is this one-off (two-off?) Firebird shooting brake worth that sort of cash? Or, is this a Kamm-tail priced to make you turn tail and run?

You decide!

Inland Empire Meth Lab Craigslist, or go here if the ad disappears.

H/T to Rory Connell for the hookup!

Help me out with NPOCP. Click here to send a me a fixed-price tip, and remember to include your commenter handle.

For $29,900, Baby Kammback!

For $18,900, Karmann Chameleon insuranceinstantonline.blogspot.com

insuranceinstantonline.blogspot.com ® For $18,900, Karmann Chameleon

Today's Nice Price or Crack Pipe Karmann Ghia is packing Porsche power, just not the kind you're expecting. The question is, will you find its price equally surprising?

Owning a show car can mean a hassle as they are generally built to be viewed not driven and it's expensive keeping that dais in the driveway rotating all the time. That first issue wasn't the case with yesterday's Saab 900 Sensonic, as it was claimed to be a well-maintained driver. Of course owing to the tenuous reliability of its unique drivetrain, that may not be for long. And long is how much time 78% of you expected it to be for sale owing to its Crack Pipe-voted price.

Have you heard all the kerfuffle about turning gay people into straight ones? Apparently this so called gay conversion therapy is big business and is considered by some to be a scam, hence its practice is being banned in many U.S. states. Who knew?!

No such ban has yet been enacted against converting rear-engined cars, but as we've seen this week there are people who don't like their cars being ass-engined and - gosh-darnnit - they're doing something about it. On Tuesday we had a wild Chevy Corvair that had experienced a motivational one-eighty, and today we have an even wilder 1969 Karmann Ghia that has been similarly switcheroo'd.

S

You probably remember the Karmann Ghia as one of the cars Maxwell Smart drove in Get Smart. You might also know it as the sporty derivation of the Type 1 Beetle, a lineage that pretty much limited the amount of 'sporty' to just its fancy pants bodywork. Speed, handling and braking of the car remained as mediocre as that of its Bug base.

That's not the case here however. This home brew custom tosses its air cooled flat four with all the power of an asthmatic squirrel for the potent potential of Porsche power. The gearbox, also Porsche in origin, remains between the back axles.

S

The builder of this Custom Ghia has taken the drivetrain and floorpan from an '86 944, one with 107,000 miles on the clock, and has slid it under the Karmann Ghia body. That means a bump in its ponies, all the way up to 147, and a conversion to aguas frescas for cooling.

Additional mods to make it a runner include front suspension from a Toyota truck and the steering mechanism from a Ford Maverick!

S

Inside you'll find a lot more evidence of the 944 including the seats and instrument panel, now serving duty in the center of the custom dash. In fact, the whole interior is sort of like the Texas Chainsaw Massacre house only with 944 parts instead of those from people.

The bodywork isn't as dramatic a departure from stock as is the interior, but it does have flared fenders and some aero extensions to modern things up a bit. The chrome phone dials come from the donor Porsche. Oh and those back windows are removable and store behind the seats.

S

The ad - which is on a consignment seller's site - claims that the car was completed in 2009 and explains that the car drives fine with the single exception of the gearing which the seller claims is good for the Autobahn but not around town. Um, yeah.

The price for this front-engined mashup of Ghia and 944 is a cool $18,900, and it's safe to say that it would be impossible to replicate this car for that kind of cash unless you plugged the hours to do so yourself.

What do you think about that price? Is that a deal for what's basically two cars in one? Or, is this another example of a conversion therapy gone wrong?

You decide!

Ron Susser.com, or go here if the ad disappears.

Help me out with NPOCP. Click here to send a me a fixed-price tip, and remember to include your commenter handle.

For $18,900, Karmann Chameleon

For $3,900, Become a Baur-Y Boy insuranceinstantonline.blogspot.com

insuranceinstantonline.blogspot.com ® For $3,900, Become a Baur-Y Boy

You probably can’t be like Jack Bauer and save the world in 24 hours, but you can buy today’s kind of scruffy Nice Price or Crack Pipe BMW 323i Baur convertible and pretend. That is of course if you think its price isn't make believe.

When it comes to recreational vehicles do you have a goldilocks moment, finding the luxury motor coaches too big and the passenger seat of a Miata too small? Well then, perhaps yesterday’s kitschy custom 1961 International Harvester Camper would mama bear you right up? Of course with 53% of you not feeling its price, it’s unlikely anybody is going to A-OK taking this to the KOA anytime soon.

If you happen to enjoy camping where there might be bears present, then today’s 1981 BMW 323i would likely also not be an appropriate choice as its top has been Baur’d making getting bear’d way to easy.

You might remember the E21 as the first-ever 3-series, having replaced the 2002 ‘Neue Klasse’ in 1975. Alternatively you might not remember these at all as the 320i that was sent to the U.S. was a bit of a snoozer, owing to its 1.8-litre M10 four.

S

That’s not the case with the 2.3-litre six cylinder edition denied to red-blooded Americans out of spite over our great nation’s emissions and fuel economy regulations. This 1981 E21 is that Euro spec 323i, featuring that model’s sweet as a sun dappled kiss M20 engine and thin, elegant bumpers that scoff at your car insurance deductible.

Not only that, but this one has been modded - with BMW’s blessing - by Karosserie Baur GmbH, giving the car a multi-position targa/convertible top. That’s comprised of a hard section on one side and a soft section on the other - much like a Twix - both kept inline by a solid roof structure that features Alfa Montreal-esque slots in the B-pillar and maintains the Hofmeister Kink in the smaller rear sidelights.

The ad for this silver over black Baur notes that top is theoretically configurable into 4 positions, but I think that includes one window up and one window down. Regardless, it's actually locked into configurations having the soft back section down all the time as the ad notes that part is in need of replacement.

Other problems include a body that while seemingly clean does have what is described as a 'pateena' which I think is also the name of a hip new Asian fusion restaurant in Milwaukee. The seller says he has been using the car as a daily driver, which makes you wonder just how many miles are under its belt since he also says the odo broke at 110,000, but doesn't detail when that happened. Was it last year? Nineteen ninety seven?

This car's condition isn't all titty twisters and atomic wedgies however, as the ad does note a litany of replaced parts, some of which are either expensive or critical elements. The daily driver status also means that registration of this grey market car shouldn't be too big a hassle. The fact that it has had side marker lights added implies that the work to make it legal may already have been totally done. Lastly, the gearbox behind the silky six is as five-speed as you want it to be.

Baur E21s are pretty rare here in the U.S., but not onerously so. 323i editions however are pretty much equatable to lady chicken pearly whites so this car's appearance shoud raise an eyebrow of interest. The question of course is whether its price will cause all interest to be lost.

The seller is asking $3,900 for the car, and while this is the second kind of ratty silver Bimmer we've had here this week, this one stands a far better chance of leaving at least some of your wallet intact over the course of its ownership, while that 850Ci would have drained your bank account and then gone after the kids' college fund.

With all that in mind, what do you think about that price - $3,900 - for this rough but ready 323i Baur? Would that be a fair trade for such a rare and desirable car? Or, is that price un-Baur-able?

You decide!

Kansas City Craigslist, or go here if the ad disappears.

H/T to the ever reliable Civardi for the hookup!

Help me out with NPOCP. Click here to send a me a fixed-price tip, and remember to include your commenter handle.

For $3,900, Become a Baur-Y Boy

For $14,900, Cummins Again? insuranceinstantonline.blogspot.com

insuranceinstantonline.blogspot.com ® For $14,900, Cummins Again?

Today’s Nice Price or Crack Pipe Ford F350 is about as big as you could want. Not only that but its got a big D as well, as is Diesel. That Cummins conversion makes this an F with a D and everybody loves the D, but will its price make it the grade?

Ba-donk-a-donk (do-do-do-doo-doo), ba-donk-a-donk (do-do-do-dot). . . oops sorry. Yesterday’s reptilian-themed Cutlass Donk certainly stirred some emotions. Let’s see, there was disgust, revulsion, disinterest, and even a little reflex reflux. As you might expect with such a response, things didn’t go too well on the pricing front either, and in fact Yo Gator-Gator went down in an 86% drubbing.

When you think diesel what name first comes to mind? Yeah, well of course Rudolph, after all he invented the oil burner, and then took his broke-ass life by jumping into the briny depths of the English Channel, the poor sap. After him however, next on your list might possibly be Clessie Cummins, because he took Diesel’s diesel and ran with it, at one point claiming over half the U.S. heavy diesel truck market.

S

A name you might not initially associate with oil burners is Ford, that company having taken a relatively cautious approach in their diesel offerings here in the States. FoMoCo didn’t even start building their PowerStroke V8s in-house until 2010, having previously sourced the mills from Navistar. None of those names however have quite the reverent following as does Cummins and their straight six diesel, available to consumers in the ’89 and up Dodge Ram pickups.

Of course if you’re jonesing for a Cummins but you’re starting point is a big-ass F350 Crew Cab, you’re going to need to take matters into your own oil-stained hands. Or, you could buy this 2003 rig that’s already had the Cummins conversion completed.

S

Sporting a 1994 12V P-pump 5.9-litre this ginormous F-series is like the big boy pants of pickup trucks. At 160-bhp for the automatic backed 6BT, the 359-CID straight six doesn’t offer up copious quantities of power. At around 400 ft-lbs however its torque more than makes up for that paucity of ponies.

One chink in the Cummins armor has been the KDP, or killer dowel pin. That's internal an dowel pin that is pressed into place at the factory but has a history over time of working its way out resulting in catastrophic engine failure. There are ways to fix that so blowing one of these up would really be your own damn fault.

S

Behind the venerated six is what’s described as a rebuilt 47RH, which in case you didn’t know is a heavy duty Torqueflite. That of course bolts up the Cummins all nice and neat but will surely confuse the hell out of the service tech at your local Ford dealer.

Other changes include a kit to ensure the tach makes friendly with the smoker, and a new coat of ruby red slipper over 20-inch chrome bling-blings. Also, and possibly disturbingly, the entire front clip has been replaced with an ’06 unit. What’s up with that?

The rest of the truck looks like pure uncut F350 and that’s not a bad thing. Yeah, it’s bigger than the Queen Mary, and probably is a bear to maneuver in tight traffic, but damn it'll compensate for a lot of little things. Those puny “compact” parking spaces at the mall would barely fit a wheel, but there's still there’s something to be said about the attraction of a big American pickup. I mean if we can’t demonstrate our global leadership by bombing other nations with impunity the least we can do is drive a vehicle that can be seen from the Moon. Hells yeah!

S

You might note that the traditional Ford Blue Oval has been replaced on this truck with a custom Fummins badge. The truck is so freakin' long that they must have forgotten to make the same change on the tail gate during the long walk back there as it still has Henry's name on it.

Henry's pickup, in lighter duty F150 guise at least, has been the Nation's top seller for decades, even without the cool Cummins mill under hood. This one has that and its current owner wants it to be a best seller at his set $14,900 price. You now need to say just how best that might be.

What's your take on this custom Cummins-powered F350? Does $14,900 glow your lugs? Or, even though you likely couldn't replicate this truck for that much, would you even want too?

You decide!

Hotlanta Craigslist, or go here if the ad disappears.

H/T to Jason Barnwell for the hookup.

Help me out with NPOCP. Click here to send a me a fixed-price tip, and remember to include your commenter handle.

For $14,900, Cummins Again?

For $3,900, Nothing But Pirate! insuranceinstantonline.blogspot.com

insuranceinstantonline.blogspot.com ® For $3,900, Nothing But Pirate!

Are you ready kids? Aye-aye, Captain! I can’t hear you! AYE-AYE CAPTAIN! Oohhh, who has a turquoise-painted pirate themed van? Nice Price or Crack Pipe! But will its price fit in your plans? Nice Price or Crack Pipe! Nice Price-Crack Pipe, Nice Price-Crack Pipe, Nice Price. . . Crack Pipe!

An interesting pairing, the British and the Japanese. They used to say that the sun never sets on the British Empire, and of course Japan’s flag features a rising sun, so there’s that. There was also the Rover/Honda partnership in the ‘80s which showed how the two nations - or at least their auto makers - could collaborate.

The U.S. hates to be left out of other nation’s business, so of course yesterday we got to weigh in on that partnership, in the form of a tidy - and Stateside - 1993 Rover 216 SR. That of course is a British-born Civic with all the plusses and minuses which that entails. One plus that can now be added to its multi-national bona fides is a Nice Price win, because that’s just what an RCH-narrow 51% of you voted it.

Back in 1973, balladeer Sammy Johns had a hit with the song Chevy Van which was about a dude getting busy with a hitchhiking hippie girl who, post ugly-bumping, does the right thing in Johns’ mind- making like a banana and splitting. Man, what a groovy scene.

You are unlikely to get lucky - even if you stay up all night - in today’s 1967 Chevy Van. That’s because its pirate theme is not likely to stir any libidinous thoughts in any but the most eff-d up of Jack Sparrow fetishists.

S

Chevrolet’s first entrant into the ‘60s minivan wars was the Corvair Greenbrier, which were amazing back then and are still today. Not too amazing apparently because the Greenbrier didn’t make the cut in the Corvair’s mid-sixties refresh. Instead, Chevy introduced the G-series compact vans which were based on the conventional Chevy II platform and fell more in line with the Ford Econoline and Dodge A100 competition.

This 1967 Chevy Van is only a semi-creeper van as it sits half-way between people carrier and commercial van owing to the windows in its doors and none in the rest of the back panels.

Chevy debuted a redesign for the G-Van in 1967, and that featured an enlarged doghouse that allowed room and cooling capacity for the company’s small V8 engine. Most however were powered by one version or another of the company’s stout but unremarkable OHV straight six.

S

The ad doesn’t say what engine resides between this one’s seats, and that’s because its far too focused on the pirate theme that has been applied. Why a pirate theme you might ask? Arr, why not?

The exterior is described as teal - a non-obvious pirate hue - but in fact looks a lot more like turquoise to me, at least in the pictures. Regardless, it looks like this long wheelbase (108-inch) van seems in decent shape on the outside.

S

On the inside the purple paint and salty dog den of debauchery accouterments make it look like a perfect place to get your yo-ho-ho on. Of course, if you do car pool duty for a bunch of fourth graders, rolling up in this doubloony bin will make you an instant hero.

Heroism doesn’t come cheap however - well, maybe it does as this van is only $3,900 according to the ad. What do you think about this pirate ship van for that kind of booty? Does that price shiver your timbers? Or, does it walk the plank?

You decide!

San Francisco Craigslist, or go here if the ad disappears.

H/T to consistently inconsistent for the hookup!

Help me out with NPOCP. Click here to send a me a fixed-price tip, and remember to include your commenter handle.

Related

For $4,995, Let Rover Take Over

Eve got Adam to sample the original forbidden fruit and as a result their landlord sent them packing. Similarly, today’s Nice Price or Crack Pipe… Read…

For $3,900, Nothing But Pirate!

For $9,900, Get That Grand Feeling insuranceinstantonline.blogspot.com

insuranceinstantonline.blogspot.com ® For $9,900, Get That Grand Feeling

I think I can count the number of Buicks I’d like to own on the fingers of one hand. Today’s Nice Price or Crack Pipe Grand National is one of those digits, but is its price a middle finger to its buyer?

The thought of a twenty-nine year old Lincoln burning oil may not be too surprising. However, when that oil being burned is diesel, and its doing so in a BMW six powering a Lincoln named Mark, then you might just take notice.

Yesterday’s 1984 Lincoln Mark VII not only had the Bimmer can full of rocks under its hood, but its exemplary presentation and claims of drivability - hey, the airbag suspension still works! - led to its six grand asking receiving a reasonable 55% Nice Price win.

The eighties were kind of a heyday of great American coupes. Not only the Lincoln, but Ford’s Thunderbird as well rising from the ashes of baroque behemothness to become amazing drivers. And then there was the Buick.

A lot of cars are named after somebody or some place, but few are named for a state of being. Buick’s Regal is one of those notable exceptions. That illustrious name has over the years been applied to a number of cars unworthy of the title, but some, like today's 1987 coupe, aren't just Regal, they're Grand.

That's right, this black beauty is a Grand National, a model named in honor of Buick's 1981 and 82 Nascar Manufacturer's Cup wins. It also looks pretty nice, rocks T-tops, and the seller says the back seat looks as virginal as the tuba player in your high school band. In fact he lays claim to the upholstery in its entirety being devoid of tears, rips, or other blemishes.

That, and the claim that it runs "amazingly" are pretty much all you get as far as description of the car's condition. Instead the seller chooses to focus on the car's mileage - or kilometerage as it were - seeing as the nation this Buick is so grand aboot just so happens to be Canada.

As such the ad makes a big deal out of the car's 141,000 total kilometer mileage, which the seller maths out to 5,500 per year. That's about 88,000 miles to those of you averse to the metric system on religious grounds. Of course for all we know it could have put on any number of those miles in the past year. Just saying.

Seeing as the seller can't be bothered to give us much info on the car - or more than a single picture - I'm not going to assist him by delving in the rich history of the model. Suffice to say that by '87 the turbocharged and intercooled 3.8-litre V6 had been pretty well sorted out, and pumped out close to 300 ponies. There's a THM200-4R backing that up, and of course the suspension was given the 'heavy duty" treatment to coax as much handling out of the plebeian G-body platform as possible.

The seller notes that these cars typically go for the mid-teens and up, making his $9,900 (Canadian, meaning about $9,600 U.S.) a bargain. Here's the thing, the lack of pics and description, along with the ad noting this to be a screaming deal makes me wonder if there's something fishy about the car. I mean, is the car under some sort of gypsy curse or perhaps haunted? Do they even have ghosts in Canada? I don't know, but there are some flags raised with this ad, and they are all red.

But maybe it's too legit to quit, and that $9,900 price isn't simply a ruse to lure in unsuspecting buyers who are aren't seen again until their teeth are spotted being used as a necklace by a guy with Buick keys in line at Tim Hortons. Let's say that's not the case. In that event, what do you think about that price for this kind of mysterious Grand National? Is that a deal, or is that just too many grand?

You decide!

Vancouver Craigslist, or go here, if the ad disappears.

A tip on the lid to Rob Young for the hookup!

Help me out with NPOCP. Click here to send a me a fixed-price tip, and remember to include your commenter handle.

For $9,900, Get That Grand Feeling

For $34,900, Meet The Steeler Dealer insuranceinstantonline.blogspot.com

insuranceinstantonline.blogspot.com ® For $34,900, Meet The Steeler Dealer

The phrase “mid-life crisis” was coined by Canadian psychologist Elliot Jaques way back in 1965. It’s also a killer track from the Mike Patton-era Faith No More. Today’s Nice Price or Crack Pipe Corvette is about mid-lifey as you could want, but is it priced to cause a low-funds crisis?

What’s your take on buff older dudes? Specifically those with a cap of snowy wisps atop their head, a pornstache, and prone to sleeveless tees showing off their still-toned guns and support for their favorite football team, half a continent away? Would you buy a used car from such a man?

Today you have that option as this extrovert-in-a-can 2003 Chevy Corvette is being offered just such a dude, down in Phoenix AZ.

Now, far be it from me to cast judgement based solely on a Craigslist ad, and I’m a little concerned about this guy showing up on my doorstep itching for a scrap, but here we go anyway.

S

The car is either a blue flames over yellow base, or a base blue being overtaken by a bukake’s worth of yellow sperm, I can’t tell for sure. This model year was the celebration of the Corvette’s 50^th Anniversary, the sports car itself having amazingly reached middle age. This car is claimed to be one of that year's commemorative models. Those however were all supposedly painted metallic burgundy, so the current custom paint job may actually diminish the car’s long-term value in direct contrast to its short term value in picking up the ladies.

Other 50^th Anniversary touches such as the shale colored seats with 50^th embroidery in their headrests (it does appear on the dash), and nickel painted rather than chrome on the alloys are also absent. Perhaps making up for that is a Magnuson twin-scroll supercharger sitting atop the LS1 and making a promised 600-bhp.

S

The little blue pill-worthy ALL-CAPS ad notes a bunch of other upgrades too numerous to list, although there is mention of the car having but 25K on its clock and a set of new plus-one Pirelli P-Zeros underneath. Not mentioned but obvious is a custom high-center hood to clear the blower.

Visually, the car also sports a #1 Steelers Fan plate on the front, reinforcing the seller’s aforementioned shirt. This despite the car and seller obviously being in the Southwest.

Why is #1 Fan now living in Phoenix and selling what’s obviously an extension of his youthful mindset? Hard to say, and Mrs. #1 fan (guessing here) doesn’t seem too sad to see it go either. Still, if you or someone you know might be on the verge of a mid-life crisis, then this hot Vette might be a relief to find behind the glass marked break in case of emergency.

S

But is the physical manifestation of the panic caused by cresting the maturity hill worth $34,900 to drive the pain away? This Corvette would obviously be reinvigorating, despite all the questions around its 50^th-ness, but is it worth that much?

What do you think, is $34,900 a fair price for this supercharged C5 and another chance at making the young girls take notice? Or, would paying that much give someone a mad-wife crisis?

You decide!

Phoenix Craigslist or go here if the ad disappears.

H/T to Quake Guy for the hookup!

Help me out with NPOCP. Click here to send a me a fixed-price tip, and remember to include your commenter handle.

For $34,900, Meet The Steeler Dealer