Best looking car for under $10k?

[Otis Nice]

My first car was an 85 Crown Vic...

 

Prob not the style of "cool classic" most of us were thinking.

[greg1647545532]

Don't you badmouth the shaggin wagon

[Otis Nice]

Don't you badmouth the shaggin wagon

 

 

EDIT: Wait...was it an ACTUAL wagon?

[greg1647545532]

You know it brother. 9 seats for all the bitches a 16 year old could muster. Which was none in my case.

 

eta:

 

 

Ours was gray with a whorehouse red interior, but otherwise this was it. God I hated that car, but it certainly had presence.

[Fiji ST]

You know it brother. 9 seats for all the bitches a 16 year old could muster. Which was none in my case.

 

eta:

 

 

Ours was gray with a whorehouse red interior, but otherwise this was it. God I hated that car, but it certainly had presence.

 

How could you hate such a thing?

[CRed05]

Hey Clark, shitters full

[o0n8]

In my opinion would not come close to meeting the ask of the OP. No one will notice a Saab in those years at least. To be clear I like them but not pretty or crowd pleasing.

Granted it's no 9-3 viggen but Saab's will start to become pretty rare and one of those kinda neat to see cars out.

 

How could you hate such a thing?

 

Right?

 

 

Jeremy Clarkson said to be a true enthusiast you have to own an Alfa at some point

https://www.reinaintlauto.com/1995-alfa-romeo-164-q-quadrifoglio-c-1852.htm

[CRed05]

^sweet

 

But that's for enthusiasts. He's looking for something to wow normies.

[zeitgeist57]

Normies are attracted to:

1) Brand

2) Styling (body, wheels, stance)

3) Sound

 

Have to say that Jaguar is the cheapest option to impress normies. Lotta money when new, but mainstream enough to maintain albeit not cheaply.

 

Mercedes would come in 2nd, as they overbuilt for the lease market and depreciation is intense. The bigger engine you can get, the better.

 

If you want to get "cute", MINI's have fallen in price. Not the manliest, but people instantly recognize the car.

https://www.mercedesexpert.com/vehicle-details/2002-mini-cooper-s-john-cooper-works-hatchback-aefbb95a5b7247ee805e27671fdd320e

 

Lastly, the quintessential "normie"-transition vehicle that both normies and enthusiasts the world over will be drawn to..........

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jeep Wrangler.

https://columbus.craigslist.org/cto/d/1987-jeep-yj-wrangler/6594302674.html

https://columbus.craigslist.org/cto/d/2000-jeep-wrangler-hardtop/6596523107.html

[Fiji ST]

https://www.reinaintlauto.com/1995-alfa-romeo-164-q-quadrifoglio-c-1852.htm

 

NINE GRAND?!

 

 

[o0n8]

NINE GRAND?!

 

Quadrifoglio Bro, Quadrifoglio

[Geeto67]

How could you hate such a thing?

 

Because they are terrible cars for people who love to drive. I love all sorts of cars that don't usually get a lot of love, but as someone who grew up in the era when these kind of cars were hand me downs, they are just awful driving cars. These and the impala/caprice/electra/parienenne wagons from GM.

 

The downsides:

 

- They aren't fast due to the left over malaise engineering that coaxed 150hp out of 5.0 and 5.7 liter iron block v-8s with computer controlled carbs,

 

- they had 20 degrees of play in the wheel even when new,

 

- they floated down the road in a straight line but any kind of corner and you felt like you were dragging the door handles on the ground (over sprung and under dampened),

 

- they got 10mpg no matter where or how you drove them,

 

- they either had vinyl interiors that burned you though your clothes in summer or that weird mouse hair fabric that would staticly charge you like a battery every time you got in or out,

 

- they dragged the rear bumper on exiting any decline the overhand was so long

 

- They all smelled like every previous owner was in the car sweating to death at the same time. Those weird 1980's interiors soaked up all the smells and somehow amplified them. Also if anybody ever smoked within 10 feet of the car with the windows down that's it, your car smelled like cigarette smoke for ever.

 

- they rotted like they were painted with a road salt based paint. And the interiors were all warped, cracked, and falling apart. Some of the headliners fell down so hard you had to pin them up with safety pins in front so you could see enough of the windshield to drive.

 

 

Now the plus side was:

 

- they had so much room you could have a party in the car. Not an exaggeration, a literal party. We had 12 high school kids in my buddy's 1984 buick wagon once, for comparison the most I ever stuffed in my dad's 1999 suburban was 9.

 

- you could screw in them. In fact there are tons of 1980's movies where people do exactly that: fold the rear seat, inflate an air mattress or put down a heavy blanket, and go to pound town. If you were going hard enough the car's rear would rock and you could get in a rhythm where you didn't need to work that hard to get maximum pushing.

 

- unless you were sideways and on fire with 10 people hanging out the windows, they were invisible to police officers.

 

- They were indestructible. everything was so overbuilt and under stressed that you could hoon the shit out of it and it wouldn't even notice. This was also before crumple zones so if you hit something you were either going through it or leaving a lasting impression.

 

- Everyone I have ever seen had A/c and it always worked. Dome lights, wouldn't work, headlights would be out, gauges do that thing where they look like they are doing jumping jacks when you hit the gas, but that A/C blew cold every time.

 

Now I get that some of this could apply to 1960's-1970's land yachts, but honestly, They are actually better. the interiors were better and those cars were at least interesting to look at. 1980's design embraced the cube. Everything is a god damn cube or rectangle. You fall asleep from boredom just reading the gauges.