Is it just me or where are all the interesting cars?

Now that I've "properly" arrived in the US I"ve been keeping my eye out for some wheels as having only a single car between me and my wife (and one that needs some work to boot) is getting bit frustrating.

So I keep an eye on Craigslist, have a couple of searches set up on ebay and so far the result is - zilch. Well, not quite, but there doesn't seem to be anything interesting for reasonable money available in the city of Lost Wages. Once you throw out the scams, then the sellers who can't be bothered to call you back and the overpriced E36 M3, you're left with a Toyota Camry on 22" chrome wheels. Urgh.

For some reason, most of the more interesting vehicles seem to live over the border in California but I'm still flabbergasted about the mismatch of reality and people's imagination (1988 C4 w/ 65k on the odometer for 18k? Eh?).

At least the trucks I"ve been looking at so far have been rust free. That's a new one for me.

Sorry about the rant, just needed to vent a little.

I have found patience is the key, nothing one week but a dozen deals the next.

Welcome to the U.S.!

Patience... stuff seems to come in waves. I had to wait about a month or so to find the right e28. Luckily a few worse choices fell through before the current one came along.

Is it just me or where are all the interesting cars?

They live in the past.

Judging by what I find on CL here, about 3 weeks in the past...

Actually one truck with potential has just popped up again, but of course we have to fly out to see the in-laws early tomorrow morning. Oh well, it might still be around towards the end of the week...

Wait till winter. People get hard up for money. Things, neat things, get sold.

I wasn't planning to walk until winter

where are all the interesting cars?

Um. Here? Seriously. I've been seeing some CRAZY stuff in the little reader's rides sidebar lately.

On topic: Get out and meet people. Go to autocrosses, car shows, etc. What cars are you interested in specifically? Sign up for the marque-specific message boards for those cars. They tend to be a little more "real-world" price friendly, and the cars tend to be better maintained.

All the cool cars are for sale in Atlanta.

John Brown wrote: All the cool cars are for sale in Atlanta.

Or Portland

http://m.grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/200x-classifieds/turbo-awd-cl-goodness/21770/page1/

apparently they are in Houston, sometimes.

If my own experience is anything to go by, finding an "interesting" car is like trying to "hook up" at your favorite bar on a saturday night. That is, somehow, the cosmos knows when you have money and want a new car...but hides it/them from you, untill you have finally settled on something that wasn't your second or even third choice. IOW, the HARDER you look, the fewer cars "seem" to be out there.

In the short term, try visiting the local foreign repair shops, and dealers for "oddball" car makes.

funny.. we think all the interesting cars are where you are from.....

define interesting- i thought these were pretty cool:

3000GT -2,000 http://lasvegas.craigslist.org/cto/1732458093.html

88 pulsar-$1200.00 http://lasvegas.craigslist.org/cto/1732442187.html

74 Nova-$500 http://lasvegas.craigslist.org/cto/1732407900.html

79 280zx-$550.00 http://lasvegas.craigslist.org/cto/1732379168.html

FMC motorhome (ultimate motorhome collector coolness) 10k http://lasvegas.craigslist.org/cto/1732224358.html

neon4891 wrote:

John Brown wrote: All the cool cars are for sale in Atlanta.

Or Portland

Why does Portland have so many cool cars? Or for that matter, Seattle?

As for Atlanta, I was there on business last week and drove past two new Maserattis on I-75

What are you looking for? The brethren here are quite adept at keeping their eyes peeled on behalf of others. I, for one, would be happy to help search/inspect.

www.crazedlist.org is also your friend in this situation.

racerdave600 wrote: Why does Portland have so many cool cars? Or for that matter, Seattle?

Good climate that seems to be favorable to long car life, no inspections to drive them into the scrap heap before their time, and enough money to buy the expensive stuff to start with so that you ned uyp with a fun mix of exotics and things that simply no longer exist anywhere else.

In hiding.

I've been torturing Les for years with the Mirage Turbo I have socked away in my basement.

Murphy's Law dictates that no matter what you do, the perfect car you're looking for will not show up for sale until a day or so after you've bought something else.

Chris_V wrote:

racerdave600 wrote: Why does Portland have so many cool cars? Or for that matter, Seattle?

Good climate that seems to be favorable to long car life, no inspections to drive them into the scrap heap before their time, and enough money to buy the expensive stuff to start with so that you ned uyp with a fun mix of exotics and things that simply no longer exist anywhere else.

Yup, we don't salt the roads during the winter, the weather is mild so we don't get the UV damage that Vegas and Arizona gets, we do get moss and mold though from all of the rain. A minor inconvenience all things considered.

Search around Pittsburgh. For the cost of a return flight, I will drive a car to Vegas for you!

(Prostitution is legal out there still, right?)

NYG95GA wrote: Murphy's Law dictates that no matter what you do, the perfect car you're looking for will not show up for sale until a day or so *after* you've bought something else.

three days after I bought my NG 900.. a beautiful 900 SPG showed up for sale.... for the same amount of money. (no he would not take a trade)

mad_machine wrote: funny.. we think all the interesting cars are where you are from.....

I know ... I was certainly more adept at finding interesting cars out in the UK and Germany than I am in the US.

924guy wrote: define interesting- i thought these were pretty cool: ... snipped a couple of links ...

RWD, around the two seat mark for less than $10k and not a project would be a good start... Oh, and manual transmission.

Well, that's what I want. What I need is somewhat defined by where we end up job-wise. I'm currently waiting for feedback from an interview I had about a week back (they're currently checking references) and if that comes off I'd need an all-round vehicle with 4WD for the winter. As I'm thinking that this might make a decent tow vehicle as well I'm looking for a truck (has to auto as well so the wife can drive it).

Head sez truck first, sporty vehicle second, heart sez Miata or C4 'vette. Trucks are a lot easier to find in Vegas (but the redneck tax appears steep out there) although now that I am at the in-laws in Fla, a couple of Miatas have popped up on Vegas CL. They're probably gone before I get back...

Here's my theory - cars just don't change hands as often over here, for a bunch of reasons. We don't have the rigorous inspections or prohibitive registration fees that often motivate a sale. It's also much easier over here to own the land/storage space to keep several cars, so people are more likely to hoard the good stuff instead of passing it around. I also think ownership and accumulation of "stuff" is a much stronger instinct here in the US, and that leads people to hang on to what they've got.

Also, it's a big, sparsely populated country on the whole. Searching within 100 miles of Vegas pretty much means searching Vegas, while searching within 100 miles of London or Frankfurt probably gets you 10 cities larger or nearly as large as Vegas.

Sometimes "interesting" cars REALLY are hiding. This past week, I delivered pizza to a house with 2 un-licensed E30 BMWs (admittedly, 1 had the dreaded "e" badge on the trunklid) and both had minor dings and dents. Down the block from that house is a house with an a/c VW Beetle 'vert. About an hour later? Pulled up to a house (not where I was delivering) and under the carport? A very nice (from what I could see) Omni/Charger GLH or GLHS.

None of those cars are for sale...yet.