Hello Manfred and welcome to the forum! There is a '65 Wildcat for sale in Red Deer if you want to look into it. Here is the link......http://reddeer.kijiji.ca/c-cars-vehicles-classic-cars-1965-Buick-Wildcat-W0QQAdIdZ29550076 If you want to contact the owner and try to get some pics of it to see how interested you may be, I could swing by there and check the car out for you. I'm only a few minutes from Red Deer. I will agree with the others that buying a restored car will be cheaper, but it takes the fun out of the hobby. I bought my '66 as a driver and something I could enjoy and tinker with. It is a hobby to me and not an investment. I have never made a profit on a car and probably never will. Just my angle on things...... Good luck in your search! Brian
Hi Brian! Gee thanks, I appreciate your info. Only a few minutes from Red Deer! I'm only 7 hours from there. I'm really hesitant about restoring, as you can see from all the notes to my thread. However, I'm not stupid enough to not have a look. Yeah, if it is not too much out of your way, I'd appreciate some pics of the car with seat/console/dash, and of course the ouside. Does it Run? It certainly is interesting. aerange@telus.net Manfred
I've never restored a car or even bought one that was restored but this is how I would look at the choices. If you alone are going to restore the vehicle except for what you need to farm out then I would buy one already restored. If you and a family member, wife, son, daughter, or other important to you family member are going to do it then do it yourself. Reason being, the time spent with a family member is priceless no matter what the final cost. Just my two cents worth. Good luck making your decision.
Wildcats can make for some very nice looking and driving cars, and they can be bought cheaply in many cases. I'd suggest as dry and original (unmessed with from factory) as you can find-with Wildcats/Electras, they are still out there. I've seen lots of high $ 'resored' cars over the years and many are not really done very well at all-good luck with the search!
I go with buy one you can work on and drive. I got tired of my freinds coming over while on there cruise and I was working on my Special (4 years in the making, frame off stg2 etc.). I have more time porting my heads than they have in there cars. So I bought a 67 Skylark rag I could cruise in. Instant gratification every time I drive it. But it doesn't end there. In the meantime I've gotten quite alot of 67 parts and bought a 67GS 4gear rag. because I have the parts to restore it. It would have been foolish not to. I think. ou: Ray
Please listen to the experienced. I make a decent living and I have a rare car that I am doing a frame off on. After buying the car for 6000.00 and spending anothewr 12,000.00 on parts. I spent 5000.00 on metal work. Now I have at leats 23,000.00 in this car and still have no paint on it. I will need another 10K at least to get it into paint as I have been told. So I can see that with chroming work. Drive train and small incidentals I will have 45 to 50 thousand in this car . With me doing all the assembly and finidng all the parts. I did buy a lot of NOS parts for it. And I want a car thats worthy of at least a Gold in concours judging. So if this is what you want to have, a car thats woth maybe 35K in the market and spend 50K or more on it jsut to have a certain one. Then do it. If you ever plan on selling I say find a good deal on a restored car and drive and maintain it. All I can say is I personally really want to have this car so I am spending way more than I should have. One could if they bought a GSX or a 1970 Stage 1 4spd in a desireable color make a nice profit. But the resto has to be of a high caliber as Flynbuicks GSX and convertable Stage 1 . The problem arises when you try to finds a restorable example to do this. Most agree that to fina a Stage 1 GSX 4spd in a barn is not going to happen anymore. You can buy a unrestored examole or a good home resto car but you'll spend close to 6 figures or more. Then you need to assume that a resto will cost at least 45K if you job it out. The fact that a Wildcat is harder to find parts for will require that you find a excellent example that is complete so your not chasing down rare parts for years. I had an opportunity to buyb a car like mine for 1/2 of my investment in very nice shape but the buy in price was not doable for me at the time. Just know that when you do a resto it will take a lot of time and 3 or 4 times the amount of money you expect. BUY ER DONE !!
Manfred, I got a hold of the owner of the '65 wildcat in Red Deer and I will try to get out there on the weekend to get some pics if you want. The car was sitting in a field for the last 7 years and was driven to it's resting place, so he figures it will run. It is a 401, automatic car with bucket seats and floor shift console. He said the car is not too rusty, but I will bet the floors and rockers are shot if it was sitting in tall grass that long. Car is white on white. He has a few spare parts that go with it, such as bumpers, deck lid, hood, etc. I'm not sure what is available for body parts for these, if anything. Maybe Impala floors and trunk floor panels would fit? Let me know if you want to pursue it. Brian
Hi there. I think I would like to see a picture or two of it if it is not too much out of your way. It may be Ok for a parts/driver car but my main focus is on getting one that is done, just like the note above suggests. I totally agree. If nothin else it could have a solid home and not be deteriorating more. I'm interested. Manfred---Sorry I didn't get back sooner. I've been away.
Hello Manfred, I found this car online in Kelowna you might want to check out. http://classifieds.castanet.net/showproduct.php?product=247029&cat=150 Brian
