Just bought a 1959 Invicta!

The steel wasn't the same as the stuff they used in the 80s, it was a little thicker still. They were starting to play with thinner higher tensile stuff as compared to the thicker softer stuff they used earlier. They were trying to shave off some weight as the cars were getting bigger. The metallurgy was just getting to be known and the technology was still being developed. A classic case of how it went wrong is look at Ford in the 60s; - nice cars, but they dissolved in water. It took them until the late 70s to shake the reputation of being a rust-out.

I've got the same manual, and yes, they were very nice and if well kept, would last a long time. There's a nice flattop 59 Invicta on eBay right now that is going for 13.5 K, not too bad of a price, the car looks pretty original and rust free. I believe it is sitting in Oregon. However, with the Canadian dollar approaching 3rd world status again, buying it becomes an expensive proposition, and, I'm finding out that importing a car into Canada regardless of age is going to cost a lot of money as the government has it's hand out. I'm in Alberta, just above Montana, about 300 or so miles north of the border. The car could easily cost me over $20K Canadian to get it in my driveway, and I can't justify that.

Up here they use a lot of calcium chloride or road salt on the roads in winter. Virtually no car that has seen winter roads up here is fortunate enough to be rust free. So "rust free" up here usually implies a ton of bad sheet steel work or bondo applied with a concrete trowel. All of the 59s I've seen up here are either extensively and badly rebuilt, or totally rotted out to the point of junk. The real problem is when people of that generation who initially bought the car new do a restoration, it invariably has corners cut and is done on the cheap. Not in all case, mind you, but in a lot of them. It never fails to amaze me when some 70+ year old guy tells me he's had the car since new and then "restored" it with bad welding, cheap paint and a bargain basement upholstery kit in the wrong pattern and colour thrown in, and it's "good as new". For this same type of individual, "frame -off" usually means it's been on a hoist and someone's attacked it with a torch.

So...I wait...and wait...

 

$20K to import to Canada, wow. I'm in Australia and have imported 2 cars from the US, including my 61 Buick. Both cost flat fee, no more to pay $3500 Aussie peso (yeah our dollar sucks against the USD like the Canadian dollar) and then we pay just 10% GST (tax) on the purchase price of the car. So all up in my driveway for under $5K Aussie.

$20K is insane....especially when you can drive it across the border versus us having to ship it across the ocean

 

I think he meant total cost including the cost of the car.

 

Which is exactly what I meant.

Still, to have to pay sales tax and goods and services tax (which total to 15% of whatever the bill of sale translates into Cdn $) for a 50 + year old car is ridiculous. Then in order to get it roadworthy I would have to pay for an out-of-province inspection, plus whatever the shop that does said inspection plans to extort out of me, (which in most cases means ball joints and tie-rods, good labour intensive things that are difficult to argue and easier to hide the fact that the shop had no actual intention of installing any) and then finally, I can drive it here.

And yes, I've had a lot of fun with corrupt garages who'll condemn the car in order to make some easy money. Happened to me with a 67 LeSabre; they threatened to call the RCMP to impound the car, then they billed me for a set of ball joints, and then never installed any. I found all of my marks still in the same spots. They'd never even pulled off the wheels. The shop had the most solid reputation in town, it came highly recommended, and was also acknowledged by the AMA. That little exercise cost me $750, and that was 15 years ago. The problem was try and prove it, and they knew it.

 

it would be pretty easy to prove they didnt put new parts on the car wouldnt it? Lot of dirty business in the world that for sure. Scumbags always trying to rip others off. There are good shops though but Ive only known a total of one. He told me that I should start learning how to do stuff myself and I did. When I couldnt get it, I would bring it to him and he would fix it and show me what I did wrong. Of course he would charge me full price and I happily paid him because I knew it was done right. Great guy.