• From: West Djibouti
  • Registered: 2009-05-01
  • Posts: 203

Topic: Could have been a Lemons car but I paid too much - Hey Murilee!

Picked this up from a local guy after I saw an ebay auction that went unbid for $1600.
http://i.ebayimg.com/13/!BUv25YQBmk~$(KGrHgoH-DQEjlLlu3hQBKPE!2LW2w~~_1.JPG
http://i.ebayimg.com/02/!BUv2+6wBWk~$(KGrHgoH-DkEjlLl0KttBKPEB,g67!~~_1.JPG
http://i.ebayimg.com/13/!BUv3KZ!!Wk~$(KGrHgoH-DYEjlLl3iGJBKPECUKcGQ~~_1.JPG
It needs work - been off the road since '99 and the motor (200-6) is apart but it's solid and all the Durango-specific stuff is there and functional.

I knew the guy had bought it from a guy in Pasadena a few months back and then decided he'd wanted a Ranchero more but after I had hooked up my towbar to it and was waiting for my wife to show up we started talking and I *had* to ask:

"What did you pay for it - I don't care, just curious."

"I found it on Craigslist for $450 and paid a couple hundred to have it brought here."

I paid a fair amount over that and that nugget of information was a slight blow to my cheapskate ego, but I've wanted one of these things since I saw one at a dealership in Seattle in 1981 so the sting was short-lived.

So yeah, if someone else would have jumped on the original CL ad - this could have easily been in Lemons territory.  Of course that would have killed me and at least a few other fox-body nerds but yeah - THEY ARE OUT THERE!

Proudly pissing off Pick 'n Pull employees since 1991
Team The Homer

1981 Ford Fairmont Durango
  • From: San Diego, CA
  • Registered: 2009-04-30
  • Posts: 1,640

Re: Could have been a Lemons car but I paid too much - Hey Murilee!

Fox body nerds unite!

The Homer: Powerful like a gorilla, yet soft and yielding like a Nerf ball.
  • From: College Station, Texas
  • Registered: 2009-07-11
  • Posts: 1,137

Re: Could have been a Lemons car but I paid too much - Hey Murilee!

wow, they actualy made those?  crazy, crazy world.

the Syndicate - 30 losses and counting ...
89 VW Jettarosa - #337 (11 motors later) <> 67 Mercedes 200 - #200, winner "most with the least" MSR Feb 11, IOE at MSR June 11 <> 88 Mercedes 560 SEL <> 76 Mercedes SLC - IOE at ECR March 13 <> now pimping performance parts for 1970-1980's Mercedes SEL, SEC, SL, SLC's
  • From: WOOTville USA
  • Registered: 2009-05-06
  • Posts: 2,415

Re: Could have been a Lemons car but I paid too much - Hey Murilee!

Wow!

I dreamed of making a Faimontcharino since I first saw one in the late 70s. The bodylines just screamed "CHOP ME UP!"

When I first saw one of these Durangos" a few years ago down in Carmel, my jaw dropped and I was speechless. At first I thought it was a well built home job, but the more I looked at it I realized it was done in a factory somewhere. I went home and researched everything on it, which wasn't much.

I realized two things... A) It wasn't exactly as good looking as I had envisioned, and B) Yet now I REALLY wanted one. Add it to the top 25 of my 100 top 10 dream cars.

Great find! Let me know before you have any crazy thoughts of Lemonizing it. I'll trade you something equally bizarre for it. (As always, don't tell the wife etc etc..)

"Sparky" Pete

"Real ZomBees prefer Bacon"
IOE(x2) MGB/SAAB 96, Judge's Choice, Class C Win, & 2011 Hooniverse Car of the Year!
MRolla, Stick Figure/Animal House, Free Range MR2, SAAB Sonett, "The Death Flip"
2008 Exoskeleton Jag Fiasco, Concours d Lemons - Rue Britannia, worse British car.

Sparky Pete's Website

  • From: Land Of Subarus, Colorado
  • Registered: 2009-04-30
  • Posts: 9,416

Re: Could have been a Lemons car but I paid too much - Hey Murilee!

Whoa, you got a great deal! Here's one that had a $14,900 (asking) price.

I'd say that it would be best to keep yours as a driver and use the Sawzall + $200 Fairmont = Fairmontchero formula for a Lemons car.

Murilee Martin aka Judge Phil on Facebook
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Judge Phil's Website

6 Reply by Rob Stercraw (edited by Rob Stercraw 2009-07-15 07:25 AM)

  • From: West Djibouti
  • Registered: 2009-05-01
  • Posts: 203

Re: Could have been a Lemons car but I paid too much - Hey Murilee!

Sparky and Murilee - I would never Lemonize it!  Mentioned it only because if someone else had found it when the original owner posted it on CL a few months ago, it was well within Lemons territory.

Yeah, it's really rare but I didn't pay so much for it and I'm not a purist that feels the need to keep it stock.  I'm building this thing the way I want.  I'm thinking 5.0 roller cam motor, 5 speed and 5 lug conversion with 4 wheel discs.  All of this is *mostly* bolt-on stuff readily available.

Proudly pissing off Pick 'n Pull employees since 1991
Team The Homer

1981 Ford Fairmont Durango
  • From: Kinda Seattle-y-like-ish
  • Registered: 2009-05-01
  • Posts: 182

Re: Could have been a Lemons car but I paid too much - Hey Murilee!

Looks like a perfect Concours deLemons candidate to me!

TST, fool.

It's a Bunny.  With a pancake.  On its head.  Really, is it that tough?