Author Topic: Where to find classic cars online?  (Read 3279 times)

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chilly460

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Where to find classic cars online?
« on: September 21, 2020, 08:08:32 AM »
I haven't really been in the market for a new ride in awhile, but am fairly tuned in to some of the old resources.   Issue is, it just seems that Ebay/Autotrader/Classic Cars.com which used to be resources, are just flooded with classic dealers, which have ridiculous pricing and dubious cars.  Looks to me at least in this area, Craigslist has dried up.   Facebook Marketplace is decent if looking for a project and is basically the new Craigslist in essence, but I'm looking for a finished car for my father to use, and just don't see too many nice cars on there.  I'm on a lot of the "classic car market" sites on Facebook as well, but you can't search/categorize, have to scroll through posts to find cars and it's tough to do regionally. 

BringATrailer is the best resource I've seen lately, but they just don't move much volume. 

So, is there any site out there that I'm missing, or just a matter of having to keep combing those I've listed?

BruceS

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Re: Where to find classic cars online?
« Reply #1 on: September 21, 2020, 08:21:40 AM »
Have you tried Hemmings?  They started doing online auctions about a year ago and also have their typical ads online and print.  I still subscribe to their thick magazine which has dealer ads in front, and individual ads by category in the back. 
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chilly460

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Re: Where to find classic cars online?
« Reply #2 on: September 21, 2020, 08:44:52 AM »
You know, I hadn't really checked Hemmings, think I had a mental block because I was always looking for project cars and they usually had finished cars.  Now the script is flipped, so good callout!

cattleFEeder

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Re: Where to find classic cars online?
« Reply #3 on: September 21, 2020, 09:07:29 AM »
Remember, RPM is your friend

1964Fastback

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Re: Where to find classic cars online?
« Reply #4 on: September 21, 2020, 09:11:37 AM »
Have you tried www.searchtempest.com?  It does a google search of craigslist ads within X miles of a zip code.  It took me a few minutes to figure out but works pretty good.  Start by putting in the search terms using google's syntax.  E.g.:

1964 ford "galaxie" | "galaxy"

Put in your zip code, and select how many miles you want to search in.  Leave this kind of low to start with, as it's easy to get too many nuisance hits until you pare down your search criteria.  I suggest clicking on the "Filters" option, and selecting Search Titles Only.  This gets rid of a bunch of dealer ads where they put every conceivable keyword in to get hits.  Click the search button and you'll get a bunch of cities listed below, as it searches all these CL sites around your zip code.  Click the Open All button.  It will open a bunch of tabs (might have to allow pop-ups), one per city/area, with the results for that location.  Now just go through the tabs one by one.  There should only be a screenful or so for each site.  You can close the tabs as you go through them.  Ctrl-W works for me.  You just have to experiment with it.  If you get a bunch of irrelevant matches, adjust the search terms.  I think you can put in stuff with a minus in front to exclude those words.  If the results look okay, you can increase the distance to search from your zip.  It will open more tabs when you click Open All.

Pat
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wcbrowning

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Re: Where to find classic cars online?
« Reply #5 on: September 21, 2020, 11:12:58 AM »
Good, detailed tip. Thanks!

Have you tried www.searchtempest.com?  It does a google search of craigslist ads within X miles of a zip code.  It took me a few minutes to figure out but works pretty good.  Start by putting in the search terms using google's syntax.  E.g.:

1964 ford "galaxie" | "galaxy"

Put in your zip code, and select how many miles you want to search in.  Leave this kind of low to start with, as it's easy to get too many nuisance hits until you pare down your search criteria.  I suggest clicking on the "Filters" option, and selecting Search Titles Only.  This gets rid of a bunch of dealer ads where they put every conceivable keyword in to get hits.  Click the search button and you'll get a bunch of cities listed below, as it searches all these CL sites around your zip code.  Click the Open All button.  It will open a bunch of tabs (might have to allow pop-ups), one per city/area, with the results for that location.  Now just go through the tabs one by one.  There should only be a screenful or so for each site.  You can close the tabs as you go through them.  Ctrl-W works for me.  You just have to experiment with it.  If you get a bunch of irrelevant matches, adjust the search terms.  I think you can put in stuff with a minus in front to exclude those words.  If the results look okay, you can increase the distance to search from your zip.  It will open more tabs when you click Open All.

Pat

chilly460

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Re: Where to find classic cars online?
« Reply #6 on: September 21, 2020, 12:49:09 PM »
Hmm, more of the same on Hemmings, majority of the cars on there are with dealers, and best I can tell are overpriced $5k minimum. 

Drew Pojedinec

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Re: Where to find classic cars online?
« Reply #7 on: September 21, 2020, 01:28:41 PM »
Running into the same issue Chilly.
Either overpriced or total junk

e philpott

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Re: Where to find classic cars online?
« Reply #8 on: September 21, 2020, 01:54:41 PM »
search Facebook if you know what you want

chilly460

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Re: Where to find classic cars online?
« Reply #9 on: September 21, 2020, 02:51:00 PM »
I'm on Marketplace all the time, but few and far between finding anything decent. 

Diogenes

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Re: Where to find classic cars online?
« Reply #10 on: September 21, 2020, 04:16:22 PM »
Racing Junk has a few things now and again.
WHEN CRIMINALS MAKE THE LAWS, OBEYING THE LAW IS A CRIME.

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frnkeore

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Re: Where to find classic cars online?
« Reply #11 on: September 21, 2020, 04:53:25 PM »
On Craigslist, I'm finding most of the cars, in our area of interest, in the "Parts" section and not the "Cars & Trucks".
Frank

Falcon67

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Re: Where to find classic cars online?
« Reply #12 on: September 23, 2020, 03:08:37 PM »
Hmm, more of the same on Hemmings, majority of the cars on there are with dealers, and best I can tell are overpriced $5k minimum.

This - Hemmings has become virtually worthless for parts or cars.  Same ads for same dealers in parts, very few individual entries.  I didn't subscribe for like over 10 years.  I re-upped for some ridiculous cheap price this year and  same-same, same parts and services adverts, 95% dealers.  Not IMHO anything like it was back in the 80s.  The dealer ads for the cars make our new 2020 F-350 DRW look cheap.  We're sorta looking for a mid 80s notch Fox - every 80s Mustang in Hemmings is a $12K+ convertible, with few exceptions.   I know, the circle track people wrecked easy a half a million of those, so that's part of the problem. 

Also look on racingjunk.com - not all of it is race cars. 

chilly460

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Re: Where to find classic cars online?
« Reply #13 on: September 23, 2020, 04:42:35 PM »
Biggest issue is dealers flood these sites, same cars over and over, same bad prices.  I can search by private seller on many of them so that does help

So far Bring A Trailer and Barn Finds are the best two resources

Searching is part of the fun, also open to many different models so takes awhile vs a more focused search

aj

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Re: Where to find classic cars online?
« Reply #14 on: September 23, 2020, 10:34:23 PM »
Might wanna check out cars-on-line.com
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