1991 Brougham

[Barry M Wheeler #2189]

I just returned from sitting all morning through an auction of tools and machinery to see what a 1991 Brougham would bring. It had 90K or so on it, and I'm sorry, I don't know the visual difference between the 5.0 and 5.7 engines and that tag was missing on the trunk. It was tan with a tan top, so it wasn't very "striking" as far as appearance goes. The surrounds around the rear door windows had a slightly darker shade of vinyl and on the inside, the headliner material on the door was starting to disintegrate. It had a cloth d'Elegance interior in decent shape, no headliner droop yet. No rust seen from the top...I didn't feel like crawling around on the cold ground, and no sign of rust under the top beltline.  The body was straight but the plastic cladding on the bumpers was faded and had been "bumped" enough that it should be replaced both front and back. And, of course, the inserts at the rear were cracked including the one around the fuel filler area.

When the auctioneer started it up, it seemed to run well, had good tires, etc. But it was "in an estate" and I didn't want to go through that again. So I watched while it struggled up to $1300. It just wasn't nice enough to clean up. It did have all four mats in reasonable shape and a clean trunk. The antenna was "up" so that was another thing to fix as well. Please don't tell me I should have gone to $1500....

[Eric DeVirgilis CLC# 8621]

Most intriguing part of the tale was the fact of d'Elegance in cloth which is very unusual in Brougham's final years.

Sounds like it needed another $1,500 worth of sorting to set it up which at $3K all in, give or take, isn't too bad for a decent driver, assuming it makes a good appearance overall when finished.

Only 15 hp separates a 5.7 from a 5.0 in (in 1991 & 1992) which I never much saw reason to make a fuss about but the market does so who am I to disagree? 

[JerRita]

I would have snatched it up just for the interior

[nysdarkblue]

Sorry, what I put into my Brougham I could have bought a new car. $1500 is a mere pitons. And since doing so, 8 Grand Nationals later, its a Senior Crown now.