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cfz2882

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anyone own or enjoy BOL cars or or enjoy the economy/simplicity of BOL cars? one
co-worker,a 23yr old non-gearhead,needed a car cheap to buy and run but new with a
warranty;bought a new '89 ford escort pony;plain white wrapper,2 dr.,stick,
non A/C,13"steel wheels...Was indeed cheap to own and no problems during the 4 yrs
he owed it before trading for an '89 chevy beretta.
Another very BOL car i saw was a chrysler k-car,Ca.1981,brown 4 dr,4 spd on the
floor,non-A/C,radio delete, A guy wanted to sell me this K-car for $200-it needed
clutch repair but was otherwize in great shape-should have bought this one as it
had lots of "plain-jane"BOL appeal.At the other end of the horsepower spectrum was
another BOL car i had offered to me for $400 back in '85;a '66 dodge coronet-
a little scruffy but no rust or major damage,it had power nothing,vinyl bench seat
,simple black plastic dash,4spd,and a 383 that used oil.Nice and light with it's
simplicity and no heavy options,it was still plenty speedy even with the tired 383
 
BOL cars can be fun to throw around and use in errand running. But in the Central San Joaquin Valley in California, A/C is a MUST lol! Also there's a lot less to worry about as far as gadgets that tend to go out and nickel and dime you to death. But for long travel, I gotta have something comfortable with some power. Even the 66 Coronet you mentioned would have been perfect. Those 383 V-8's were great for tuning for maximum power. Yeah it'll cost in gas, but the ability to make a quick get away in an emergency situation or merging onto a fast paced freeway would be worth it. My Dad was never for one to settle for BOL when it came to family cars. We always had the large Ford's and Chevy's of the 70's. Then a 80 Mercury Marquis Brougham which was traded for a brand new 92 Mercury Grand Marquis. Of anything my Dad would look for in a car was size, comfort and power.
 
A true BOL car would come with the basic engine. In the 60's & 70's that would have been a 4 or 6 cyl. At the airport I learned to fly at they had a 1960 Ford that was true BOL. Three speed on the column, no radio, no a/c, plain flat vinyl seats, 4 door sedan. It was used as an airport courtesy car. We used to joke about how cheap it was but then it was 1972 and the car had 100,000 miles on it and was still going strong!
 
The BOL car that stands out for me was my sister's '65 Chevrolet Biscayne.  Six cylinder, three speed on the column, flat bench seat, metallic aqua on metallic acqua.  The factory radio (AM only, of course) didn't even have push buttons, and THAT was a real P-I-T-A.

 

A close family friend worked for GMAC, and the Biscayne came through as a repossession in mid-1969.  My dad jumped on it for less than $300.  Of course my sister wanted a VW Beetle but my dad would have none of that.  The Biscayne is where I learned how to drive a stick.
 
BOL cars

do you remember if that '60 ford had a heater-AFAIK,prior to 1968,heater was an
option or cars could be ordered without.In high school one of my classmates had a
BOL '57 chevy "150" model;6cyl,three on the tree,radio delete,etc.and i remember it
had vacume wipers instead of the electric wipers found on the upper '57 chevys.
 
Some years ago I had a '73 Toyota Corolla 2 door much like this one (different wheels) and nearly the same color. It had a 1.6L 4 cylinder, 4 speed manual trans and power brakes, that's it. It was a neat little car actually!

Kevin

revvinkevin++2-1-2012-22-27-24.jpg
 
BOL vehicles

I own a 1995 Chevy Silverado 1500 4x4 that I bought when it was just off lease and a year old. Has automatic, thats it. NO a/c, nothing, but it will always start and would climb a mountain. Also had a 91 Cavalier, I wished I still had, that I put 130,000 miles on it with the original shocks, exhaust and its 3rd set of tires without ever an alignment (which is quite unusual in Maine)and consistantly got 35 mpg. Worst BOL was a brand new 79 Ford Pinto Pony S/W, POS from the day I drove it off the lot and Ford would not honor the warranty. Needless to say, I will never own another Ford after that, before owning 11 before that. Even though my Great Uncle started the original Ford dealership where I grew up and my family drove Fords or they walked, they owe me one.
 
I can't remember if it had a heater in it. I do know it had vacuum wipers. The faster you stepped on the gas the faster the wipers would wipe. It was blue outside with a slightly darker blue on the inside.

For some reason when I think of BOL cars, usually I think of the tan colored ones.
Tan inside and out. Ford made a lot of them like that. Usually companies bought them for fleet cars. And I think GM made a bunch of Chevrolets in the same color.
 
My grandmother had a BOL

car....a 1968 Ford Fairlane, bought new. All it had was a heater. 6 cylinders, "3 on the tree," non-power steering and brakes. It was one of the least comfortable cars I have ever known.

It was a very pretty colour, however, "Diamond Blue," a blue that was almost white.

If I still drove, I could not drive it. I have a bad left ankle. As for today's cars? For me, power locks are far more necessary than power windows....

Lawrence/Maytagbear[this post was last edited: 2/1/2012-23:54]
 
company fleet BOL cars in tan

I also recall fleet cars in tan-especially ford fairmonts and chevy citations and
celebritys...Ford fairmont is another car that could be ordered up rock-bottom
BOL-the car equivelent of a 24"DD one knob wonder washer LOL.
 
Vacuum Wipers

Allen, usually the reverse of what you described is true.  Step on the gas and the wipers will slow down or stop.  Let up on the gas and they'll kick into high speed.  I think many people who drove a car with vacuum wipers have been in a situation where it was raining, they were heading up an incline, and had to let off the gas just to give the windshield a quick swipe so they could continue to see where they were going.
 
Ralph is right, although some cars came with vacuum booster motors. My '50 Plymouth has this feature - it's a little vacuum pump mounted under the fuel pump (which is mounted on the outside passenger lower side of the block, running off the camshaft). It's supposed to keep the wipers running even at WOT. However either I rebuilt it wrong or it never did draw much vaccum. The wipers don't actually stop going up hill, but they get quite a bit slower. And then they go nuts going down the hill with full engine vacuum. So I find I have to keep an steady hand on the valve on the dash to modulate the action.

Unlike GM and Ford, Chrysler had a tendency to try out some new features, if not technology, on its lower priced cars through the 30's to the early 50's. Once proven, the features would make their way up to the top end lines. Hence the Plymouth has an electric powered automatic choke, vacuum motor assist, "Floating power" engine mounts, etc (although the engine mounting dates back to the early 30's). This changed in the 50's when Plymouth was the last to get a V8 motor option, true automatic transmission, etc. And some say Chrysler quality was never quite the same...
 
The Ford Fairmont is exactly the car I had in mind when I mentioned the tan ones.
I think GM had some Chevy Nova fleet cars too in tan.

On the vacuum wipers, well it has been almost 40 years ago!
 
Those old cars

I drove a 1954 Desoto to calif,in 78 from VA in 3 days,had no problems.Slept every night in a hotel.Drove 104miles a day to work in Anaheim for 3 months.No problems what a great old car had 289,000 miles on it when a bearing whent bad traded it for a 57 Desoto to come back home in 2 years later. I still have a 56 Desoto fireflite and a 48 sedan You cant beatum!!!!!!
 
Here's an old joke as long as we're talking about BOL cars;

 

Q: What did the bird say as the guy drove past in a Plymouth?

 

A: Cheap, Cheap, Cheap.

 

 
 
My father traded his 1951 Mercury club coupe with radio and heater for a 1957 Chevrolet 210 two door sedan with nothing on it, don't recall if it at least had a heater. That was in June of 1962. Then around 1964, he traded that for a dull finished '62 Chevy II BOL 2 door with a four cylinder. In September 1967 he bought a brand new '67 Corvair 500 two door that had nothing but heat. It always had to have premium gas or it would knock. In 1972 it was swapped off for a nice '70 LeMans four door sedan with air, heat, PS PB, automatic. Had that car for years, I ended up with it and traded for something else after a couple of years.

 

The Mercury was traded off at the Mercury dealer, the building was bulldozed last year, the Chevies were purchased at the Chevy dealer in north Fort Pierce, off the lot across from the showroom/garage. That building is still there, but the OK Used Car lot is a McDonalds now. Now I'd love to have an old BOL something, with automatic at least. Does not have to have a radio either.
 
Ford Fiesta

I had a 1980 Ford Fiesta and it was about as bare bones as you can get. No A/C, power steering or brakes, didn't even have a radio, although I put in one that probably cost more than the car did. I loved that car. Even drove from Detroit to Houston with 4 guys in it for my senior class trip. I couldn't even imagine driving a car like that today but I sure did have alot of fun in that car.

 
My '95 Mercury Cougar XR-7 was a BOL: V-8 Engine, Pearl Paint (extra cost), but had No Moonroof (wanted an after-market one to keep the dome-light, w/ dual map reading lamps to evoke the '70's era I was trying to parlay, along w/ the green leather/cloth interior w/ only a power driver's seat) and at least keyless entry, but standard stereo & a buggy-whip antenna...

Little did I know, I would want the Automatic Temperature control; the standard system got too hot or too cold & the digital electronic display just seemed too out there (& did not want the Auto Lamp feature)...

An after-market moon roof would render the stock dome light impractical, as the light would be over the rear seat, map lights and all (the earlier FoMoCo design had projected beams for the earlier map light design)...

This was my 3rd car & I had to better my 1st car a 1984 BOL Ford Escort, which had the dual remote control sport mirrors & low-back reclining seats, but no gauges, no over head console & not even Air Conditioning! It was a SAPPY Escort, white w/ red interior that faded w/ every sunrise, sunset...! My 2nd car was at least a 1987 Dodge Charger--a silver one & best damn ride that I'd ever had!

"Get a Truck!" I was told...--I should have listened!

-- Dave
 
I still have a BOL car.

I have 2 vehicles: a tarted up pickup truck and a BOL Toyota that I drive back and forth to work.

Bought the Toyota Yaris new in 2006 -- 40mpg!

Manual windows
5 speed engine, 1.4 litre 4 cylinder (oooh :) )
It does have a radio and air conditioning though.
Hatchback

But heck, I have seated 3 adults in the back seat and me and a passenger in the front. And NEW it was just over 13K in 2006.

It's actually a great car to drive in. I'm 6'1" in shoes and wifey is 5'1" standing tall and we both fit in it okay.
 

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