It seems these days everyone is worried about their collector cars having as few miles as possible on the odometer. They want to hold things as objets d’art, rather than their intended purpose as machine to move humans around on roads. I reject the notion that enthusiasts should preserve things as perfect copies of how they left the factory. I’d much rather put a few hundred thousand miles road tripping in a machine like this Ford Country Sedan wagon.

Yet again I find myself cruising around Craigslist armed with nothing but the search term “Project”. It’s like a roulette wheel that only turns up winners. You simply can’t go wrong buying someone else’s unfinished project. Of course that is a joke, I don’t really recommend taking this tack. But, this particular project car just might be the exception that proves the rule.

This 1965 American Boat with a way way back looks to be largely intact. If you can give the car a mechanical re-fresh, say with a modern engine and transmission, or dare I say it EV swap, but leave the rest of the car alone and drive it like this for the rest of time, it would be fantastic. It looks like a thing that has served its duty well for decades, and that’s what things are for. Not only would a fresh repaint be a denial of the car’s life lived, but it would simply look worse. It deserves to keep its well earned patina.

Okay, so the interior needs a little work, and the drivetrain is junk, but you can get . That seems like a good starting point, but I’d probably offer a little less. Either way, it’s damn cool, and deserves to be on the road again.

Here’s what the seller has to say:

This one we bought from an estate sale years ago. It needs a powertrain, interior and some trim. It has great patina without much real rust issues. Floor pans are in great shape! This is just a patina project to buy, get an engine in and cruise. Give us a call with any questions! [phone number redacted]