Cadillac Allante Convertible “Bar Car”

When we were young our friends used to have what they called “bar cars.” When we grew up in New York the drinking age was a few years higher than it was in nearby New Jersey. So, our friends who liked the drink would draw straws to pick a driver who would not drink that night. And his car would be the “bar car.”

The latest bar car we saw was something different. We had gone to a motorcycle event that is held at a bar. This bar has a lot of property for hosting things like volleyball games, softball tournaments, picnics and motorcycle rallies.

At the motorcycle rally—actually called a rodeo—two large tents were set up for vending food and beverages. At the end of were the tents were erected, was a neat gray garage. And inside the garage was a sporty looking red car. Being car nuts, we couldn’t help taking a peek inside the open garage. We didn’t go inside of course, but we could tell that the car was a relatively modern convertible,

This piqued our interest a bit, because we have a customer who brought in a 1976 MGB to get fixed. Well, actually the car broke down near the shop and that’s when he decided it might be a good idea to fix it. On the other hand, he isn’t 100 percent convinced he should pour more money into repairs.

As we all know, after cars get so old, they start having problems. Sometimes it seems like you patch this and another problem pops up somewhere else. The car becomes a money pit and unless you want to completely restore it (and make it into a big money pit) it gets harder and harder to fix all the problems. So, our customer has been wondering if he shouldn’t just buy another convertible that’s more reliable than his MGB.

So, we wondered if the bar car was for sale. What would the price be? Would it cost our customer less to buy a nice red Allante drop-top than to fix his MGB? And if he puts money into the MGB, is he better off in the long run? Collectors do like MGBs and their value has been rising.

Aw shucks. Why not fix the MG and also buy an Allante? After all, no one can have too many cars ... can they?