Quote:
Originally Posted by Silock
It needs the whole treatment, if it's even salvageable. My parents bought the car in 72 when they got married. Drove it for a few years, then it sat in a garage rusting until I turned 16. They gave it to me and I drove it for a few years, but it was too unreliable to keep, so it's been sitting in their garage for the last 15 years.
It was rusting back in the 90s when I drove it. It had a hole in the trunk floor back then and rust on the roof. I don't even want to imagine where all the rust is that I can't even see. I don't know how to repair that kind of damage.
The interior is also bad, but that's the easy stuff. Drivetrain is probably all rusted, and I know it doesn't have the original engine anymore. I'd definitely upgrade the transmission and rearend. It's an automatic with a 2.73 rear. Yuck.
But it's always been my dad's dream to someday restore it. He just doesn't have the time or energy to do it, and I don't have the funds.
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Yeah, funds is a big deal, but if you're not looking for a numbers resto, you have one of the best platforms on earth to get back into shape, if you have the dough. Engine and drivetrain are a no brainer with scads of options from new crate engines to a junk yard rescue. And nearly every part, panel, doodad and whatsit on that car is available in repro and NOS [new old stock]. You could literally map everything you want fixed and there's someone who has an exact match, down to just a portion of a rear quarter panel, or as you say a trunk bed. Lost the original lighter insert? Got it. Headlights dead. Got 'em. Turn signals, ditto. etc.
Then there's obviously making the repairs, drivetrain, body and/or interior, yourself with elbow grease, and becoming a car swap [like a flea market for gear heads] bum looking for deals, which will cost more time but significantly less money.