Antique, Old, or Special Interest Cars/Trucks

Anyone with any of these?
Please post your photographs and stories.
A lot of the photos I have are slides, I have a backlight for an old scanner to scan them, a very long process. I'll try to get some up soon.

I have a 1972 ford F-250 with 50,000K original miles on it, the 300 cu in 6 cyl and really low rear may be a factor there as it only gets about 6 miles to the gallon. Highway town, makes no difference, can't go over 55 with it. Cab and interior is in excellent shape, neatly as good as the day it was purchased but the box needs a lot of work. When it was purchased they were using it for installing furnaces and they put a steel plate just on the bottom and the box all rotted out around the plate. The sides of the box are actually in perfect shape. Don't have picture here unfortunately.

This was my first project back in 1992ish, looked great on the outside, fresh paint and interior, but everything else needed updating (floors, trunk, inner fenders, suspension, exhaust, etc.)...sold it a while back....
it was a 1971 Mach 1 Mustang, 351Cleveland, C6 auto,

It started us into the Mustang hobby. Now we gone thru just a few mustangs since then...(71, 72, 75, 76, 77, 78, 88, 94, 99, 03, 08), we still have the 1976 CObra II (in pieces) and the 03 Mach and the new 08 V6. Keeps us busy when not working on the house....


My Wifes 1977 Mustang II Ghia, ALL original even the paint with only 29,950 miles, she found it on ebay for a very low price. We just sold it a few months back.

Here is a photo of my 1974 Chevrolet Nova which is just about complete.

Here are the pics of the GS. I restored it 10 years ago. It was bought as a parts car, but it had factory disk brakes and AC so I thought it would be worth bringing back. Frame off resto. As I have read in the forum else where "I pay no one" I welded new quarters on, replaced the doors, and inner and outer fenders. It was a rag. I resprung and reuphosltered the seats. All interior, (it didnt have one when I got it) I also did the convertible top. A Friend did the finish body work and sprayed it. (i am sure I traded some car parts or tires or something for the job) But somehow I ended up wetsanding the primer and wet sanding and buffing the car. The 455 engine I restored it with would not take the twisting so In 2002 I revisited the powertrain an put in a LT1 and 4l60e trans from an 95 Impala SS. I did not buy a painless harness. Days with the service manual and wiring schematics. The computer controls everything even the ac. Now thanks to BarrettJackson I think they would call the car a Resto-Mod, but it was done before the phrase was coined.

Chap, Nice. I always liked Novas. It's a shame how the government made the automakers stick those ridiculous crash bumpers on the cars, I remember how strange they looked when I first saw them. In my opinion the demise of the American automobile started in 1973, with a few exceptions. The 1973 to sometime in the first half of the 1990's were a very bad time for American cars. I'm glad things have turned around somewhat, but that time period allowed the foreign car and truck makers get a good foot hold on the market.
I wonder how many people that buy these cars today know what a late sixties Toyota looked like parked next to an American car.
Cars I like from this "unfortunate era" include:
'81 to '83 Malibu
'81 to '85 El Camino
Buick Grand National
Ford Mustang II
'80 to '84 Olds 98
Buick Roadmaster
Chevy Caprice
Ford/Merc/Linc Full Size

I'm sure there are a few others (Japanese Chevy Nova?, Chevy Sprint (3 cyl. made by Suzuki)NOT!!!)

L, that's a true labor of love, a task that probably felt as if it was never going to get done. Please tell me more about how the computer system is adapted to the car. Is it the ECM from the Chevy? What do you do about the O2 sensor-I assume you use one. Do you have everything in the car connected as if the system was still in a 1995 vehicle? Did you have to install a SES light in the dash?

Thanks.

Found this silly thing looking for coal chutes.

http://www.colemuseum.org/images/pdf/co ... _large.pdf

coaledsweat wrote:Found this silly thing looking for coal chutes.

http://www.colemuseum.org/images/pdf/co ... _large.pdf

Interesting. It's a Mack. What's the deal with the rising cab? Visibility when chuting?

That's what I thought was silly, seems like a lot of work. Maybe the guy was real tall and needed the leg room?

coaledsweat wrote:That's what I thought was silly, seems like a lot of work. Maybe the guy was real tall and needed the leg room?

If so, bet he had cold feet in the winter.

I had a super nice light blue '65 Falcon 2 door hardtop with 48,000 miles back around 1990. It was a straight 6 with an automatic and I was the third owner. When the car's original owner died, the car sat in a barn for awhile and bird droppings did some light damage to the paint. The car's second owner was able to save most of the paint but the tops of the front fenders needed repainted. You could see some difference in the paint texture from the fender tops to the rest of the car but the car still looked really nice. The interior was in excellent condition. I was going to swap out the 6 cylinder and the rest of the drivetrain for a 302, manual trans and a 9" rear but I had another project already going, a '69 Mach1. I ended doing some trading for a truck and the little Falcon found a new home.

I've had the '69 for 20 years and it's still in the garage and still isn't done. It's a Mach1 but it didn't have the sought after 428 Cobra Jet engine. It had a 351W 4-barrel that I had completely rebuilt. I sold that engine and the auto trans to a guy wanting one for his '70 fastback. I had a 460 big block built and bought a Jerico 4-speed. Fitting headers up was a project onto itself that resulted in a hand built set of tubes. What a pain ! The rusted bits have long been removed,replaced, or repaired. The body is still sitting in grey primer. A buddy and I added a 6 point roll bar but the interior is otherwise gutted. It will have a complete interior at some point. That's about it. It's just waiting on more money and time.

John

Wood'nCoal wrote:Cars I like from this "unfortunate era" include:
'81 to '83 Malibu
'81 to '85 El Camino
Buick Grand National
Ford Mustang II
'80 to '84 Olds 98
Buick Roadmaster
Chevy Caprice
Ford/Merc/Linc Full Size

My fondest memories of that era were the early to mid '80's Olds Cutlass Supreme. It seemed EVERYONE had one. My wife had one back when we started dating with the V6. Pretty gutless, but it sure went down the highway real nice, and it was bulletproof. Not sure of the year anymore, but it was an '83 to '85. Heh, I had a '80 Rabbit (Westmoreland, PA built P.O.S). Only thing good about that car was the German built 1.6L fuel injected engine and 5 speed.

The diesel Rabitts were built in Germany a few years after the US production started, I recall. But the '78/'79 Diesel Rabitts were really good cars, just slow as pondwater and loud like marbles in a coffee can.

I had a 69 chevelle malibu, it was my first car. Bought it with paper route money when I was 14. 307/powerglide blew up, too many neutral drops In went a backyard built 350, I knew everything there was to know about 350 Chevies when I was 17, woo hoo I could beat Mustang 5.0's at the street drags. I sold it like a dumbass a few years later and bought a '84 Honda Accord. The Honda was great, 40 miles per gallon and the oil light would flash when it leaked down to less than 1 quart and needed a refill. Slowest car I ever owned but I could go to Cape-Cod and back on one tank of gas easily. Going to cape in my Malibu took 4 fillups, a carburetor rebuild, a valve adjustment, 2 rear tires and a set of points. I kept a tent, blankets, and 5 days worth of canned/dried food in the trunk whenever I went more than 20 miles from my house. Nicest ride I had was a '72 Olds Cutlass S, it looked like a 442. I bought it from a guy getting divorced, it was a multiple show winner. $900 cash took it away and he gave me $12,000 in receipts. My ex wife wrecked that one along with a number of other vehicles, and I owned a lot. I figured for the price of a new car I could just buy a new used car every 6 months. Here's a partial list: '73 Laguna S-3 454 (swivel bucket seats), '68 El Camino SS396 (real deal), 70 Malibu with SS stripes (clone), 3 '69 Chevelle parts cars that I got running, '74 Dodge Dart Swinger 4 door, 57 Chevy 2 dr. post (my 2 lane blacktop wannabe), 78 Malibu wagon, '79 Chevy Van, '89 K2500, '93 K1500 ex. cab, I love GM vehicles I get to practice my transmission rebuilding skills.

Some of the list I've owned (some were nice, some were just drivers, some were parts cars):
6-'55 Chevys, 3-'56 Chevys, 3-'65 Chevys, '64 Malibu SS, '67 Malibu, '69 Chevelle, '56 Olds 98 Holiday Coupe, lots of Falcons, 2-'53 Chevys, '64 Skylark, '66 Buick Electra 2 door, 2-'54 Chevys, '53 Chevy 1 ton panel truck, '66 Plymouth Fury III (still have it), '68 GMC 2500 (still have it), '67 Ford Custom 500 (still have it), there's more, I can't remember right now!