I bought the car from an automobile enthusiast in Pasadena, California, fortunately just a short tow by flatbed to Long Beach. The car was initially in decent shape; the worst problems were a damaged engine (it lost oil pressure and the driver didn't realize it), a badly built nonoriginal dashboard, some minor body damage, and general tiredness throughout. On the positive side, the paint was very good; except for the dashboard, the car was complete; and the clutch and transmission seemed quite solid. It had precisely the right balance of problems and advantages to make it a good project.
Click on any picture to see a larger version in a new window.
The car was easily transported on a flatbed tow truck. From a distance, the car looked pretty good, but it was easy to see, on close inspection, that many parts were simply worn out. I toyed with the idea of just fixing the things that needed repair, but it became clear that only a full restoration made sense.
The engine was reasonably clean and complete, but the problem was evident as soon as it was started: a very noticeable bearing knock.
The interior was tired, and although the seats weren't too bad, they needed some degree of restoration. The chrome, on the whole, was also pretty good. With a lot of buffing and polishing, I could have avoided replating. In the end, I decided to replate some of the more visible parts, like the bumpers and windshield frame.
The dashboard was a greater problem. It was a homemade replacement, which didn't even have a speedometer. It needed to be restored to the correct appearance and correct gauges.
The left rear fender was a little bent up. It wasn't a big deal to straighten it. The radiator surround looked good.
The engine compartment was painted black and the paint was worn out. (It should be the body color.) The electrics definitely needed to be sorted out. Apparently someone had added a lot of fuses, which, by itself, wasn't a bad idea, as the car originally had only two. But, in the process, he created a mess that was almost impossible to deal with. The footwell was positively creepy.
The underside looked good, although it was cruddy. The only rust was superficial, and there was no damage.
The car had old-style, cross-bias tires, but they were completely worn out. All needed to be replaced. The suspension, both front and rear, needed restoration; the bushings had deteriorated badly, as had the pads in the rear springs. I discovered later that both front shocks were defective. There was a lot of road and oil gunk to clean up, too.
