Paranormal forum and I'm going on about cars.So I posted a bunch of old car pics - which I don't need much prompting to do. I bought that thing to have something to work on directly, not just to look at. Some people have extensive collections but that usually means they just sit inside 99% of the time. To me that's a form of automotive taxidermy. Machines were made to be used.
A friend has original survivor cars and here's a little taste of what you get with those:
His 1963 Ford Galaxie Fastback has a fancy for 1963 TWO speed windshield wiper. A HIGH and a LOW. He had never, ever, not even once tried it in the HIGH position until 2020. Imagine that. 1963 to 2020 and one day he just reached down and turned the knob an extra click. It worked ! Wow !
..... and wouldn't turn off again. Switch contacts were green with decades of nobody using them. He literally almost had a heart attack and absolutely lost sleep over it. After some fiddling it went back and he'll never touch it again. Besides, that car hasn't seen rain since Nixon was President so why that mattered in the first place is a stretch ....
In comparison I just gutted the interior, a couple of times. I bought the car pretty much as you see it but it had been neglected for many years, plus a lot of stuff came in boxes. It had factory air conditioning but that had turned into a disease filled mouse house so I removed all of it stem to stern. I rebuilt/replaced all the vacuum motors that hide under the dash, fixed all the gauges, rebuilt the climate control rollers, replaced electric window motors and regulators, fixed the damned stereo and put the dash and console fully back together. I rebuilt the entire front suspension, brakes, power steering, replaced the starter and alternator, rebuilt the carb and tuned, tuned, tuned the living snot out of it.
People don't want these cars anymore. As investments your $$ can do better elsewhere. They watch TV and want restomods that look old but drive and handle like modern vehicles. This thing is like a B-17. All cables and hydraulics, levers and linkages. If something is happening it's because you're physically making it happen. No electronics other than the old, cool and especially gigantic stereo. This car is as close as it gets to a restomod with an original. It keeps up with traffic easily, is extremely maneuverable, and you can romp on it to your heart's content with no bogs, hesitations, burps. It'll light those rear tires right up and leave nice positraction candy canes all day, but I've done that like, twice. Don't want to have to replace the clutch.
It's a very early production L-46. Well appointed back when. The original owner or someone shortly thereafter blew the engine and trans out of it and it got replaced with a factory short block and a slightly older Muncie M21. Car was built Oct 12 1968, CE or Counter Exchange motor built Oct 14 1968. It retained all the specs that makes it the 350 hp/350 cu in. It has a fresh rebuild, albeit 30 years old. .030 over, factory camel hump heads. Aftermarket carb and intake. Extremely high compression. Can't tell exactly but each cylinder tests @ 215psi consistently. It’s tight. Doesn’t burn oil at all. Could care less about #s matching but I am happy it's a very early, correct 350 and not somebody's Mom's station wagon engine.
OK, so ten thousand words later I'm still droning on. Point is I just like working on it, learning about the tech that makes it go. It isn't super fast and when you look at it it needs a new interior and the paint really is about a B- when you get close. I treat it sometimes like I found it smoking in a hole at Roswell. The mechanicals are sorted out, it's totally turn key - assuming you know how to start a carbureted car and drive a four speed. It gets a lot of attention, too much in fact. One day a guy with a dreamy look on his face - and I've encountered a few - will make an offer I won't refuse then out she goes. Only got room for one, maybe a Mopar next time.