Second chance!

[lowbudget50]

So you know all those stories you read about guys finding there long lost car, weather if be there first car they sold for college tuition or a hot rod they never should have sold. With some twist and turns, they find it in a barn, or a field . Buy it back and get to relive there glory days with it.


Well........

I have one of those stories !!!!!!!!


I have been casually looking for my 68 fairlane I had in high school. Nothing serious, just a dee adds on craigslist every now and again stating I was looking for it.

I stumbled across some paperwork for it the other day that had the vin number. With alittle leg work I was able to figure out who owned it. A couple Google searches later I had a phone number!! I called with mo answer and a full voice mail box. So I text the guy and told him I was inquiring about a car he use might possible own. That peaked his interest and he called me right away.
After a long conversation I asked if he would be willing to sell it. He told me he had fallen on hard Times and needed some cash, so yes he would sell it.

After a few days of not hearing from him or getting pics he promised, I called him. 3 hrs later he called back and told me Thursday would be a good day to meet. But he wasnt able to get me pics
At this point I was to excited and didn't really car.

So Thursday at noon I left work to blindly drive 2.5 hrs and get my car back.

I didn't know what to expect, after arriving and looking it over I knew I had a long journey ahead of me. It was better in some ways than expected and in some ways worse.

I have big plans for the ol girl and ot will not be going anywhere again!

Stay tuned I will be updating everyone in the progress!!

I will.also have a video with some better explanation and info!

 

[Old Iron]

[cl[cl[cl
[P[P[P

 

[dutch]

gotta love those stories [cl That was a nice ride

I tried the same yrs ago with my 69 belvedere wagon. Turns out it was stolen a few months after I sold it , never found back.

 

[kenny c]

[cl[cl

 

[maverickmk]

How cool is that?!!! I had a '68 Chevelle I would like to track down.

 

[forbigpicture]

What, you didn't have enough to do ?....... just pullin your
chain LB.... good story, good find....
We'll be waiting for the updates....

[P [P

 

[lowbudget50]

Thanks guys, it's really sad to see something I put that much time and effort into you when I was a kid and didn't really have the money to be doing it in the state that it is. The one thing I did not want to see messed up was the vinyl top. Even when I was young and dumb I always kept that vinyl top clean and conditioned so it did not crack and dry out. But it is destroyed, good thing I have a good help upholstery guy who I already talked to you and said he would be willing to do it for some front-end work on another Ford pickup LOL got to love friends with skills. I was out way too late last night working on it and I am up way too early this morning working on ol Rusty. But I did pull the carburetor off the car this morning and it is now soaking because it was leaking from every possible place it could last night. I want to get it moving so I can test out the transmission in the brakes and see how all those systems are working. So I know kind of where to start from. I think I'm going to start on the chassis suspension areas. Want to redo Springs shocks ball joints anything that needs it sway bars. Stuff like that, that should put me into Springtime then I can start doing body repair and wheels and tires. Long list like fbp said I really needed something else to do LOL

 

[lowbudget50]

A few shots of it. Sad

 

[Torchie]

Good for you.[cl [cl
But for me I'd rather not know what happened to my old cars.
The last wooden boat I restored got sold to a guy in Fla. who then left it out in the open, uncovered, in his back yard for 2 years. He gave it to his son-in -law, who then tracked me down to tell me his sad tale of woe about how the boat was not as "Pristine" as it was when his dad got it.
In some ways it's like finding out that your first girl friend got married to a jerk.[ddd
Torchie

 

[Bamamav]

At least the dash survived, most of them warped and fell over the gauges. Always liked those Torino/ Fairlanes, I was looking at one for my first car but ended up with a Mustang instead. Will look great when you get it back like it was in the first pic.

 

[lowbudget50]

Everyone asked me when I was going to go get it if I was excited. My response to them is that I was more scared than excited, because I did not know what the car look like before I went down to get it. The guy was not able to send me pictures of it in the short amount of time that it took to go get it. It's really funny because when my parents took me to look at that car I was ****ed. That is not at all what I wanted, I wanted to 70 Chevelle like my dad had. But my parents were separated and my mom told me there was no way in hell I was getting one of those. Funny How Times change and I grew to love the car. Well it was a love-hate relationship LOL like most of them are I believe. I'm still super excited I got it back. It needs a lot of work. I just got the carburetor rebuilt got it on it it does run stays cool has been a little pressure and drives. But every component of that front end needs replaced. It was bad when I had it but it is way worse now. I can't even drive it it's so bad. So that tells me that's exactly where I'm starting this project. The suspension. Stay tuned, I will get a video put together of the first time I saw it driving into town the walk around of it when we got out and all the work I'm doing to it right now. I'll start a build thread on it

 

[Dr Crankenstein]

A few shots of it. Sad

It could be much worse...

- Windows poked out and full to the gunwales with refuse
- Driven every winter in the salt
- Sunk to the rockers in dirt
- Wrapped around a tree or power pole
- "Four by Ford"

I'd continue, but you get the idea!

Congratulations and I'll look forward to the resurrection! [cl

.

 

[lowbudget50]

It could be much worse...

- Windows poked out and full to the gunwales with refuse
- Driven every winter in the salt
- Sunk to the rockers in dirt
- Wrapped around a tree or power pole
- "Four by Ford"

I'd continue, but you get the idea!

Congratulations and I'll look forward to the resurrection! [cl

.

I do. I'm happy I have it back, just disappointed it wasnt cared for

 

[Bamamav]

Find you a set of Ford Granada or Mercury Monarch front spindles for disc brakes. Get all of it for cores, calipers, rotors, etc. Maverick is the same thing, just a little harder to find. All the rest of the front end is same as Mustangs of that era. When I did my Maverick, I bought all my front end stuff from Rock Auto, they had all of it.

 

[lowbudget50]

The car is 4 corner disc already. I plan on upgrading suspension parts like the arms and bushing. Lowering it alittle and putting bigger away bars on it. I want to make it handle alittle better.

But I did figure out today that the suspension is the same as the mustang's. Makes the parts easier to get!!!

 

[hansgoudzwaard]

Sorry, LB

https://www.kijiji.ca/v-classic-car...no/1388484959?enableSearchNavigationFlag=true

 

[lowbudget50]

That's a solid car!

 

[lowbudget50]

https://youtu.be/MWQ3aGVkCuI

The recovery video!!

 

[Dr Crankenstein]

Checklist:

1) Runs...
2) Reverse...
3) Forward...
4) Stops...

5) BURNOUT [ddd [cl[cl[cl

.

 

[lowbudget50]

Checklist:

1) Runs...
2) Reverse...
3) Forward...
4) Stops...

5) BURNOUT [ddd [cl[cl[cl

.

Yes sir, but standing burnouts only. It needs some serious suspension and steering work!!