The 5th car in my fleet to be renovated is 4259R.
It came from a dealer in Chicago who had few crashed cars it seems, he died before he could renovate 4259R and 4688R, which had had a bad front and rear crash, and came with a new chassis.
A whole heap of bits including 4259R and 4688R were sold to a man in Houston, who then also died, sold the lot to a man in Louisiana, who found the renovation task too much, and I bought the whole lot, which was shipped back to Norfolk in a 40ft container.
4688R is finished bad minor adjustments needed, and is Lagoon Blue with ventilated front and solid rear discs, Minilite wheels, and 145bhp pushing her along.
So far on 4259R I have found the following problems:-
1) Rear left suspension arm bolt bent 30'.
2) Both rear shocker tubes bent about 20'
3) Front right bottom arm bolt welded in position with large holes in the bottom arms where the bolt went through (I had to cut them off with a grinder, but spare arms were in the spares)
4) Long bolt which is welded into the chassis and holds the front right wishbone arms on, was too long at the rear, so I couldn't get the arm off because it hit the bodywork about where the passengers feet are. So I put the nut back on, cut the long welded bolt flush with the nut on the arm (about 1/2" too long) and the arm came off. The nut restored the cut thread when I took it off.
5) The left front very long bolt holding the top arms, which slides back through a grommet covered hole in the bodywork, is seized in the chassis. More work needed to get that out, or it will need a new chassis. Probably heat it with a gas torch for 2 mins or more, and see if it can be persuaded to move backwards.
6) The screen leaked, and the foot pedals were so badly rusted they were rust dust. Even the rod to the master cylinder fell apart it was so badly rusted.
7) The left seat belt bolt into the centre chassis sheared off. I have cut the fibreglass away, ground the bolt flush with the chassis, and I will get a nut welded to a thick plate, and bolt the plate in the black hole, about 1" from its original location.
Obviously the windscreen leaked, and I managed to break it twice carefully cutting it out.
9) The dashboard was so badly rotted, the plywood was in separate layers like a filo pastry.
10) Front discs and calipers badly rusted beyond use.
11) The wiring loom looks like it had had several bad repairs, including the fat cable from battery to starter with the insulation badly repaired.
12) The fibreboard bulkhead needs repair by fibre-glassing on the engine side.
13) The yellow paint is very badly cracked all over, especially on the doors and front wings.
14) Despite the aluminium shield, the radiator fan and its 3 struts holding it in place fell apart from rust.
15) Bracket holding the clutch cable to the tunnel was rust dust.
16) Right bottom front trunion seized so the steering doesn't move.
17) Even the two 1"1/8 nuts on each door hinge were so badly rusted, they had to be drilled in half, as well as both long hinge pins.
18) The front anti-roll bar had been cut off with the two vertical links cut at the top where they bolt on to the very long sliding bolt, and the studs on the bottom of the shockers cut as well.
Obviously all the rubber tubes needs changing, and all the consumables have been consumed, but this yellow peril will be the biggest challenge so far.
There will be more problems soon, but the car is nearly fully dismantled, and we have the technology to rebuild this car. I just hope it doesn't cost $6m like Steve Austin did.
