jensenracing77

Here is a car that I have followed since 1992. I was never interested in buying it till about 8 years ago and then only interested for a summer driver and re sell it. At that time he did not want to let it go. We kept in closer contact for about 3 years after that point and then nothing for the past 5 years. Tuesday I decided to stop in and see him. He said he wanted to sell it now due to health reasons. After a total of 4 visits this week we agreed on a price and an agreement that I will pick him up and take him for a ride after I get it back on the road. He got it in 1989 and I would see it on the road two or three times a year for several years. Then around 2000 I would see it about one time every couple years. I don't know when he stopped driving it but I don't think it has been on the road for several years now.

He stopped driving it because it had a transmission leak and pumped it out as fast as he put it in he said. I "think" it is a cooler line but not sure yet. It fired right up but did not run it long because there is little oil in the transmission. It is in "20 footer" condition. He had it painted in 1989 with new GM front fenders and some patch work on the rear quarters. The original floor pans are in great condition.

At this point I plan to get it back to road worthy and do lots of cleaning. Likely will not keep it very long. Maybe some early spring drives and then let it go.

zeeke

I have the same car, no W-30 and a louvered hood. Same color and interior. Unfortunately mine is in pieces. How many miles does it have? I'd pull the trans and have it spruced up. Inline tube makes every line for that car if you need them. I put the TH-400 in the Cutlass temporarily & used there lines, matched up great. This winter I will start to working on it again. Let me know when you decide to part with it and what you would be asking. Good luck & enjoy it.

jensenracing77

It has 122,000 miles on it. I hope to get it on the lift tonight and find the leak. I already have a set of cooler lines so if that is where it is leaking I am good. At this point I do not think it is the front seal so I am hopping the transmission can stay in the car. This one is not a W-30, he just put the emblems on it. He said it is an original W-25 hood car. I know the hood and air cleaner are original GM parts so maybe.

stevengerard

man, another awesome find!!!!!

zeeke

Mine is a Michigan car 127,00 something. It looked like that, minus the hood and add some bumper guards, about 35 years ago. Bought off a friend 28-29 years ago and took it apart. Hoping to get the project started for the last time in about a month. One step forward 2 steps back. Presently a body on a chassis. Motor and Trans are done & many parts collected over the years. Started a thread a while back but haven't done anything for an up date. Here's the odometer. Pretty sure it never spun. He bought it in the late 70's and hardly drove it. I drove it a half mile away with bad rings, looking like batman the whole way and put it in a garage.

jensenracing77

So far the carburetor, transmission and rear end are all original to the car. I do not believe the engine was ever apart. I have a receipt from him getting the driver manifold removed and surfaced and remounted with a new gasket. The passenger side does not have a gasket and still has the locking tabs on it. Those are not often replaced on an engine rebuild. It does have aluminum valve covers and HEI on it so those are not original.

anthonyP

Fantastic find Eric, another fine job done.

Are the SS-1 rims the 14" all chrome type that were installed for a limited time in '71,
or are they the aftermarket 15" rims?

jensenracing77

They are 14 inch wheels. I am not sure yet if they are original or repop. At first glance I had assumed they were repop but I don't know that for sure. Can you tell from the outside of the wheel or does the tire have to come off? Also, How long ago did they start making the repop SSI wheels? These have been on the car a long time.

oldcutlass

Nice score, nice solid car for a future owner.

oldsmobiledave

Congrats on the purchase.

Why did you load the car backwards on the trailer? Having the heaviest part of the car rear most on the trailer is a recipe for disaster.

jensenracing77

The way things happened I had to load it this way to get it out from where it was. I was going to pull it to the end of his driveway and turn the car around but I was able to get more than enough tongue weight on it to just take it all the way home. Don't matter what way the cars is facing if you have enough tongue weight. My biggest worry was that I don't know anything about convertibles. I did not know if it would hurt the top going fast backwards. I just kept it under 30MPH. It was only about 8 to 10 miles from home.

jensenracing77

Turns out that these are the rare 71 only all chrome wheels.... Super cool!

Stefano

Nice find, congrats!

anthonyP

Getting to be more of a keeper....heh? A nice difference to choose between when deciding what to drive on any given day - the hardtop or convertible 442, or maybe one of the Jetfire's.

jensenracing77

lol, I would choose a Jetfire almost every time. Now for mountain driving, I would love to take a convertible to the Smoky's and drive around. We took the W-30 a year ago and loved it but a convertible would have been better.

jensenracing77

Turns out the transmission leak was only the pan gasket. Replaced the filter and gasket, added fluid and it is a driver now. I took it out for a 12 mile drive and it did fine. I stepped on it two times and didn't miss a lick! Looks like the blower fan for the heater don't work, I hope it is just a fuse. Lots of little things needed but not sure what my plans are at this time.

The car is a VERY solid car with lots of great parts. With a little work it will be a great driver. If someone wanted to restore the car it would for sure be a good one to do.

jensenracing77

I pulled the seats and carpet out. I am just cleaning it up. This is the second time that I found where the factory installed the console off center and missed a screw. it only has one screw that holds it on at the rear because the other missed. The floors are as solid as new and even the factory seam sealer is not all cracked up and falling off. The heater core is leaking and got the insulation wet on the passenger side. It looks like rust there but it is just wet insulation. I had added water to it because it was a little low and now I know why. I will get the heater core replaced soon and reinstall the interior.

I plan to replace the heater core, shocks, end links, and an idler arm. The idler arm is slightly loose but not that bad. Enough that I want to replace it.

jensenracing77

I am reminded this morning about just how bad I don't like changing heater cores, and especially in an A/C car..... I got the heater core in this one changed this morning and fixed a vacuum leak that supplied the vacuum servos. Now the heater works great and all the selections work great. The A/C is not hooked up but all the parts are there. Not sure if I will fix the A/C or or not.

Next is to clean up the carpet and reinstall the interior.

Stefano

That's a time consuming job!

jensenracing77

Pulled the inner fender, the 4 outside nuts, the heat door cable, pulled the glove box liner loose, all duct work, and the inside box. disassembled the inside heater box and rebuilt with another heater core and reassembled everything. Took 7 hours then another hours figuring out the vacuum line problem.

tdhill01

Very nice find Eric, it'll be a good winter project. Looking forward to the thread updates.

jensenracing77

I am not yet sure how far I am going with it. I think I am just making it a reliable driver and sell it. The transmission just went out on my wife's Acadia so I may need to sell it sooner than I expected. I would love to blow this car apart and repaint everything but not likely going to happen.

jensenracing77

Sorry, no pictures but i did got more done to it today. The brakes felt a little off but were working. I looked into them today and found that both rear wheel cylinders were stuck and I only had front brakes. I replaced the wheel cylinders and flushed the fluid with fresh new fluid to all 4 corners and they work great now. Already has new shoes and pads so I did not replace them. Started installing the interior back in the car but not finished yet.

Also changed the thermostat, most of the vacuum lines and advanced the timing just a little. They put HEI in it and had the initial timing set to 5 degrees. I moved it to 10. I will play with the timing more at a later time.

Chris J

Great find I am enjoying following your thread. I love the 71 verts have looked off and on for one in this area but haven't found the right one yet. Probably a good thing for me you are a long ways away or I would defiantly want to discuss it if you decide to turn loose of it. Great thread keep us updated!
CJ

jensenracing77

I got the interior back in. I got the worst part of all of it cleaned up but still need to pull the vents out to detail them better and other little interior details. Other than that I am finished with the interior. With the work I have done so far I am to the point I trust taking it out with the family. I am taking the family to a School event tonight in it. We will see how things go. If all goes well I hope to take the previous owner out for a drive this weekend.

jensenracing77

I did some cleaning under the hood but to be real good the engine needs to come out and repaint. Not sure if i will get a repop flapper door or leave it as is. With the repop flappers not fitting very good I will likely leave it as is.

jensenracing77

Finished cleaning the gauge and vent areas. I am finished with the interior for what I was looking for. The silver pin stripe around the steering wheel has turned yellow. I have an extra sports wheel I was going to put in this car but this one has no cracks and the sport wheel is to common now. Been a long time since I sen one of these wheels with no cracks...

jensenracing77

Just got back from my body guys house with it. I wanted him to look at it and give me his opinion of the body. Turns out my assessment was correct. This car needs no body panel replaced anywhere and previous rust appears to have been minimal. If the car ever gets restored it would only need work around the back wheel openings. They replaced the wheel opening lips with metal in 1989 but it is an armature job. The outer wheel houses are even good and original. He said the quarters should not be replaced because only a little of the lips need anything done.

tdhill01

Boy, I wish my panels were like yours - I'd be a richer man Eric. Nice job cleaning her up, it might be hard to part ways with it if you end up deciding to go that way.

jensenracing77

I am likely going to have to sell it sooner than I planed. I was hoping to drive it some next spring but I have to much coming up to pay for. We are buying some property and did not think It would be till next Summer that it was going to be available but looks like it is available now. The barn lot that is in most of my pictures is not ours and we are going to buy it. This car was only for short term anyway but may be shorter than expected. I have some more I plan to do it but after that it will go to eBay. If it don't bring what I want I will relist it this spring but need to let it go sooner.

RetroRanger

Eric the interior cleanup looks nice. I need to give my seats and door panels a good cleaning too. What products did you use to clean the seats and door panels?

jensenracing77

I was not going to post pictures of the way it started but now I figure what the heck. The interior was covered in mold to start with. I started by using 2 gallons of water with a small drop of dish soap. That would last for one seat and than had to get fresh water and soap for each seat, dash, console... Went through several gallons of water. That was the first day and after that is when I took the picture in the first post.

I realized real quick that it was going to take more than just detailing it and with the heater core leaking, I then decided to pull the seats and carpet out. I sprayed everything with Lysol thinking it would kill any mold I could not see. After that I just scrubbed everything with a damp cloth with more soap and steam cleaned the carpets. After I put it all back in I just used Armor all. I don't really like Armor All but it is ok on something like this that had nothing done to it in years. I am for sure not a detailing expert.

Koda

I like Vinyl X for that application. Much progress.

Is the car a w-30?

jensenracing77

Not a W-30. He stuck those emblems on there in 89 when he had the car painted. I wish they were not there. I would take them off if it weren't for the holes.

jensenracing77

I am seriously thinking about putting a sport wheel in the car. I don't see these wheels in this condition very often and would like to keep it for a future car that I would want to keep. Does anyone know how to get the yellowed clear off of the silver stripe without hurting the silver stripe?

RetroRanger

Wow big improvement on the interior

don71

Amazing what a little soap and water and some elbow grease will do to a car interior.

About that wheel, to bad there isn't an inconspicuous area to try first. It sure looks great. I might suggest a damp cloth and some ordinary toothpaste...or even baking soda. That shouldn't hurt it.

Koda

Toothbrush and ivory liquid soap?

jensenracing77

The original trunk mat was in very poor condition. I pulled it out and cleaned a little in the trunk area. I have a new mat coming. The trunk pan is in great condition. There is no rust where the inner wheelhouse and trunk pan meet like most do.

w30hurstolds

Notice in 71 and 72 they spared the trunk while the side light housings laid and then installed.