bajaman73

Hey Guys, New here but I have been getting BOATLOADS of information from here for the past couple of days. I recently aquired a 1964 F-85. I think its a Cutlass due to the badges on the interior. The previous owner put a 455 in it and I think it still runs. It has been sitting since the last time I seen it 9 years ago. I drug it outta the field and brought the poor girl home. It has about an inch of dirt on EVERYTHING so cleaning will commence tomorrow. I see the squirells/rats chewed through the spark plug wires, temp,alt wires, and some headlight wires. Seems to be contained to under the hood carnage.
For your viewing pleasure
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jaunty75

Good save. Interesting that it has a license plate on it. Are you in California? The plates stay with the car there, don' they?

oldcutlass

Nice score with alot of potential!!! Welcome!!

bajaman73

Thanks guys. Yes im in California. The plates are "supposed" to be on the car. It usually doesn't happen on the older cars.
Today I'm going to start cleaning up the engine bay. The rats left their mark literally all over the engine compartment, also about a half inch of silt. Im a little worried the engine may be locked up. The PO said it was steamimg real bad when he pulled over to the side of the freeway 9 years ago. We will see. I'll keep you posted.

Oldsguy

It will look real nice all cleaned up, welcome to the site.

spiderjason

Welcome!!!!! Nice find!!!!!!!!

bajaman73

Finally got my wheels on with tires that hold air Vacuumed off the engine, and swapped out the battery. Definatley NOT locked up. Going to Napa to pick up a set of plug wires to replace the rat chewed ones and some new fuel line and filter. I'll keep you posted

bajaman73

I got the engine running yesterday. It runs really good. I took it for a little spin around the block and everything else seems to check out. Brakes are working good ( I found a receipt for over $1000 for the brakes in the car) transmission is shifting good ( another receipt shows a rebuild) power steering works. Seems I'll be driving the beast pretty soon. I have to go pay the gangsters at the DMV. They want 600 bucks to get caught up on the tags

oldsguybry

What !? you mean to tell me you have to pay for the years that it was not being used ? that was the same crap they were trying to pull with me with my van , but I ended up selling it to someone else thank god.

svnt442

I hat that about this state. You either have to pay to keep the registration current, or you have to "non op" it. Tha'ts just DUMB. I'm from Illinois where if you don't pay for the plates jsut just EXPIRE. No catching up, no nothing. You just can't drive it until you get some current plates on the car.

The way a lot of things work out here is just *** backwards from the rest of the world.

kanskidoo

I know other states differ in the way they title cars, and what they charge. In Kansas, if the car hasn't been titled for years, you just sign a paper that says it was in storage for those years, and that it was non-driveable, and buy your tags, no catch-up....that's to buy a "normal tag". I don't know boo about your state's laws, but can't you title it as an antique and request a title-only registration until you are ready to drive it, then buy the tags. That should be cheap.

svnt442

Not in California. They want money every year, no matter what. Either you no-op it (take it off the road, but keep it registered), or you pay full price for plates (and insurance) every year, or they charge you massively for a car that has not been either. And the longer you go the more they hit you for. It's a racket that is somehow legal.

bajaman73

Rulez :/ My buddy gave me a truck (1980 K20) and 800!! to tag that It's gotta go.

The Olds was a freebie as well (long story) but definatley keeping this one. Im hoping the previous owner will catch half of it. The problem is hiding the dollar amount from the wife!

kanskidoo

I always heard that California was a real stickler on titles. like I said, I paid $10 for the inspection, $46 for the title work, and tags will run about $17 a year for an antique tag. I don't know why that cost has to be so different from state to state. I guess it must be because you California guys have a ton of moldy money burning a hole in your pockets, huh?

svnt442

Yeah...riiiight....sure! If that were the case I wouldn't be having issue trying to find somewhere to take my body off the frame.

kanskidoo

Are you trying to find someone to remove your body from the frame due to work space, or do you just don't want to tackle it? When I pulled my car down, I built a wheeled body stand out of 4X4's and 2X4's, striped down the car as much as I could, and used one cherry picker on the front, and one on the rear, and lifted it over onto the stand. Worked slick as can be, did it by myself in about 20 minutes. Enclosed a pic of the stand.

bajaman73

I had to change the fuel tank hoses as well. I was wondering where all my damn gas was going! Starts with a flick of the switch and purrs like a kitten, and boy does she have some *****!

svnt442

I live in a condo with a 2 car garage, but not side by side. It's a tandem and it makes things TIGHT. I also don't have that much head room due to the living space directly above the garage.

kanskidoo

I can understand about you not being able to tackle the body removal if space is tight. I'm pretty blessed to have a 48X30 metal building for my projects.....although I've sure worked on a lot of cars in a dirt floor single car garage, and out in the open too. I will say that using a couple of cherry pickers doesn't require a lot of headroom. I pulled my body and set it on the stand in less than 7 ft. of headroom. I didn't mean to butt in on bajaman73's post, sounds like he's got himself a real buy, especially since the motor runs. I spent more money than I thought it was worth for my car (as you can tell by my avatar) and got a WHOLE bunch less car. Good luck to both of you.

bajaman73

Did the little VIN decoder thingy and confirmed that it's a Cutlass
Next I'll start cleaning out the interior a little. It's pretty dirty. Where would I post a build thread in this forum?

plee3 64Olds

First off Welcome to the site and nice find on the 64! There is alot of information here to assist you with your project. You can post the progress in the Major Build and Projects Thread.

oldsguybry

ahhh , they can add it to their collection of rackets , I would personally tell them to rip someone else off and drive it anyways

64Rocket

Welcome, looks like it is going to be a great project. The challenge is what makes it fun and the finish product is the great result.

Gene