My first impulse with the car was to just pop an engine and transmission in and drive her a little, while slowly fixing her up. I really just wanted to drive the car. After a close scrutinizing inspection, it became clear that the car was just too wasted to even try. I didn't buy this consciously aware that I was going to have to do a full resto, but there again is my rose-colored glasses for ya.
Tearing down a car with no engine or transmission goes pretty quick and easy. I started by removing the putrid moldy interior and hosing out the inside. Then a thorough scrub down with Simple Green and a stiff bristle brush took care of any moss and accumulated dirt. The cool thing about an empty car is you can hose out the cowl heater channel, the trunk wells, everything! A few late nights after work is all it took to have her stripped to the shell.
Floors are mostly just surface rusty. The heater was missing and much of the dash trim had to be bought.
Windshield out and in the gargabe can, roof drip rail trim coming off.
remaining windows out, ready for a hose-out.
Minor crunching of the left rear fender at the taillight hole. This was a tricky fold to tap into shape.
Drivers door had opened too far once upon a time leaving this little "oopsie."
Side trim off reveals factory original blue paint in excellent condition.
This was a padded dash-optioned car. I removed the dash to find a little pitting and rust. I will be deleting the dash pad for a clean, steel dash look.
Hood hinges liberally sprayed with oil to free them up. Note the shock tower braces in place...
I deleted that shock tower braces that extend to the firewall. There are constantly in the way of engine and brake parts. (I added plenty of additional chassis stiffeners and don't even notice their absence.)
I built this shelf system specifically to store and organize the parts I had removed. Other pieces went into the rafters for safe-keeping.
