I was going to school in Fremont, California back in 1998 when I spied this seriously beat-down Ranchero on the side of the road with a for sale sign in the window. Me, always being a sucker for a cool old American car that looks like it's going to be cheap to buy, I pulled over and jotted down the phone number. I later called about the car. It sat funny, because, as the seller explained, it was missing the right front coil spring...(Huh?) How does that happen? Someone removed it and couldn't figure out how to put it back in I guess. The drivers door had been replaced after having been side-swiped and the B pillar was a little messed up. But it ran!!! It had a 6 cylinder and two speed automatic (which leaked ATF from the front pump seal). The car was pretty shabby inside and out, but I bought it anyway for $400. Score!
I cut and re welded the B pillar so the door would close normally and slathered a little sloppy bondo here and there and took to painting her in hardware-store cans of white and black primer. I used it as a commuter and to move stuff occasionally. It was a fun and comfy no-frills car that was cheap to own. It was, however, a worn out jalopy, and I sold it down the road after about a year and a half.
I bought it in gray primer. I parked it on the street away from my apartment so people wouldn't associate it with me.
After having upgraded the car to two-tone white and black primer, I began parking it within the complex. It didn't look half bad. Turns out, it takes a lot of white primer to get good coverage over gray primer.
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I was cruising around Auburn, Ca one morning in 1993 when I spied this little Corolla in a gravel lot with a for sale sign in the window. The tires were good and most of the body looked good. The interior was decent and it had a 5-speed transmission. Being an SR-5 model meant it had A/C (non-working) and other deluxe features, like a full complement of gauges. Very cool. One of the front fenders was black and the nose sheet metal was brown. I struck a deal with the seller for $400. Score!
I repainted the non-matching panels in "Wimbledon white"- paint I had left over from my Falcon. It matched good enough. I drove it as a second car in high school, though my friends didn't appreciate it as much as I think they could have. They preferred my Falcon. I sold it down the road to help with college expenses probably less than a year after I bought it.
I like the "fast-back" look to this car. It's reminiscent of a Volvo P1800 wagon or a Jensen Interceptor.
The manual transmission made it fun to drive and the "Hemi" 2-TC engine was totally adequate. Note the front fender removed for painting.
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It was 1995 and I had just wrecked my little '71 Celica and desperately needed a roofed vehicle for winter. I had my motorcycle, and that was all. A co-worker of mine had this crummy little 1982 Toyota Tercel dying on his property. It was very worn out, I think it had over 300,000 miles. The rings were shot and it smoked now and then. The clutch was slipping like mad and the suspension was worn out. But, it was a two-door, it had a roof, a heater, wipers, and it ran. I struck a deal for $200. Score!
I replaced the clutch, the filthy carpet, the shocks and installed a stereo. I also put on a new muffler. It still smoked after prolonged idling, but it ran and drove pretty good. I put the turbine mags from my departed Celica on the car. The worn out engine meant I couldn't really power up hills very well, and the weird design of the body meant I wasn't going to hang onto it longer than I needed. I drove it through the winter and pawned it off at the first taker for $400, turbine wheels and all.
Not much to say about this little pile. It did the job in classic, trustworthy Toyota fashion.
This was the first engine I ever pulled. I did so over night at the service station where I was employed to pump gas and clean up. I replaced the clutch and intake manifold gasket and had her running in the morning before the real mechanics arrived for work.
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It was 2003 and one of my co workers came to me with a proposition. Knowing I was in to restoring old cars, he told me his father had a '66 Le Mans he wanted to sell. The price was $1800. I was tempted, but I was also in the middle of a fuel-injected '65 Dart GT project. Two weeks later, my co worker approached me once again and said his dad now only wants $800. He wanted it to go to someone who would restore it. Heck. What was I to do. He forced my hand. I agreed to at least make the drive to Placerville, California to look the thing over. It was dilapidated for sure, but had the right body style, and plenty of potential. I struck a deal for $800. Score!
I pulled the engine and replaced all gaskets, seals and leaking freeze plugs. I fixed any body damage and had her resprayed her original Martinique Bronze color. I restored the interior and added dual flow masters. It looked awesome and drove awesome with the humble little 326, 2 barrel V8. It had black interior with bucket seats and a floor shifted two-speed power glide. The car turned out way too nice to be a daily driver, and was a little too large to be practical. I sold it down the road after the restoration to a guy from Washington who flew in to Sacramento and drove the car back to Washington.
The Le Mans was basically sound, needing some old body work fixed up and a little rust repair around the front and rear windshields.
Engine out for seal and gasket replacement.
After coming back from the paint shop with a spectacular base-clear in the original Martinique Bronze.
I added a GTO hood because, well, it's cool. The raised white letter tires on Rally 2's are mandatory. One of Pontiac's finest models.
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It was 1999 and I was leafing through the Sacramento Bee when I spied an ad for a 1974 MG Midget for $400. I called the guy up and he said it needed a carburetor. I went to see the car and it was a rubber-bumper model, not a chrome bumper '74. Somehow it was registered as a '74 though, which made it smog check exempt, which makes it easier to register an old car with a tired engine. I paid the man $400 and towed the car home. I had the correct carburetor sitting around that I had removed from my Spitfire.(The Midget and Spitfire in the 1970's were equipped with the same engines) I installed the carb and she was a runner....for about 20 minutes until a rod started knocking. Uh huh, just needs a carb... right. I was prepared for this event. I yanked the complete engine from my Spitfire and installed it into the Midget. I reasoned that I could then sell the Midget and use the profits towards a really radical engine for the Spitfire!
That's what I did. I spruced up the Midget a bit, even adding some graphics to the car. I sold it down the road for a few hundred dollars in profit. It was a tough sell with the registration discrepancy and rubber bumpers.
The car had just been painted by an amateur before I bought it and paint was flaking. I added some stickers and painted the Union Jack graphic to mitigate the white paint loss.
Spitfire engine in the Midget. The Midget may have been geared differently because it didn't seem as fast or fun as the Triumph, with the same engine literally plucked from the Triumph.
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It was 1999 and I was leafing through the Sacramento Bee when I spied an ad for a 1974 MG Midget for $400. I called the guy up and he said it needed a carburetor. I went to see the car and it was a rubber-bumper model, not a chrome bumper '74. Somehow it was registered as a '74 though, which made it smog check exempt, which makes it easier to register an old car with a tired engine. I paid the man $400 and towed the car home. I had the correct carburetor sitting around that I had removed from my Spitfire.(The Midget and Spitfire in the 1970's were equipped with the same engines) I installed the carb and she was a runner....for about 20 minutes until a rod started knocking. Uh huh, just needs a carb... right. I was prepared for this event. I yanked the complete engine from my Spitfire and installed it into the Midget. I reasoned that I could then sell the Midget and use the profits towards a really radical engine for the Spitfire!
That's what I did. I spruced up the Midget a bit, even adding some graphics to the car. I sold it down the road for a few hundred dollars in profit. It was a tough sell with the registration discrepancy and rubber bumpers.
