Someone needs to save this '63!!
My brother sent me an email about two weeks ago
about a '63 "Chevrolet Imperial" that was for sale
at the garage where he and his wife buy all of their
gas and get their cars serviced in Fr. Lauderdale.
I immediately assumed it was a chevy, but wrote him
and asked for clarification. He ran an image search
and confirmed that it was an Imperial. $2000.
I called, but they'd sold it. A few days ago my
brother called again and said the car was back on
the lot, for sale.
I called again and spoke to both Jimmy and Wally.
Here's the story as I pieced it together from them:
It's a '63 Crown four door, 85k miles. Cream/camel
colored. It was purchased new in Illinois and the
couple who owned it moved to Ft. Lauderdale in 1965.
They had it serviced at this same gas station ever
since. Mr. Owner died in about 2000 and Mrs. Owner
stopped driving it in 2002 and died soon thereafter.
It sat for the next four years in their garage,
where it was always stored. Now the kids are
finally closing up the estate and have put it up for
sale.
The previous buyers were two. One guy heard about
it from a local friend and called from Atlanta. He
was going to come down and trailer it back. He
never showed, never paid any money, etc. While he
was still expected, a second guy wanted it and asked
to be "second in line" if the Atlanta deal fell
through. When Atlanta didn't show and they called
No. 2, he got cold feet and didn't buy it. That's
about the time I called for the second time.
Condition: Jimmy told me that it had some rust on
the rocker panels because the owners drove it near
and around salt water and didn't rinse it off. The
floors and trunk pan are rusted too, but not all the
way through. He also said the front seat needed to
be re-upholstered. Air was operable when Mrs.
stopped driving it, and Jimmy told me the AC system
was still holding a full charge but needed a new
expansion (?) valve to cool again. He also said the
brake cylinder and bellows were shot, and the tires
had sat too long. It runs strong, shifts properly
and they are driving it in and out of the shop at
night but will not allow anyone to test drive it
without the brake repair.
I really, really debated with myself over this.
It's a cool car and is plainly teetering between
reclamation and disaster. I have two play cars
already, my '58 Imperial project and my very
operable '69 Electra ragtop, and I've got too much
going on with the two of them (and our two daily
drivers) to take on a '63. I thought about it all
weekend, of course, but finally came up with the
conclusion that it should go to someone else. It
irks me because I do have the room or it, just no
more time right now. If my son was 15 instead of 9,
I'd be arranging the shipping right now. It would
be a great car for he and I work on together. Right
now between he and his two sisters, my wife, the
mortgage, tuition, cub scouts, aging parents, swim
team, job and everything else going on, I've got to
draw the line.
Gary Luedtke very kindly went and looked at it for
me over the weekend but wasn't able to touch it
(locked in the closed shop). He sent me two pretty
good pictures of the rear end taken through the shop
window. I'll happily share those with anyone who
wants to ask off line. He also sent me the
description that I've copied in below. One of our
IML pals (Sharp-eyed Joe!) noticed that one of
Gary's pictures showed a fancy Shriner's badge on
the gas tank door, and we got all excited for a few
minutes until I pretty much confirmed that all
Shriner vehicles were parade cars, i.e.
convertibles. Maybe this is "The Lost Shiner
Hardtop?" Who knows?
If it can't be me, I hope some cool IML person can
save and enjoy this lovely car.
Patrick E. Moore
Covington, LA
Car is at: the Citgo Station at 2366 E Las Olas Blvd
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301
(954) 463-8329
ask for Wally or Jimmy
----- Original Message ----- From: "gary luedtke"
> <poppers@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> To: <pnkmoore@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Sent: Sunday, August 20, 2006 6:31 PM
> Subject: Re: IML: Can anyone look at a '63 Crown
Ft. Lauderdale
>
>
>> Patrick,
>>
>> >>
>> i found the crown in one of the
>> inside bays...
>> and could only see its hind-quarters thru the
window. JPG pix attached.
>> it's a tasteful "light caramel" in color, and yes
has rust.
>>
>> i'm the third owner of a 67,000-mile '63, stored
on my driveway 5 years,
>> and it has not a spot of rust on its
undercarriage. the crown has rust
>> behind the wheels on the bottom, which indicates
it got a lot of water
>> thrown up behind the wheels.
>> i would thus doubt the mileage figures quoted.
>>
>> it also has the back edge of the trunk worn thru
the paint.
>> the whole car's paint looks like it never got
waxed, having
>> permanent-looking differences, which maybe a real
good application of
>> the
>> three MaGuires wax procedure would bring back to
some life.
>>
>> but i'd say a body shop would need to eliminate
the rust first, and
>> then a
>> full repaint would bring this to a spiffy-looker.
>> the back bumper chrome was good, but looked to
have rust thru a 2 X 2
>> spot
>> where some kind of bumper-sticker'd been.
>>
>> the interior looked dark, and that's all i can
say from what was
>> see-able.
Back to the Home of the Forward Look Network