Don't often contribute to the list but have gotten a wealth of good
information sitting in the background reading what is going on. Today I'm
in need of a few encouraging words (my wife is taking care of the
discouraging ones). Last fall I bought a rough but repairable, non-running
58 Crown with the idea to fix it up. Unfortunately, I don't feel my life
has slowed down enough to dive into that project so the poor old thing is
still waiting for me but I really wanted an Imperial to drive. I came
across a 73 listed on ebay and not terribly far (about 3 hours drive)
away. To make a long story short, although it didn't sell that time, the
man kept everyone who had bid on it informed when he was still trying to
sell it in January and again when he listed it on ebay a second time with a
lower price in April. During this 6 months, the seller and I traded
e-mails and phone calls several times with questions and answers. When it
didn't sell off ebay, I threw him a price (without spousal approval I might
add) and he took it. The problem is in the fact I bought it without having
seen it first and relying on the honesty of strangers (can you say
"gullible"). I want to believe that some of the problems, the seller
wasn't aware of himself as he had owned it but not done anything do it for
two years. He assured me it wouldn't take much to get it into shape to
drive home, with the biggest problem being brakes - probably booster and/or
master cylinder and some new tires.
Being mostly an aspiring but only a "shade tree" level mechanic type at
present and short on time, I thought it best to have the brake problem
taken care of professionally and then I could drive it home rather than
towing. Now, 4 weeks and a large sum of money later, "Spiro" (that's a
good 70's kind of name isn't it) is sitting in my yard. He did require a
booster and master cylinder along with one rear drum, rebuilt wheel
cylinders, shoes, and pads. Oh, and a new starter before the garage could
even start it to pull it in the garage. That's not the worst though. Once
they got it in, it was discovered that someone in the past had screwed up
the lower control arms, maybe in a misguided attempt to change front
shocks. They had been cut up and steel plates welded back on them. The
sway bar was also missing. Although not good news for Imperials in general
but good for me, one of the mechanics in the shop is a derby guy who
happened to have a couple of vehicles that he would swap parts from. I
know it sounds like a setup but they did show me the parts they took off
and it appears copacedic. I've decided the shop was on the level.
Now that he's home I've discovered some of the minor problems the seller
mentioned are larger than expected and some others he didn't mention. He
said it had a "small" hole in the front driver's side floor pan - turns out
to be roughly the size of my size 10 foot and there are also holes in the
passenger side floor that he didn't mention. Although the body is pretty
good, it has very obviously been repainted - the seller said he didn't
believe it had. He said there were "a few screws missing out of the dash"
where the previous owner had replaced the radio - whole pieces of the dash
are off but fortunately, most were in the trunk. I asked whether the AC
worked - he didn't know. Now I find that the Autotemp servo isn't there at
all - so the answer is no. I'm also finding a bunch of little things here
and there that haven't been taken care of. All this is probably no
surprise to any of you who have been around this longer than I have.
It's not all bad news though. Although the engine needs a tune-up real bad
it still seems to want to run once you get on the road and it starts very
easily. And it rides pretty nice, although the back end wants to wag quite
a bit making it a little hard to control sometimes. In general the
interior isn't too bad.
I apologize for the length of this message but if anyone has made it to the
end and has any words of advice I would certainly appreciate it. Kerry's
73 Saga has been a big help already. If I'd wanted one in better shape I
should have bought his instead. Although I'm certainly not as automotively
talented as Kerry, it looks like there is still hope isn't there?
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