Well, today is the day that it comes home with me, RUST and all! I knew it was rusty, and although I was being optimistic, the reality is that the entire trunk has basically rotted away. It barely stays closed, since the trunk latch bracket is no longer attached to the floor, which is basically gone. What looks like the floor is actually the gas tank!
Lower rear fender wells also have holes, and there's rust beneath the rear window trim. Not to mention the tail light panel and trunk lid. Cleaning this area, I was worried I might give myself lockjaw!
I put the new used tires on and it rolls, so the brakes aren't frozen, but the brake pedal sticks down. I also cleaned out the thousands of twigs, sticks and hay particles in the engine bay. Some of that stuff was CAKED onto the intake, valve cover, etc. I don't want to know what it was that was the "glue" holding those nests together. Ewwwww.
I have not checked the floorboards yet, but I'm not holding out a lot of hope for them, considering the condition of the rear of the car. In fact, once I got a look at the trunk, I started to wonder what I'm actually going to do with this thing. Anyway, I'm still gonna get it home, clean it up as best I can, and dig in to see what it needs. I may not end up keeping it, but since this was my car during college, I really wanted to revisit it and have that closure.
After washing the moss, grime and dirt off the car, it's really straight and much cleaner than I thought. The rust is one thing that will need to be dealt with, but it's a very complete, unmolested original car with only around 75k miles on it. It's never had a motor swap, really not messed with at all, other than what the elements have done over the last 14-15 years of sitting.
Up next is a vacuum and cleaning of the interior, and we're going to see if the engine turns. It wont start, but worth seeing what happens. Then it's onto the trailer and back home.
I'll be able to post pictures when I get home. My stepdad helped me out quite a lot, and it's been a good bonding experience. We spent the night afterwards in deep debates about life, etc. All in all it's been a good weekend trip to my folks' place.
Always fun pretending that the water sheeting off the car is actually a clear coat. [emoji3]
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