Since the running car was a total rust bucket, I had acquired a clean, but empty shell. Vin SRL311-14375. Unfortunately, just as I was getting underway to do a body swap, I discovered it would be tricky to get that car titled since it was missing the vin plate in the engine bay. Not impossible, but tricky. I also found some light body damage to the front end, and started feeling overwhelmed. It needed more than I had thought, and time was short. At that same moment I was figuring this out, the facebook page for the local club popped up on my phone with a notification. It had been inactive for a year until then. It said:
I was beside myself! There it was, the solution staring me in the face. The price was unbelievable, and at least one of those cars had to be titled, or easier to title at least. I called the guy immediately, and set up a time to meet him that same day. It was only 40min from my house. When I got there, I couldn't believe it. The cars were 100x better than I'd imagined in my wildest dreams! The red one was rusty as hell, and battered, but complete. The primered one though... was pure treasure. No rust could be found. Even the body mounts seemed solid as can be. When I walked around with a magnet, it stuck to every part of the car. it had tons of junk in it, sure, but also parts galore.A friend of mine ran across these two roadsters and the guy wants to get rid of them quickly (this week, or they get scrapped). I believe primer'd one is a 70 that is disassembled and no engine. Red one is a 68 with 2L engine (condition unknown). $500 takes the two as-is. PM me if you want contact info.
The guy didn't care about making money, he just wanted the cars off his property ASAP. His son had a friend that originally owned the cars, and had asked to keep them there a while. Then, the friend completely disappeared. This guy had been trying to reach him for years, with no luck. The cars had sat for 4-5 years and the guy had vanished. Now he wanted to sell the house, and the cars needed to go. Earlier I had called the state patrol, and asked if I could legally buy the cars. they said if a car was abandoned on private property for more than 90 days, it became the property of the land owner. All I would need to do is get a bond title, which is exactly what I had done when I bought my other project, an '85 300zx.
So, the owner and I rumaged around in the junk being stored in the primered car, and found brand new front and rear bumpers, still wrapped up, a brand new but filthy convertible top, an old tonneau cover, the original hubcaps, a bunch of rubber seals, an old top and frame, all the lights, brand new doorhandles, and more. Leaning against the house was a really nice hardtop, and all the fenders, hood, and trunk lid primed and dent free, along with some boxes filled with more parts. And when we pulled the cover back further, I saw that the ad had been wrong. BOTH cars had U20's under the hood! The one in the primered car looked amazingly clean... too clean...
After seeing what I'd seen, I knew I was buying the car. Several pieces in that lot were worth more than $500 by themselves! I gave the guy $100 to hold them, and took one of the unubtainium 2000 grills that I'd been pining after for years, and left.
The very next day, I borrowed my parent's help, and we loaded the cars up and took them home. I'll pick up the story in the next post.
