Wayne (pontitrac) and I took a break from the wagon build to find him a new daily driver.... well I spotted this and we went to have a look
972 Impala Custom Coupe.... nice car with some potential it seemed. Belonged to a couple that bought it new, for some reason it was parked in their drive shed in 1980 and forgotten about. it sounds like the husband passed and in '06 the wife did too. the property was sold and the car buried in the back corner of the shed went too. This year the new owner finally called a towing company to remove the car. While sitting a towing compound with no certain future and an offer to sell to a fellow that wanted to part her out but there was no ownership so no deal. the towing company obtained ownership of her and lost the contact info for the potential buyer. to cover costs they put it up for sale and timing and price was right for us. it had some rust on the lower doors and fenders where it was evident dirt road sand blasting had taken place. the exhaust was rotten but what a solid car.
here is 3 weeks later, new started and alternator, new brake lines and fuel lines (be cause we felt better that way) turned the drums and rotors, new pads and shoes, belts, hoses and a super duper wash. oh and we had to say good bye to the old brittle original polyglas tires for a set of nice new radials.
the really neat thing was the glove box was stuffed with paper work. everything was in it from the day they traded it in on their 1965 Chrysler to the oil change in 1980 at 14,XXX miles. 350 2bbl TH350 in this unit with factory ATC air conditioning starts and runs like new. Barely $15,000 miles on the clock we saved this old girl and Wayne will drive her and should be able to for many years.
If anyone has or knows of wheel well trim for this car we would like to find some.
Cool score! You also put dual exhausts on it, good.
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Prince Edward Island
'64 Parisienne CS "barn find" - last on the road in '86 ... Owner Protection Plan booklet, original paint, original near-mint aqua interior, original aqua GM floor mats, original 283, factory posi, and original rust.
LOL about the seat covers. I remember them as well - probably the most uncomfortable things I ever sat on.
By the late '70s - '80s, they were replaced with those fuzzy, wooly, 'velour' type covers that you could buy at Canadian Tire. I recall my friend's dad had bought a '78 Chrysler Lebaron new and immediately installed those cheap-looking seat covers over the nice original interior. I remember making a similar comment about saving the seats for the next owner...
Remember as a kid sitting on those same patterned seats in 1960 (1960 Pontiac Strato Chief) and the family going to California in July
Black car,4 door sedan...and no air. Saved the seats, but did nothing for the body sitting on them.
x2
Luckily my Dad didn't do the couch also!
To this day I call them assweaters
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Prince Edward Island
'64 Parisienne CS "barn find" - last on the road in '86 ... Owner Protection Plan booklet, original paint, original near-mint aqua interior, original aqua GM floor mats, original 283, factory posi, and original rust.
Similar story on this one. Just happened to be at a wrecker when this one was driven in and left. Normally the heavy ones are tossed on the crush pile right away. I drive this one in the summer only so it should last me a long time.
Those wreckers look like sanctuarys, don't they? Nice finds, starting from the Impala (LOL to the plastic seat cover), but what called my attention was the 50's 4-door that appears in the first Caprice picture.