it all depends on how much you want to spend. If you just want to get it back on the road:
- do an inventory on what's there and what's missing. Looks like this is possibly an air conditioning car, which adds to the fun.
- the front steering, suspension & brakes are all dismantled, put it back together with new parts.
- I suspect your rear brakes will be ok.
- the stripped front fenders will need to be dipped to get rid of the surface rust, then repair the rust damage. Same is likely true for the stripped doors.
- repair the body rust.
- is the interior (seats, dash, etc) present? I see a red dash with a crack in it.
- I don't see an engine or transmission.
This will not be for the faint of heart, especially if you haven't done it before. Would be easier if you have a same make/model car to use as a guide.
Looks to be a 66 Parisienne?
Don't take the lid off if you only want a small amount. Just put a screw hole in the lid, pour out what you need the fill the hole with the screw. Next time repeat procedure using another screw to make a pour hole.
Dont expose a full can to the environment as it will harden.
Cliff
-- Edited by oshawacliff on Wednesday 3rd of January 2024 10:58:28 AM
front end? Suspension? Steering? Etc? What steps would you take?
am I better off selling the car now?
my drum brakes were new 2 years ago. Would they be seized now?
This is painful to hear and to see. But, no sense dwelling on what can't be changed.
If it was me I think I'd weigh my options as follows-
1) Move on to another car, sell this one and take whatever loss I need to. Wash your hands of it and put in in the rear view mirror.
2) Move on to another car, keep this one as a parts car.
3) Find someone you trust to restore this one. However, I think you'd be way too far into it that it would even make sense if considering that you likely have already paid the shop money up front. ( And I don't want you to talk about that, as I imagine you can't if you are pursuing payback from the shop). I'm sure you could go out and buy a nice original Bonneville or a restored one for less than what you'd have in this one.
I'll send you a PM.
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1966 Strato Chief 2 door, 427 4 speed, 45,000 original miles
1966 Grande Parisienne, 396 1 of 23 factory air cars
-- Edited by MikeR667 on Tuesday 2nd of January 2024 04:26:25 PM
Without getting into details, what happened?
We have another member who was quoted $25K for a frame off restoration, only to spend $43K and the shop wanting another $97K to finish.
I hope you didn't also fall into the $25K trap.
If he wants to have a hope of recovering any of his loss I don't think he's wise to get into detail. At least in the past guys have posted that if a lawyer is involved they have to keep quiet about it until the case is finished.
__________________
1966 Strato Chief 2 door, 427 4 speed, 45,000 original miles
1966 Grande Parisienne, 396 1 of 23 factory air cars
First question I would ask myself is how much time do I want to put into this? If you like - no, love - to spend a lot of time working on old cars, and you have the time and skills (or are wanting to learn the skills), and a big garage where it doesn't matter if it sits there apart if/when you run out of time, motivation, or temporary cash flow... then you could consider putting it back together. But even then, you might want to reconsider the full restoration route, unless that's absolutely what you want to do. I have to be honest, it's more of a project than I would attempt, unless I lived next door to Todd and had him to help me and prod me along when I got lazy (lol). If you do put it back together, you might consider just doing the basics to get it on the road, because once you get into nice paint the bills start to add up.
Basically, I agree with Carl's advice, though.
I feel really bad that this happened to you. Years ago, I had a Dodge Coronet that I was going to have the rotisserie paint job/restoration done, and a guy with a home shop that agreed to do it. Well, it sat in his garage for a couple of months, then he kicked it outside. A friend had driven by and told me that it was sitting there with a snowbank on top of it, but luckily he hadn't taken it apart, so I rescued it before it got ugly... and he didn't ask for money in advance, as it was a handshake kind of deal - pay as you go. He was a well-meaning guy, but the work just never happened. I can't imagine what you've gone through with this... I would not have handled it well.
Sorry I don't have much to offer, but I wish you the best. Hang in there!
-- Edited by MikeR667 on Tuesday 2nd of January 2024 04:26:25 PM
Without getting into details, what happened?
We have another member who was quoted $25K for a frame off restoration, only to spend $43K and the shop wanting another $97K to finish.
I hope you didn't also fall into the $25K trap.
If he wants to have a hope of recovering any of his loss I don't think he's wise to get into detail. At least in the past guys have posted that if a lawyer is involved they have to keep quiet about it until the case is finished.
ok, I'll take a wild stab at it:
Shop was to complete a restoration. They took the car apart and stripped the fenders & doors, but then no further work took place.
Thanks guys for the advice and thank you Todd for gesture.
Yes and I have spoken to the other member that had the same thing happened. By the time he would have been done it would have been over 150k. Thats even if he does the work.
I went to the shop when they said they were working on the car! When I got there. They havent even touched it. Just lied. So when I asked for my money and car back. They stated they had no money. I then said do body work and prime it to recoup what you took from me.
This is what I got back instead plus more $$ gone. Even the tow truck driver in that area said thats all he does to people. Im not going into it anymore as I have stressed the past year over it. Now that I have the car back in my possession. Just looking for a game plan or some options.
For the thousands of dollars needed to bring that one back to life you may want to do what Carl suggested - find another one that's a driver and keep this one for parts (or part it out).
it is a pity that there are losers out there that take advantage of folks that just want a nice car to cruise in. I'm a dive in heads first kinda guy and my view is buckle down and learn new skills buy some more tools and pick away at it. Everyone here has offered valuable advice and can show multiple ways of accomplishing a task.
Best of success and keep us posted on every step you make with your car.
No. I have a single car garage where I am in. Except a family member talked me out of bringing and instead tells me to sell it.., But I should have just brought it here instead. Right now its at a friends place.
-- Edited by MikeR667 on Wednesday 3rd of January 2024 11:38:47 AM
Restoration of classic vehicles always becomes a money pit based on all the unknowns, like is the frame okay, floor repairs, firewall damage, previous accident(s) with covered up repairs, rare parts availability. Unfortunately some of us have had the bad experience of someone taking on your cherished project and lying about what they will do for an amount of money and after time doing very little and requiring more money and providing poor workmanship. If this was my project I would try to cut my losses and sell what you have. Then with a lawyer's advice make it known publicly what these lowlifes are doing. Good luck
This reminds me of a story about 15-20 years ago on Dream Car Garage. They brought in a 70 GTO that had been at another shop, completely disassembled. Host Peter Klutt referred to it as a 'basket case', as most of the parts were in baskets. It had been stripped and sat in the corner of a shop, so needed to be dipped to remove the surface rust.
He said it's fairly common, where a auto body shop will bring in a car with hopes of doing a restoration during their idle times. However the body shop's bread & butter is collision work, and the idle time never happens and the restoration just sits.
If you are still considering putting it back together yourself, an option might be to purchase an exterior shed (if you have room on your property) in which to store the parts waiting to be installed, while putting the main shell of the car in your garage. Not having done this myself, though, from what I've seen with others' projects is that you need quite a bit of room around the car to work, so a single garage might not cut it, depending upon how small it is.
Even then, for me it would be just to get it back together and on the road, which IMHO would be a daunting task in itself, and then you would probably only be a little ahead of where you were had you not taken it to the shop in the first place. This would be extremely frustrating for me.
I posted this in the other restoration shop ransom thread. It happened locally, and sadly the storyline sounds familiar. I think it would scare us to know how often this happens that you don't hear about it.
I recall other stories where this guy took parts off of customers' cars to sell to other customers, etc etc. Just a nightmare to deal with, especially when you consider how much money is in play, and how we value our old cars. I hope there's a special place in hell for these guys.
I have decided that I will be attempting to rebuild the car. I will not be selling it.
I will move it piece by piece to my garage when its warmer out. Who knows. Maybe Ill do a YouTube channel. Call it Big guy, big car, tiny garage.
I have decided that I will be attempting to rebuild the car. I will not be selling it. I will move it piece by piece to my garage when its warmer out. Who knows. Maybe Ill do a YouTube channel. Call it Big guy, big car, tiny garage.
If you get into a corner, come here and ask lots of questions. Someone here will be able to help I'm sure.
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1966 Strato Chief 2 door, 427 4 speed, 45,000 original miles
1966 Grande Parisienne, 396 1 of 23 factory air cars
