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I bought my C1 from an estate knowing some things were wrong (thus renegotiated the price) but missed a few others. The list;
· I knew the rear end ratio was incorrect for a FI car. When I got into it I found the entire rear end was wrong. Determined to have come out of a mid 50s pickup. Bought an entire rear end from a scrap yard, rebuilt, with the correct ratio and posi from a C1 built only one month before mine.
· Wrong radiator poorly disguised to look like a FI radiator. Replaced with a Dewitt replica.
· FI replaced (it was born an FI) with carburetor probably because they couldn’t get it to run. Took a while to find a correct unit.
· Turn signal switch loose; found it was replaced and needed some “adjusting” to function. Later found “Bubba” never pulled the wires out of the junction plug but cut them, taped them back together and stuffed them back in the column.
· Front brakes didn’t work (part of the re-negotiation) due to the brake hoses swelling shut from sitting for more than 5 years.
· Needed some front end parts (Knew this because I never saw a C1 that didn’t)
· After brakes fixed, first time I jumped on it (the gas), there was lots of blow by (however no smoke out tail pipe). First thing I checked was timing and found it over 20 deg too advanced. After resetting still a bit excess blow by. Later found 7 of 8 compression rings to be broken.
· Wrong exhaust system (knew this) from a ’61-’62.
· Always thought the seats didn’t feel right compared to my, long ago, first C1 but didn’t think much about it until a C2 owner’s wife sat in it and said ‘sure sit high in this’. Found that, some time back, “Bubba” had replaced the spring packs and installed them backwards.
· When I installed EPS I was nervous about fitting a pitman arm puller onto it with the engine in place. Took the sector shaft nut off and the pitman arm “fell” off.
· Was under dash and found that even though it had a FI tach drive distributor it had a generator drive cable wrapped in loops.
Can’t wait to hear other’s non-ground up restoration “surprises”.
The real problem is having to redo something you paid a shop to do.
Yeah. This.^^^
If I were to itemize each of the sins that were perpetrated on this old car prior to my acquiring it, it'd be a long and growing list. I don't even want to know how much time and $$$ I've sunk into undoing the various screwups, and the work continues. I know the limits of my skills and facilities, but I've always done nearly all of my own work, largely out of self-defense against incompetence. It's galling to me to pay somebody else to screw up my own machinery. I could do that for free.
I completely understand. Take pride in the fact that you can diagnose and repair these issues. There are a surprisingly large number of owners who cannot and must resort to an outside mechanic. To me, paying someone to fix my old cars is like paying someone to bang my wife.
I cannot imagine how difficult work on these old warbirds must be. I assume you routinely have to fabricate parts. It's got to be orders of magnitude more difficult than working on our old cars where I can get parts from Rock Auto or NAPA delivered tomorrow.
But thank you for doing the work. It's greatly appreciated.
This is one of several reasons why I so covet a pre-war racer with any history. I love the challenge with fabricating parts. Unfortunately it's problematic for those of us that can't drop $30k let alone 6-plus figures for something like a 3 wheel Morgan or have a day job and family where I can't just "make" one.
These cars are full of surprises (60+ years worth) and seldom can you accomplish one task without uncovering another that will need to be attended to. It is the nature of the beast I suppose.
Ain't that the truth. Seems like jobs cascade on one another. That said, my 67's aged a lot more gracefully than I have.
Another case in point; Went to Back To The Bricks in Flint. Weather worse than predicted. Had the fun of driving a C1 through monsoons each half of the 2 hour one way trip. When I got there another thunderstorm was coming so I went to put up the driver's window and the new, just two days old, power window switch burned out (new motor also). Only some panic engineering managed to get it up before the rain. Now I have to trouble shoot what is causing the excess current drain on only the drivers side.
Edit; No difference in current draw from Drivers or pass. Found what others probably already know; Replacement switches junk.
Last edited by JF in MI; 08-21-2022 at 09:40 AM.
Reason: addition
Whether or not "It's always sumpthin..." depends on the prior history of the vehicle, not necessarily just its age.
My "found in a barn" FI '60 certainly didn't receive the best of care. Heck, it came to me with its original engine but only seven pistons. You know what that means. Still, it basically had good bones. Since rebuilding the engine 38 years ago and opportunistically taking care of other minor stuff, it's pretty much been an appliance vehicle. I drove it from SC to CA when I moved. My bride and I drove it to Steamboat Springs Co in the '90s. I've been to Yosemite twice. I'm not afraid of it or afraid to jump in it and go somewhere.
Bottom line, IMHO, whether or not you can trust your C1 depends on its history and how closely you listen to what it's trying to tell you. Just pay attention. It'll tell you what it needs.
And remember.... it's just a ol' Shev-a-lay. It'll get you there and get you home. Every time.
Whether or not "It's always sumpthin..." depends on the prior history of the vehicle, not necessarily just its age.
My "found in a barn" FI '60 certainly didn't receive the best of care. Heck, it came to me with its original engine but only seven pistons. You know what that means. Still, it basically had good bones. Since rebuilding the engine 38 years ago and opportunistically taking care of other minor stuff, it's pretty much been an appliance vehicle. I drove it from SC to CA when I moved. My bride and I drove it to Steamboat Springs Co in the '90s. I've been to Yosemite twice. I'm not afraid of it or afraid to jump in it and go somewhere.
Bottom line, IMHO, whether or not you can trust your C1 depends on its history and how closely you listen to what it's trying to tell you. Just pay attention. It'll tell you what it needs.
And remember.... it's just a ol' Shev-a-lay. It'll get you there and get you home. Every time.
I have had my 60 Vette for 42 years it has been very well maintained and taken care of I it drive most everyday weather permitting, it has been on many long trips from GA to NY without incident, usually about 16 hours straight through except for fuel and food stops, it's ironic in the 50 or so years I have been making this trip none of my old cars have ever broke down, the only time I had a problem was when my fairly new Cadillac Fleetwood brougham dropped us in VA for a couple of days because of ECM problems.
I am fortunate to have the knowledge and strength to mostly effect repairs without paying a shop outrageous money, although I might have to do the job twice or three times. It’s hard to find a shop that can repair these old cars and if lucky enough to find one, they can’t keep the help or retire or go out of business. Can be frustrating.
Mr. 59 BlueSilver, I'm in the second category you mentioned. I find most repair shops near me don't want to touch my 59 they say they don't work on cars that old. I never can get a reasonable explation as to why not. Could it be my 59 is just too technologically advanced?
I think it's a lack of caring or in other words "giving a sh*t", that you find in most shops who aren't corvette specialists. Dealer mechanics, for the most part, can't complete a repair with a computer diagnosis and instructions. They're not really mechanics, just wrench turners in most cases. And, I've found many restoration shops, either don't know the nuances of the C-1 (even if they say they do) and then get in over their head and deliver a subpar job.........to say the least.
Heck, most of us fixed our HS cars in the 60's, so delivering a subpar job with today's tools and technology is inexcusable.
I think it's a lack of caring or in other words "giving a sh*t", that you find in most shops who aren't corvette specialists. Dealer mechanics, for the most part, can't complete a repair with a computer diagnosis and instructions. They're not really mechanics, just wrench turners in most cases. And, I've found many restoration shops, either don't know the nuances of the C-1 (even if they say they do) and then get in over their head and deliver a subpar job.........to say the least.
Heck, most of us fixed our HS cars in the 60's, so delivering a subpar job with today's tools and technology is inexcusable.
To us replacing points and setting dwell is child play but to someone who has never done it, it's as hard for us to remap our fuel/air ratio using a laptop. It isn't so much the sophistication - I'd argue Dukes tuning regimens are as sophisticated maybe more so. No, the difference is merely knowing how. If a 25 year old SAE line mechanic at a new car store wanted to learn our cars it wouldn't take long. It might take us longer to learn his stuff given our age and grumpiness, but we could do it. Its not voodoos. Its just the unfamiliar.
There are very few guys who are still working as mechanics and understand much of anything about these 50+ year-old machines. The vast majority of guys in the trade today have likely never seen a carburetor, points & condenser, etc. I'd hazard a guess that quite a few of the youngest among them might have never even seen a distributor or a drum brake assembly.
Think about how long ago such things as DC generators, mechanical voltage regulators, cable-driven speedometers and tachometers, V-belts, fully-mechanical clutch linkages, and so many more analog mechanical mechanisms disappeared from production vehicles. Most who understood such things have either retired or gone to their final rest. Add these cars' peculiar fiberglass bodies to the mix, and it only becomes more problematic.
It's just reality. Time marches on, technologies become obsolete, and people time-out.
>I find most repair shops near me don't want to touch my 59 they say they don't work on cars that old.<
I can understand that in some ways. Back when I was in the trade the "old" cars too frequently were a can of worms what with rusted bolts and parts made from unobtainium. A lot of times I knew how to work on some of these antiques but was smart enough not to admit it when the lot was full of easier "money making" cars.
I think allot of good points have been made about finding a good mechanic.
Like was pointed out, most of these guys may have never seen a carb, points or a distributor and rely on computer diagnostics and, as stated, not their fault.
I feel the same about auto body shops.
There's are no "repairs" anymore, just replacement.
There's no more repairing dents, just take off the door and replace it.
I have a 9 year old Audi Q5 with 2 pasenger side doors that are dented and scraped. (My fault, my garage, lots of cus words!) The car drives great, electronics intact with no leaks and cosmetically far from awful but shops won't fix them, just buy new ones and paint them. Those f'n doors with all the electronics are expensive!
That "totals" the car.
So, since I love the car it's cheaper to keep her.
08-19-2022, 03:42 PM
