Ok Fellahs, I looked over the '70 last night. Over all it seems a fairly solid car. Floors, rockers, torque boxes are solid.
A little bit of filler in a few places; at the front of the drivers side wheel well, and it has some bubbles starting behind that wheel. Looking inside the wells they look good. There are also a few small spots of filler that seem to be from door ding repair.
Back window leaks and the seals look pretty shot. Paint around the rear window corners shows cracking. I looked up under there from the trunk and the underside of that panel has heavy surface rust but does not appear flakey yet. There is a small spot of filler around the drivers rear window corner.
Another concern is the front end. The front driver’s side engine compartment wall / shock tower is “misaligned” with the fender (see attached pic), and the firewall braces are a bit tweaked as well. The hood doesn’t like to close fully at the cowl end, but once it is pushed down all the panels line up nicely. So I’m wondering if it took a hit at some point or if it has just been driven hard. Underneath, the front frame look good. Some dents on the drivers side though, but it looks like it got whacked by speed bumps or whatnot, instead of being rippled / crinkled from an accident.
The date codes on the front fenders (Oct31 & Nov5th) seem spot-on for the car’s production date (11/69), but they have holes drilled for wheel well trim peices (did '70 eliminator fenders have those holes?).
How difficult is it to straighten out a “misaligned” / tweaked front end? If a new front end were spliced on, where would they weld it? I know I could ask to pull the fender back to see the firewall VIN, but is that quick / easy to put back once you loosen it up and move it?
Also, how difficult is it to “tighten up” a sloppy shifter (auto)?
the shifter is a bushing issue yours is worn - Don has them for sale they are inexpensive, however the front end is another issue that i have not had to deal with. I will let others step in for that. But it would send up a flag or two for me that the car was in a accident at some point, but I could be wrong
Mike I don’t see the picture in your post. When you stated that the hood lines up nicely after you close it then give it a push leads me to think its been hit before. I would say check or measure all of your panel gaps. They should be close to the same from side to side on the hood and cowl. If fenders were moved to close the hood gaps that would tend to misalign the door gaps. Look closely for grinder and or welding marks on the underside of the car. If it took a hit it could have been straightened, just not correctly. Check the tires and see what the tread wear looks like. If something is out of whack it might show on the tire wear. Hope this helps.
Steven
Yeah, I looked at the gaps and they all seem pretty even, but there is some variation, so maybe it all adds up to “wonky”, LOL! No shock tower cracks that i could find (looked high and low, twice!). Seems like both fenders are off a little bit, along with the front corner trim pieces, but one side is worse. I think if all the front panels were pulled off and “redone”, it would all line up ~ or at least reveal where the real issue is.
I really don’t think the car was hit. The date stamps on the panels is right on (they are even within 5 days of each other), and there is no sign of rippled or repaired frames. Yeah, they have some knocks and dings in them where the front suspension rod doodads hook up, but no worse than my own daily driver.
The hood not closing at the cowl sounds like a bad or misaligned hood hinge. Simple fix and no reason not to buy the car.
I think all Eliminator front fenders had the holes but the quarters didn’t. I could be mistaken on that so maybe Dave W or someone who is sure will pipe up.
Nothing sounds too serious, particularly if it’s a rare car. You can’t find them
It’s easier to apologize after the fact than to ask for permission beforehand. It’s a solid car, reasonably close to home in a color combination you like and loaded with options. Sounds like a no-brainer to me.
“The hood doesn’t like to close fully at the cowl end, but once it is pushed down all the panels line up nicely.”
Pretty much the norm for a 69/70 once the hood hinges start to get worn. Paint on the fender bolts show it’s been repaint. I would be a little more worried about the rust/filler around the rear window as that would be harder to repair if needed.
Yeah, its an older repaint and shows scuffs and dings from being driven and sitting around. But I’m ok with that since the paint is not horrible, and it will be doing pretty much the same when I take it over (driving and sitting around)
I am a touch worried about the filler around the rear window - it is only on the drivers side lower corner where the various panels all meet up. The spot is about the size of a quarter where the magnet won’t stick. Looking at it from underneath / inside the trunk, it looks ok ~ no flakes, holes, or filler worms. So I wonder if it was starting to rust a touch there and they sanded and skimmed it heavy before the repaint. That is what it looks like to me.
Same with the spot in front of the drivers wheel well. It looks like poor repair of a dent ~ the inside of the well shows just a bump, no rust.
I got scared of all the stuff (big and small) that it was gonna take to make it really shine. Jeff’s car has more going for it, and is in a lot better condition than most of them that come up in that price range, but I got cold feet. Jeff was very gracious about it too, even though I drove him nuts with my himming-and-hawwing.
Came face to face with almost everything I wanted in a car but I couldn’t pull the trigger. Yeah, it isn’t a 4-speed, but it has so many options and is essentially rust-free…
Did you get scared off by this specific car or by the prospect of buying one in general? Either way, you just need to trust yourself, that you made the right call.
I think it was a little of both. Big commitment of both time and money. I know a classic car won’t be a fast or cheap project, but it felt a little overwhelming at the time just seeing so much that “needed” done and thinking how much this and that would cost. Looking back, I know that it doesn’t all need to be done at once ~ it is a project, so a little at a time is ok. Also, alot of the work I’ve never done before. Most of it would not be difficult work, but I don’t have the experience to know what should be done first and have no frame of reference to know if I’m doing it correctly.
It was pushing my comfort zone a little more than I was comfortable with, so I had to back out.
Do I think it’s a good car? Yeah. Am I kicking myself for not buying it? Yeah. Would I be kicking myself right now if I had actually bought it? Most likely (“oh crap, what did I get myself in to” LOL!). One of those situations where no matter what I chose I would be wrong. And I hate to be wrong ~ especially where that much money is concerned.
LOL, Mike, when I got mine(granted, not as high-ticket as an Eliminator), the biggest thing I’d done to a car was change the oil…you can learn ANYTHING from everyone here! I am testament to that!
Unfortunately, I dove in head first, and before I knew it, had nary a fastener left on mine, so I ended up in the “oh crap” boat…but with guidance from the “gang”, it’s now back on the road…Go for it, says I! (ok, maybe not with this car, maybe not the next…but GO FOR IT!)
I DO plan to jump in, eventually. I figure when it is “The One” I’ll know, right? It worked for something as complicated and complex as finding a Wife, it should work for a mere 40+ year old mechanical wonder of engineering and precision.
Man, it should be easier! My problem is I’m pretty picky, and … frugal >.> coughcheapcoughcough*
And having no significant skills with body work or paint, let alone the budget for those AND a car, it’s been tough to find the right one. If I had an actual shop then I would be more inclined to pick up something that needs more work and just kinda “pay as I go”.
Seems that they are out there, and when the price is right then I’m usually in the wrong place, or the wrong time, or just too slow :-/
I’m gonna let the wife comments go. It’ll just be safer (saner?) for me that way LOL!
Kinda funny though, I’m telling the wife about this car and that car, and oh check out this orange one. She’s like “you already went and looked at a car.” LOL! Like you can’t go and look at more cars. Sillly wife! Even when I have an Eliminator I’ll most likely still be looking at other ones. I mean, you can have a wife but still look at other women, right? Err… I mean, OTHER guys look at other women, but I have a wife >.>
LOL!