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| This placard has hung on my garage wall for years. I was the first entry in that year's ROA's National get together car show. I got plenty of quizzical looks. |
I drove it from the Bay Area to Klamath Falls Oregon for the get together. With my Wife and family. They did suffer a mite from the lack of a/c.
Why not include it in the show? It was customized. Lowered (slammed) with Moon Discs and wide whitewalls. I had covered the seats with black "simulated" sheepskin covers from the local Pep Boys. They did actually look like the fur used on gorilla costumes worn in old movies. "Enviromentally burnished?" that's just a creative way to describe faded out paint. But hey, the car ran reliably and sounded great with those old Cherry Bomb glasspacks! It had a ton of attitude, but I couldn't dispute the facts.
An embarrassing confession. The car I bought was a real piece of junk. I should have known better.
I wish that I had taken pictures! In the pre digital age it wasn't easy, convenient, or cheap to document everything with pictures. I don't know if I ever took any pictures of the car. I'm including photos from the Internet to help illustrate my narrative. I've tried to identify the photo sources.
My first Riviera was in pretty good condition and it didn't require any body, paint, or interior work. The paint was recently resprayed, and polishing and waxing gave great results. This is the fun way to have a hobby car. Fixing and fussing with all the little things.
My '66 was all original but very tired and worn. The paint was faded with some surface rust. The body was straight, as well as the trim and bumpers. The interior was worn and cracked. But it did have a full set of Riviera road wheels.
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| photo source Dean's garage This isn't my car but it looked pretty much like this. At least mine had a driver's door! |
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| This problem was common to vehicles of this era. Now there are more resources available to deal with it. |
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| photo source: hotrodgargae.com Remove the trim and glass, grind off the rust and this is what you find. |
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| photo source: hotrodgarage.com Ignoring this won't make it go away. |
It also suffered from the mid 1960's GM disease of rusted windshield and rear window channels.
Over the years dirt and debris makes it's way under the stainless steel window trim and just sits there. Every time it gets wet it turns to mud and causes the underlying sheet metal to start to rust. Over time it rusts completely through. Usually, it first makes itself known as a water leak around the windshield which produces a wet front floorboard. Water also leaks into the trunk, which often goes unnoticed. Needless to say all this water leads to a long list of rusty body panels. On my particular car all the pinch welds around the windshield and rear window were also swollen and rusty. Not an easy repair.
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| photo source: hotrodgarage.com Fabricated patch panels are welded in as necessary. |
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| photo source: hotrodgarage.com Prefabricated corner patch panels are now available. |
If you're planning on keeping your car for a long time you have to address this issue. It will not go away on it's own. I just covered the offending areas with an application of duct tape. Problem solved?
Even the motor wasn't in very good shape. There was an audible tapping sound from what appeared to be a bad valve lifter. If only!
So why did I buy this car? Especially after buying a much nicer car the first time? Looking back I really can't say. Was it Hubris? Did I think that I would restore it over time?
Usually, I'd look for a car that was in good shape in at least one of the three major areas:
Body and paint.
Mechanical.
Interior and accessory systems.
It's a form of mechanical triage.
My poor Riv was lacking in all of these areas! Under strict standards it wouldn't have made it into the operating room, it would have received the Last Rites.
While the body was straight and complete, the paint was thin with lots of light surface rust. Before buying it, I didn't inspect the window areas closely enough, to my regret. At least I chose a car without a vinyl top!
I bought the car even though it had an audible tapping noise and a rough idle. These are indicative of a bad lifter and usually a bad valve. My engine had both, and more!
The interior boasted worn seats and carpet, non working a/c and heater. At least the door panels and dash were in good shape and the power windows worked.
Three strikes and you're out? Heck No!
I probably thought that I would eventually get the car painted. However, this was in the old days when I maintained that if I couldn't afford a good paint job, then I wouldn't paint it at all! So I didn't!
I thought that I would just change the bad lifter if it didn't clear up on it's own. Hah! "Clear up on it's own? Who was I kidding? Myself, obviously.
I thought some mending and a set of seat covers would take care of the interior. Well the interior isn't the most important thing, at least to my thinking.
That's what I get for thinking!
Did I bail? A more sensible person probably would have. A more sensible person probably should have. But No, I doubled down.
Although I started with a pretty rough car, I ended up fixing most of these problems. Except the cosmetics. I ended up driving it as an everyday car for several years.
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| photo source: beautiful decay Here's another Buick fastback with even more patina. |
I never did get the car painted. I never fixed the rusty window channels. I just covered the area with duct tape to keep water out. Luckily the whole Rat Rod thing came along and for once I was right in fashion. My car didn't look like crap, it had patina!
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| For once, I was ahead of the curve! |
When it came to the motor, my miseries could fill several blog posts!
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