Joined: Tue Aug 21 2007, 12:38AM
Location: Lewiston, ID
Posts: 45
Okay, lots of people have been asking me about the red '72 I need to sell, so I took some photos of it today. It's not actually quite ready to sell for another week or so, but I'll give you guys first chance before it goes on Craigslist. First off, it's *not* orange! It's so bright out today that it's messing with my camera, and making it look like a red car that's bleached out in the sun. It's actually Viper red, code PRN if I remember right, painted in urethane basecoat/clearcoat. This one is a 360 car with A/C, and almost no other options at all, which I find kind of interesting.
It was an elderly lady's car in Spokane, Washington, and she managed to scrape both sides of it, mutilating the side moldings and leaving shallow dents. It then went to a young guy who had it for a couple of years and added aftermarket gauges under the dash and a Pertronix ignition. I bought it from him about ten years ago, drove it for a year, then took care of the body and paint. At that time I removed the remains of the vinyl top, closed the holes for the moldings, and switched the rear markers to a pair of reproduction B-body pieces as I thought they looked cleaner. It had the typical rot in the lower quarters, so I made replacement pieces and put them in. It was originally a red car, but I went with the Viper red to make it just a bit (okay, maybe a lot) brighter. I also put a new heater core in it at that time, which cost me $300 to have fabricated at a radiator shop. Sadly, it then lost it's rear main seal bad enough that you couldn't drive uphill without pouring oil on the hot exhaust crossover (a quart in about 20 minutes) so it then sat in front of my house for eight years in the sun while I dealt with other business, which killed the dash pad and the seats.
Currently, I'd say the body and paint are nice driver quality, but not perfect. There are a couple of runs in the clear, but since they're only in the clear, you should be able to cut them and buff them out. There are a couple of places where the bodywork has shrunk, revealing a some hasty sanding marks in the right side under the paint that show up if you look at it at a certain angle. It's surprisingly rust-free, though, with nice floors, doors, firewall, etc. There's a little scale on the subframe, but that's it- no serious rot. It also still has red overspray in the front fenderwells, which I never got around to cleaning off. The engine bay and trunk opening are the original paint, though the underside of the decklid was repainted with the body. What I think is most discouraging to me is that it's sitting under my neighbor's tree, and the stupid tree sap is discoloring the white paint on the roof. Not real bad, but it's there if you look for it up close- small dark discolored marks that probably won't buff out. Interior is very decent, other than the carpet, front seat covers, and dash pad. I also have a hidden headlight grille which has a chip in the surround, but is otherwise not busted up, and the electric motor for it. The picture shows it in a bumper, but I'm keeping the bumper itself- I need it for my sedan. Bumper on the red car is straight across, but does have a small dent in the left corner- a souvenir from the old lady's driving around Spokane. I also have the wheel opening moldings in the trunk, which I think would clean up fairly well. Also, the windshield has a split up the left side and should be replaced at some point.
Mechanically, it needs minor wrenching to be drivable. I put a fresh 408 small block in it a while back, but never finished hooking it up. My wife has since acquired the green '72 wagon which had a cracked block, so I'm pulling the 408 out and putting it in the wagon. I'd actually bought another 360 from a friend which is currently sitting in the wagon, so I'll take that engine out and put it in the red car. It's not rebuilt, but it does have new bearings, Summit cam, and roller timing set. I think it's a later-model 360, as the intake that's on it is a spreadbore with an EGR valve. I'm not going to guarantee anything about that motor, but it looked good when I saw it with the pan and intake off before I set it in the wagon. I'll also include the chrome Edelbrock valve covers that are in the picture, and a K&N air cleaner if you want it, as we don't plan on using those items on the wife's car. Oh, and I also put new U-joints in the driveshaft, which is currently in the trunk, along with the radiator and A/C compressor.
So here's the plan. I'm pulling out the 408 very soon and putting it in the wagon, and pulling the 360 from the wagon to put in the red car. Or, I could leave it out so you can have it completely gone though (and possibly built into another 408?) and install it yourself. Otherwise, I'll go ahead and set the 360 into the red car and bolt it down, and you'll have to finish hooking things up, find a carburetor for it, prime it, and start it with break-in oil for that new camshaft. I'm not interested in doing it, honestly, because I work a lot of hours and I just want to get the car out of here so I can move on.
That all said and done, does $3000 sound fair? It's in Lewiston, Idaho. I don't know if it can be shipped, since it doesn't run and although I put a master cylinder on it, that was ten years ago and it probably needs replaced- so I doubt it has brakes. My driveway's on a hill, so it's easy to back up to it with a pickup with a car trailer, but I don't see how it could be loaded easily on a larger transporter- sorry. Anyway, if anyone's interested, let me know. Once the 360 is set in it and bolted down I'll be putting it on Craigslist.