Well, folks, today was the day. I took advantage of a work trip through Indy to meet @david hill , pick up my TNT, and drive her home for the winter. I got up very early this morning so that I could finish my work and pick up the car before dusk.
A heap of thanks to David for bringing this 300 'vert back on the road following a 20-year slumber. After spending part of the last six months restoring the car, David declared her roadworthy: he thoroughly road-tested her around Thanksgiving to ensure that I could drive her safely at highway speeds for hours on end today. Several hours later, I am happy to report from another state that the car runs beautifully. Very, very impressive for a 375HP 440 with (now) almost 139k miles on the clock. The previous/first owner, who was a Chrysler mechanic, appears to have taken very good care of the car, but without David's help and huge knowledge and skills, I would still only have an immobile metal sculpture.
All right, as @Ripinator would say, we like pictures here. Let us start with the Chrysler when David and I met late this afternoon.
David did not "only" fix the engine / transmission / brakes / suspension, he also cleaned up the interior and the engine bay. And some other stuff, hidden from sight too...
The air flow in the heating system was poor when David got the car back to driving condition. He found out why when he started investigating earlier this month. The fuzz ball below shows just 1/3 of what he found. Luckily he did remove the obstructions, and so I got good heat inside the car on the way home. Good thing as the temps outside were in the low thirties by nighttime and the wind was blowing hard (the car was very stable at speed despite the wind).
After David and I had chatted and parted ways, the first thing that I did was to go and quench her thirst for 93 octane. Yes, the tags are custom -- I could not resist...
The Everco H1949 that I bought on eBay in late April for this car works, and I expect it to be very reliable. Once again, however, I have concluded (as I did with Medina, who got the same unit back in 2019 when @71Polara383 brought her back on the road) that the heat modulation and the speed of response to adjustments are not as good as with the originals. I'll take reliability over sensitivity any day for a component that can created real trouble if it goes bad, but it is worth repeating: it is not quite as fine as the OEM "teapot" HCV.
I drove with the fast traffic and the car was solid and very pleasant. The bucket seats are IMO slightly more comfortable than on Medina, my 1971 Monaco, but the latter takes the pompon because the center armrest is great for comfort.
It was supposed to rain for half of the trip, but I was lucky (just got a few drops that dried quickly) and the clouds soon gave way to sun. Here is a photo taken along the way. The LED lighting installed by David works very well, not too bright yet it is very easy to read all the instruments.
I stopped by in time for dinner, and found a nice building nearby to end this little story.
A heap of thanks to David for bringing this 300 'vert back on the road following a 20-year slumber. After spending part of the last six months restoring the car, David declared her roadworthy: he thoroughly road-tested her around Thanksgiving to ensure that I could drive her safely at highway speeds for hours on end today. Several hours later, I am happy to report from another state that the car runs beautifully. Very, very impressive for a 375HP 440 with (now) almost 139k miles on the clock. The previous/first owner, who was a Chrysler mechanic, appears to have taken very good care of the car, but without David's help and huge knowledge and skills, I would still only have an immobile metal sculpture.
All right, as @Ripinator would say, we like pictures here. Let us start with the Chrysler when David and I met late this afternoon.
David did not "only" fix the engine / transmission / brakes / suspension, he also cleaned up the interior and the engine bay. And some other stuff, hidden from sight too...
The air flow in the heating system was poor when David got the car back to driving condition. He found out why when he started investigating earlier this month. The fuzz ball below shows just 1/3 of what he found. Luckily he did remove the obstructions, and so I got good heat inside the car on the way home. Good thing as the temps outside were in the low thirties by nighttime and the wind was blowing hard (the car was very stable at speed despite the wind).
After David and I had chatted and parted ways, the first thing that I did was to go and quench her thirst for 93 octane. Yes, the tags are custom -- I could not resist...
The Everco H1949 that I bought on eBay in late April for this car works, and I expect it to be very reliable. Once again, however, I have concluded (as I did with Medina, who got the same unit back in 2019 when @71Polara383 brought her back on the road) that the heat modulation and the speed of response to adjustments are not as good as with the originals. I'll take reliability over sensitivity any day for a component that can created real trouble if it goes bad, but it is worth repeating: it is not quite as fine as the OEM "teapot" HCV.
I drove with the fast traffic and the car was solid and very pleasant. The bucket seats are IMO slightly more comfortable than on Medina, my 1971 Monaco, but the latter takes the pompon because the center armrest is great for comfort.
It was supposed to rain for half of the trip, but I was lucky (just got a few drops that dried quickly) and the clouds soon gave way to sun. Here is a photo taken along the way. The LED lighting installed by David works very well, not too bright yet it is very easy to read all the instruments.
I stopped by in time for dinner, and found a nice building nearby to end this little story.
Last edited:
