polara71
Old Man with a Hat
As asked in the other thread here are the details.... and I appreciate the anticipation by the way........ Its been a long two and a half weeks.
After Fred had shown us the original E bay link
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1970-Dodge-...sGbNyB0XjbmNx%2FH%2F8%3D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc
I had lost all appetite and sleep for the next ten days. I had reached out to the seller for more details and photos. Over the next several days we had talked a bit on the phone and he had sent me photos of the car that werent in the listing..Being an FK5 car with the buckets and console I needed this car, my soul needed this car. This is exactly what I had set out for seventeen years ago but couldnt locate. A white interior and/or Superlite would have been icing on the cake but I'm more than fine with it.
With days to go I had asked him to consider an offer and pull the auction, he declined and wanted the auction to run out. Mark and I were both watching this one very closely and couldnt believe our eyes when it didnt get a bid. I was on the phone in minutes ( thanks to Marks coaching) with the seller and threw him a number. He countered I said no. He countered again and again I said no. He agreed on my price and away I went, to Missouri 7pm last Thursday evening, with the U haul trailer in tow and dad in the passenger seat we headed out.
That damn ride was way longer than I anticipated, Google maps was off by almost 200 miles one way. I drove from Jersey to just East of Indy, I gave dad the wheel and I slept a half hour. Back at the wheel I took her through Illinois and half way through Missouri. I met the seller at a local Home Depot to cut off an hour off my trip.....
The rain, the long miles, lack of sleep and meeting Missouri's finest with a speeding ticket in hand I was a cranky SOB. The seller didnt find the charming fellow he had on the phone and I couldnt head east fast enough.
Many stops along the way, gas, bathroom and a dinner break at the St Louis Arbys (and again in Columbus) did slow us down.
Good thing gas prices are down, at 12 MPGS with the car on the back I just kept peeling off greenbacks....
Actually the truck handled incredibly well..........much better than I could have expected.
I pretty much drove all the way home with two half hour naps one in WV and another in PA before the turnpike. We were home by 1 pm Saturday without incident.
Saturday afternoon the trunk mat came out and went into the garbage along with the mud flaps, fog lights and am/fm under dash radio and speaker.
Sunday morning found me outside washing and drying the car. Then inside the garage I went and pulled a box of carpet I had bought 12 years ago for the white car, opened it and laid it out... I put the car in the back and started taking out the interior. I had to. With the trunk being solid and the bath proving her to be better looking than I had thought I needed to see those floors, I needed to see the proof, that would seal the deal, good or bad, which was it.... No build sheet on the back seat back, no sheet on the back seat bottom, damn it someone went through here. No build sheet on the bottom of the buckets and a screw was missing on the seat backs, GOD DAMN it someone pulled them, there was nothing.... nodda! Nothing on the glove compartment box top either...I gave up hope, figuring I lost all chance of knowing the cars true heritage, I was sure the carpet was replaced.
The carpet on the passenger side rear was torn, and as I had already pulled the rear seat bottom I knew why. There was a critter inside the car at one point and he had made a nest under the seat with the carpet. Well, as I pulled the carpet on the passenger side I saw a ball of carpet from that critter and guess what was in pieces in that ball... thats right, a build sheet, so miniscule you wouldnt have thought it to be bits of paper. Well, that just about brought tears
I moved over to the left side of the car and started to remove the rear panels and trim. Once that was completed I flipped up the rear carpet and my heart stopped, there it was, Mopar Gold, a build sheet, well, half a build sheet. I thought, please, please, please be folded in half. I reached out and gently picked it up, with all the floor indents I carefully, with two hands, touched it, picked it up and rolled it over........ HOT DAMN the other side. My last chance, there it was......
With that build sheet I am told that the car was built with some nice options including the wood steering wheel and road wheels. To make things even more incredible is the floors and frame are solid, SOLID, SOLID, SOLID. A few surface rust spots here and there from water intrusion but all in all I did good. I like this car a bunch and have plans for it. Another puzzling part to the cars history/ mystery is it has tires on it form 1973.... WTF? Glad I wasnt going to drive it home..
After Fred had shown us the original E bay link
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1970-Dodge-...sGbNyB0XjbmNx%2FH%2F8%3D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc
I had lost all appetite and sleep for the next ten days. I had reached out to the seller for more details and photos. Over the next several days we had talked a bit on the phone and he had sent me photos of the car that werent in the listing..Being an FK5 car with the buckets and console I needed this car, my soul needed this car. This is exactly what I had set out for seventeen years ago but couldnt locate. A white interior and/or Superlite would have been icing on the cake but I'm more than fine with it.
With days to go I had asked him to consider an offer and pull the auction, he declined and wanted the auction to run out. Mark and I were both watching this one very closely and couldnt believe our eyes when it didnt get a bid. I was on the phone in minutes ( thanks to Marks coaching) with the seller and threw him a number. He countered I said no. He countered again and again I said no. He agreed on my price and away I went, to Missouri 7pm last Thursday evening, with the U haul trailer in tow and dad in the passenger seat we headed out.
That damn ride was way longer than I anticipated, Google maps was off by almost 200 miles one way. I drove from Jersey to just East of Indy, I gave dad the wheel and I slept a half hour. Back at the wheel I took her through Illinois and half way through Missouri. I met the seller at a local Home Depot to cut off an hour off my trip.....
The rain, the long miles, lack of sleep and meeting Missouri's finest with a speeding ticket in hand I was a cranky SOB. The seller didnt find the charming fellow he had on the phone and I couldnt head east fast enough.
Many stops along the way, gas, bathroom and a dinner break at the St Louis Arbys (and again in Columbus) did slow us down.
Good thing gas prices are down, at 12 MPGS with the car on the back I just kept peeling off greenbacks....
Actually the truck handled incredibly well..........much better than I could have expected.
I pretty much drove all the way home with two half hour naps one in WV and another in PA before the turnpike. We were home by 1 pm Saturday without incident.
Saturday afternoon the trunk mat came out and went into the garbage along with the mud flaps, fog lights and am/fm under dash radio and speaker.
Sunday morning found me outside washing and drying the car. Then inside the garage I went and pulled a box of carpet I had bought 12 years ago for the white car, opened it and laid it out... I put the car in the back and started taking out the interior. I had to. With the trunk being solid and the bath proving her to be better looking than I had thought I needed to see those floors, I needed to see the proof, that would seal the deal, good or bad, which was it.... No build sheet on the back seat back, no sheet on the back seat bottom, damn it someone went through here. No build sheet on the bottom of the buckets and a screw was missing on the seat backs, GOD DAMN it someone pulled them, there was nothing.... nodda! Nothing on the glove compartment box top either...I gave up hope, figuring I lost all chance of knowing the cars true heritage, I was sure the carpet was replaced.
The carpet on the passenger side rear was torn, and as I had already pulled the rear seat bottom I knew why. There was a critter inside the car at one point and he had made a nest under the seat with the carpet. Well, as I pulled the carpet on the passenger side I saw a ball of carpet from that critter and guess what was in pieces in that ball... thats right, a build sheet, so miniscule you wouldnt have thought it to be bits of paper. Well, that just about brought tears
I moved over to the left side of the car and started to remove the rear panels and trim. Once that was completed I flipped up the rear carpet and my heart stopped, there it was, Mopar Gold, a build sheet, well, half a build sheet. I thought, please, please, please be folded in half. I reached out and gently picked it up, with all the floor indents I carefully, with two hands, touched it, picked it up and rolled it over........ HOT DAMN the other side. My last chance, there it was......
With that build sheet I am told that the car was built with some nice options including the wood steering wheel and road wheels. To make things even more incredible is the floors and frame are solid, SOLID, SOLID, SOLID. A few surface rust spots here and there from water intrusion but all in all I did good. I like this car a bunch and have plans for it. Another puzzling part to the cars history/ mystery is it has tires on it form 1973.... WTF? Glad I wasnt going to drive it home..
