Howdy guys, new to the forum here!
I own a 1980 Buick Century Estate Wagon (like the Topic suggests). I affectionately call it "Louise". The car has literally been with my family my entire life... my grandfather bought it in 1985 around the time I was born from a friend of his. He popped out the motor, rebuilt it, and popped it back in. Along the way he also worked on the under-carriage and frame weather-proofing it his way (his way was always super-heavy duty or nothing) and setting up the suspension to be weather proof. (In other words, he put a big-thick sway bar on the front and put over-sized radials on it)
About a decade later, the car was handed over to his son (My Uncle) due to my grandfather's failing health and my Grandmother not needing the car anymore. It was taken to Maine for heavy duty use (hunting, fishing, carrying hundreds of pounds worth of building supplies around for his house, and such). Things meant for cars with much larger engines and hardier transmissions. To fulfill these duties the rear suspension was beefed up with adjustable air-ride shocks.
He had it until about 2002, when he handed it down to me. I being a kid, didn't appreciate the car and abused the hell out of it, rode it around like the Dukes of Hazzard until eventually the Transmission gave out, and the engine blew. Having done so much in this car, I grew quite attached to it... knowing it's history didn't hurt either. What most people would have junked a car over, I worked hard to pay for to get fixed. It sat in my garage, the driveway, and the street for almost 5 years... until eventually it received a rebuilt transmission, a new motor (nothing radical, just the same as it was before... just heavier duty to survive longer) and I rebuilt the carburetor.
The frame is still strong and rust-free from my grandfather's work... the body is only plagued by a few, small patches of easily fixed rust and dents. It's tougher than a tank, and handles like a dream. Only a few more things need to be done to it to really finish it.
1: Exhaust - The exhaust on it now is detached (almost completely) from the Y-Pipe back. What I'll probably do is remove the Y-Pipe, and install a simple dual exhaust system with the tail-pipes coming out behind the rear wheels.
2: Rust and Dents - The body is in pretty good shape, but I'll probably have a body shop fix up whatever I can't get with a dremel and sand paper.
3: Radio - It's never had one... never really minded that so much but it'd be nice to have.
4: Center Caps for the Rally Wheels - I have a set of Rally Wheels on the car, but only one Buick center cap... I'll buy them eventually, but they're a lot more expensive than they seem to be worth in my opinion.
5: Paint - Okay... this is where pictures come in.
This is what I have now:
This is what I plan on doing:
(This picture was taken before I really went over the car and cleaned it. Yesterday I literally took 4 hours cleaning the car from top to bottom with a Scotch Brite Pad, and all that gunk near the gas door is cleaned off... along with many other places it was filthy.)
I own a 1980 Buick Century Estate Wagon (like the Topic suggests). I affectionately call it "Louise". The car has literally been with my family my entire life... my grandfather bought it in 1985 around the time I was born from a friend of his. He popped out the motor, rebuilt it, and popped it back in. Along the way he also worked on the under-carriage and frame weather-proofing it his way (his way was always super-heavy duty or nothing) and setting up the suspension to be weather proof. (In other words, he put a big-thick sway bar on the front and put over-sized radials on it)
About a decade later, the car was handed over to his son (My Uncle) due to my grandfather's failing health and my Grandmother not needing the car anymore. It was taken to Maine for heavy duty use (hunting, fishing, carrying hundreds of pounds worth of building supplies around for his house, and such). Things meant for cars with much larger engines and hardier transmissions. To fulfill these duties the rear suspension was beefed up with adjustable air-ride shocks.
He had it until about 2002, when he handed it down to me. I being a kid, didn't appreciate the car and abused the hell out of it, rode it around like the Dukes of Hazzard until eventually the Transmission gave out, and the engine blew. Having done so much in this car, I grew quite attached to it... knowing it's history didn't hurt either. What most people would have junked a car over, I worked hard to pay for to get fixed. It sat in my garage, the driveway, and the street for almost 5 years... until eventually it received a rebuilt transmission, a new motor (nothing radical, just the same as it was before... just heavier duty to survive longer) and I rebuilt the carburetor.
The frame is still strong and rust-free from my grandfather's work... the body is only plagued by a few, small patches of easily fixed rust and dents. It's tougher than a tank, and handles like a dream. Only a few more things need to be done to it to really finish it.
1: Exhaust - The exhaust on it now is detached (almost completely) from the Y-Pipe back. What I'll probably do is remove the Y-Pipe, and install a simple dual exhaust system with the tail-pipes coming out behind the rear wheels.
2: Rust and Dents - The body is in pretty good shape, but I'll probably have a body shop fix up whatever I can't get with a dremel and sand paper.
3: Radio - It's never had one... never really minded that so much but it'd be nice to have.
4: Center Caps for the Rally Wheels - I have a set of Rally Wheels on the car, but only one Buick center cap... I'll buy them eventually, but they're a lot more expensive than they seem to be worth in my opinion.
5: Paint - Okay... this is where pictures come in.
This is what I have now:
This is what I plan on doing:
(This picture was taken before I really went over the car and cleaned it. Yesterday I literally took 4 hours cleaning the car from top to bottom with a Scotch Brite Pad, and all that gunk near the gas door is cleaned off... along with many other places it was filthy.)