GBOTM CONGRATS Local Hero FEB '23 - RUST BUCKETS 🔧🔨🧰🔩

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GP403

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Feb 25, 2005
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Congrats Local Hero!

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Longroof79

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Congratulations Mark!
We love wagons despite their condition. (y);) It looks like it's still serving you well.
 
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ck80

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Congrats! What I like about this car is how it's used for its original purpose. Most of the competition in this thread were the result of long-term sitting neglect, not just wear, tear, refurb for function to keep on using and repeat.
 
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Local Hero

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Nov 24, 2016
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Thanks guys! Yes, this is a year-round daily driver. It has war wounds. It gets crudely touched up every Spring. Obviously, I wish it could be saved but a guy can't save them all. I still need to be able to get around in something that doesn't look like regular traffic on the roads. As it is, I have 5 other vehicles that get stored for the winter.

I originally got it to be able to take my boys, and a teammate or two, AND our Golden Retreiver (aka: Buddy) to their youth sports events. The car became fondly known as The Buddy Buggy. Well, Buddy is no longer with us, and the boys have their own vehicles. So I'll just keep this going.

It was originally a California car with a blown up V6. It still has no rust holes. The previous owner was building it as a hot rod for his son, but the son didn't want to go to school, nor get a job so the father put it up for sale. They had swapped in a Chevy 350, TH400 trans, and what they thought was a 3:73 8.5 rear. It wasn't an 8.5 but it was a 3:73 ratio which was way too steep for how I use the car. It now rides on a 2:41 7.5 rear out of an early 80s Cutlass.

The car was never really completed and was barely running. What I saw was a California body with a fresh engine and trans. I can work with that. And boy did I have to. As I got into it I found that NOTHING was done right. Some examples: 3 feet of rubber fuel line run from the driver's side original fuel line to the passenger side fuel pump, zip-tied to the sway bar. Another was the bucket seats they installed were only bolted in on the outside edges where the bench seat once was. The wiring was spaghetti, no inspection cover on the trans,and the aftermarket floor shifter collided with the speedometer cable so that was disconnected. I corrected everything that was wrong and finished it up with stuff I had laying around. A 60/40 split bench out of a Monte, (with the inner floor anchors) side mirrors off a Delta 88, roof rack off an Olds flat top wagon, an assortment of gauges to monitor vitals, a cobbled together stereo system, and the 90s throwback directional fan blade wheels were on two previous cars that I had before this. The Pontiac rallys that are run in the wintertime came off a 77 Grand Prix that this car replaced.

About the only thing that was done "right" previously was the custom Flowmaster exhaust with the X Pipe. But, I could tell that was added last because it was in the way of EVERYTHING. I couldn't get the driveshaft out or drop the starter without dropping the exhaust first. That system is now gone too in favor of stock manifolds and no X pipe.

It's hauled T-111 barn siding on the roof, 16 foot ladders, a complete evergreen tree that I took down at my Mom's condo, 1000 lbs. of bagged concrete, and has towed a few small trailers for various tasks. It's been very valuable to have around.

Thanks for reading.
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