How I spent my Sunday...
Got up at 3am and headed over to my dad's. We jumped in a borrowed Silverado and headed for the California coast. Got to the guy's house about 4pm where he had already picked up the Uhaul trailer. The delivery was inside his shop and from 40 feet away looked about how I expected. As I walked closer it rapidly looked worse.
My dad had a few photos of it and was told by the seller that it had C4 Corvette suspension, front and rear, a nice solid body with no cancer, and had been parked in a garage for 30 years. This is what I was expecting...
As we all know, cars are rarely accurately represented. So, based on those photos and the description, I expected nothing more than a decent canvas. My dad was planning an LS swap and cosmetic revamp -- it was his project, not mine.
What we actually found was torch-cut C3 suspension clips crudely bridged by 2x4 rectangular steel rails. The fenders were probably more filler than steel held together with embedded round stock. The rockers and floor were fiberglass. The roof insert was from some unknown donor and featured a hand crank sunroof that didn't even pretend to be water tight. The rear door fit pretty horribly and the body had some rust pushing up under lots of filler. The grille was rust pitted and bent up but disguised under black BBQ paint. It would not have been possible to attach a front bumper because of the steering layout. We didn't even ask him to start the 231.
We politely passed on the deal, returned the Uhaul trailer, and headed home to start the search over again. 1350 miles in 26 hours stopping only for fuel and food. The borrowed HD2500 got 11-12 mpg. I got to bed about 6:30 this morning.
Know when to walk away, know when to run.
