Turbo Century - Free/Curb Alert? in San Fransisco, CA

[JAMCAR223]

1978 Olds 442

1978 Olds 442

bangshift.com

I have different pics of the same car saved on my desktop for a few years

 

[08Malibu]

Darin,
That is a cryin' shame. That one definitely looks like a solid car that could've been saved. I guess we can't save them all, unfortunately. 😢

Back in 07 I had a 78 Nova 4 door. It was a mint 35k mile car that my friend had, and got hit, and I wound up with it. I fixed it up but wound up blowing the motor. At the same time I acquired my Malibu, and had to get rid of the Nova. I tried like hell to sell it but couldn’t get any takers. I wound up selling it to a guy that I’m sure scrapped it. I had so much work in the car and I gave it away for $450. I’m sure it was crushed and it makes me sick still. Glad to see the oddball cars are getting saved.

 

[Tuffregal83]

 

[Longroof79]

We're all keeping good thoughts for you my friend. Safe journey. God speed.

 

[blk7gxn]

Well, we have a winner!! Blk7gxn, that's a nice collection of Aero cars.
I'm all set to leave in the morning at 5am. It's 28 hours each way. I will take pics and post em up while I'm on the road.
[/QUOTE

Have a very safe trip and good luck with everything!! I know this car will be going to a great home, very excited to be watching this thread and so happy for you. Love road trips, feels like im having one through you! 🙂

 

[88AZSS]

Godspeed and safe travels. Holler if you need help when passing through AZ.

 

[VprRacr]

Thanks for getting the car. I know some people might be skeptical about a "free" car on the internet, but it is legit. I did not want to see the car destroy and knew someone would want it. They gave me permission to try to rehome the car before they need it removed. I was able to get it out of the garage which gave us more time. I did my best to try to make it as seamless as possible for the pick up. Sorry I am out of town this week, otherwise I can take you the the storage unit to look for the turbo and other parts. They will turn up. Dave said he still has it. Also the owner of the car is "Krate Mayhem" a big contributor to the muscle bikes hobby (Schwinn Stingrays, Fastback, Krates etc) . I am sure some people on this forum might know him. Have a safe trip! Contact me if you have any questions.

 

[69hurstolds]

My plans are to restore it back to it's original state - no modifications. This will be a 1st for me, as I always restomod my cars / trucks. Wish me luck. I will update this thread when I get back home.

Heh heh. My prediction, you will be tempted beyond belief to restify. And I'll lay odds to the majority you'll crack. You like restomodding and you do very well with it.

I still recall the time you said restomodding is harder to do than a factory restoration with NOS parts..I'm still not going to agree on that. But you'll get firsthand knowledge from my perspective. They may be equally hard overall, but with restomodding, plans can change mid-stream. Planning is long been done with an original restoration. While it's true that bolting together brand new parts that were designed to fit without modfications can be easier (save for stuff like the NOS Yenko/68-69 Hurst/Olds dual gate console plastic that comes as approx 2 foot tall "cut it yourself to fit your console" part), it's not the assembly part that's the hardest. Heck, it shouldn't be. They're GM parts! The hardest part is actually finding the correct, stock parts that don't need "fixing". For example, factory hood hinges are normally phosphated. Most over the counter after-production NOS parts are painted black. It's especially hard if something is rare and missing from the car. Then you have to verify the correct year and variant for your application. Hunting is half the fun but can also be very frustrating. The unfortunate part is that the NOS parts you're likely going to need are scarce as hen's teeth. The flip side is the restomod, where it's easier to plan than it is to do the modification in most instances. Cutting rear ends and welding stuff onto the axle tubes takes some skillsets and is tougher to do than pressing in those rubber bushings into the stamped control arms, squeezing in the springs and bolting up the shocks. But if you can't find those stamped control arms, you can't just say, ah, I'll just get the adjustable LCAs when you run into that wall.

...I truly do wish you luck. It's going to be an interesting project for sure. You're on the road now, or should be so you probably won't see this for a bit. Free cars are the best, because you just happened to be going out west anyway with some tires that fit and a trailer, right? 😉 Be careful out there. Have a safe trip!

 

[Longroof79]

Thanks for getting the car. I know some people might be skeptical about a "free" car on the internet, but it is legit. I did not want to see the car destroy and knew someone would want it. They gave me permission to try to rehome the car before they need it removed. I was able to get it out of the garage which gave us more time. I did my best to try to make it as seamless as possible for the pick up. Sorry I am out of town this week, otherwise I can take you the the storage unit to look for the turbo and other parts. They will turn up. Dave said he still has it. Also the owner of the car is "Krate Mayhem" a big contributor to the muscle bikes hobby (Schwinn Stingrays, Fastback, Krates etc) . I am sure some people on this forum might know him. Have a safe trip! Contact me if you have any questions.

Thank you for allowing the car to be saved and go to a good home. I'm sure James will put his heart and soul into it, like he does with all of his cars.
He's a true enthusiast.
And thank you for posting on the forum.

 

[VprRacr]

Actually, kudos to Paul (PBGBodyFan) to post it on this forum. All my friends say I was wasting too much time on this car and I was going to give up. I only posted it on Facebook Buick Century page.