On Second Thought...

So I was finally able to get some pics and take a closer look at the car today. I'm not sure that was such a good idea. Doesn't really look too bad from the outside as you can see. A little rust on the fenders but nothing I really cared about.


At this point I wanted to take a few shots of the undercarriage without getting snow all over myself so I just put the camera down there and snapped a few. Yikes...


Yes, that is a steel cord running from side to side under the car held in by a bolt and washer. I can only imagine why someone decided they needed to that. Well, maybe its not as bad as it seems.







I needed to investigate this whole seat issue a little more in depth. As you can see someone tried to fix this by using shelving brackets and wood. I can't believe I drove this damn thing home! I could see that the bolts holding the seat in place had pulled through the floorboard, but the carpet and trash was in the way. I removed that stuff and...



The Flintstones car! Yes, that white stuff you see in the center of the picture is snow on the ground. The good thing is if the brakes fail, I can stick my feet through the floor and slow the car down. The bad thing is the floorboard is so rusted through I'm not sure we can safely drive this car, even with a cage installed. This is a unibody car, meaning that is has no frame rails like an older car. The structural integrity is designed into the floorpan , firewall, and pillars of the car. When we have rust this bad, the safety of the car is severely compromised. I could easily put my fist through the floor at any place you see in the picture. If the rest of the car is this bad we might not be able to weld enough steel into it to make it safe.

I guess that is what is to be expected from a free car. The motor really doesn't sound bad, the car fires up fairly easily when you pour a bit of gas in the carb. It idles well, shifts well, and the rear defroster even works. It might break in half while driving though...and that would be bad. I need to have some more informed people take a look at it before we make a decision to junk it or start our work on it.

Stay tuned!


-Allen