67 Beetle gone today, looking at some other VDubs tomorrow

[fast Ed]

Yes, I would have to get a jar of replacement smoke to carry in case of an emergency:

[Brian Lohnes]

Ed, would you be able to get parts for the Lotus engine in the thing?

[Monk]

Burled walnut dash.......the shits!

Slap some Cragars on it

[68 Valiant]

What about an MGB? Should be a few of them to choose from.

[fast Ed]

MGBs don't really do it for me ... if I am going to get some little tweedy English thing, it needs to be an oddball. Other than that, I've been looking at 80s XJS Jags, always loved those V-12 beasties.

Wheels, I'm thinking some sort of Minilite style ... VTO Performance does this black version in 15x6 with the proper offset and 4 on 4" bolt pattern (same as Vega or Monza):



There are a few parts suppliers for Jensens on this side of the pond. Most of the mechanicals are shared with the more common (relatively speaking of course) Jensen-Healey roadster of the same era.

Got a message back from the owner today, he has had the car for 11 years, just does a lot of business travel now and doesn't get to use it much. Sounds like he is a motivated seller, he wants to move it along before the snow flies, which will be fairly soon in these parts. Hopefully my buddy Stu will have the time to check it out with me this weekend.


cheers
Ed N.

[fast Ed]

Well, I ended up not going to look at the Jensen. The rarity of the car is neat, but the sensible part of me is saying that it really isn't the right car for my wants. The 68 Beetle convertible that I looked at sold last week. Haven't seen much else in the way of VDubs that catch my eye come up for sale, only a few early to mid-70s hardtops that aren't what I'm looking for.

A few weeks back I had been in contact with a guy about 3 hours away up near Lake Huron, who was selling two vehicles from a bunch that he has ... a 62 Merc hardtop, and a 61 T-Bird. Both are originally southern U.S. cars and apparently very solid. He's decided that he won't have the time to restore all of the cars that he has brought back from the U.S. over the past several years while down there for business (he builds boilers), and wants to thin the herd a bit. The catch with the Bird is that he doesn't have the original ownership copy from the U.S. to register the car here in Ontario, he thinks that customs maybe took it and mistakenly gave him the photocopy when he brought the car in. So that needs to get sorted out, but I am going to drive up Saturday morning to have a look at the car with Stu.

I've always loved the Bullet Birds, getting my hands on a nice solid example would be cool. The dash and interior on those cars is awesome, and the understated exterior styling is pretty great too. If I do manage to make a deal on the car, assuming that the seller can get the paperwork issue straightened out, the plan would be to just clean it up, lower it a bit, put on some appropriate wheels and tires, and cruise it, with an eye toward doing it as a very mild custom eventually.

Will report back later ...


cheers
Ed N.

[fast Ed]

On to the Bullet Bird!

Well, we made the drive yesterday, only missed one turn that added about 20 minutes to our trip, but we had left early enough to arrive around 9:30. The owner was welding away in his shop, he builds boilers for old steam engines. Real interesting dude, had a bunch of cars in various states of repair on the property and inside his buildings. He's restoring a 63 Galaxie ragtop that he owned when he was 17, also has a couple of 59 Ford retractable hardtop cars, a 64 Galaxie ragtop, and a 66 Delta 88 ragtop (that may also get sold). Also had a 67 Mercury stepside pickup that was going to get the Cummins diesel out of his early 90s Dodge Ram. The 61 Bird was outside with the 62 Merc, he had moved them out there a few days ago so they could be viewed in daylight. The Bird did get a bit of snow on it in that time, so we took a few minutes to clear that off to take a good look at car.

Overall the car was as described, very solid Carolina car (still had SC plates with a 93 sticker, and a 94 tag inside the windshield). Looks like it has had one repaint at some point, a decent job that didn't get oversprayed everywhere. Colour is diamond blue, a very pale shade that looks almost white in certain light. The repaint may be a bit lighter than original. Body is very good, quarters and fenders excellent, a bit of corrosion showing on the bottoms of the door seams and near the bottom edge of the trunk lid. Engine bay and undercarriage are very solid, these are unibody cars, not body-on-frame like the full size Fords of that era.

Interior is light blue, needs some attention there. Dash pad is cracked, carpet is dead, front seats, especially the driver's side, need new skins. Looks to be fairly complete other than the rear window switches are missing. Has the cool tilt-away steering column as well.

Engine started up after a few tries when we hooked a booster to it and poured a bit of gas down the carb, but we could spy it seeping around the accelerator pump diaphragm ... the car had sat in a heated garage for 11 years before the seller had picked it up a few years back. The 390 / 300 hp ran smoothly, didn't seem to smoke, didn't have the usual cracked exhaust manifolds that are common to the FE big blocks. Odometer shows roughly 81,000 miles, which seems reasonable for the overall condition.

Long and short of it, I agreed to pay his asking price of $6000, as long as would deliver the car to my home, which is roughly a 3 hour trip one way. As it stands, the brakes and bias-ply tires on the car need attention before I would drive it anywhere. I have an acquaintance with a truck and trailer that could get the car for me (he hauled my Mustang home), but the distance and time involved would end up costing me the same as whatever I might have been able to get taken off the price. The seller had made it pretty clear on the phone that he definitely wanted to recover his costs with the car, which was the asking price. So I left him a $500 deposit, contigent on him getting the ownership paperwork straightened out, and then he could bring the car down at his leisure. I'm not in a huge panic to get the car here since the cruising season is done in this neck of the woods, so that works out OK.

Here are a few pics of the beastie:













So the plan is to get the car here, fix the P/S hose leak, clean up and reseal the carb, get the brakes looked at, and go from there. Have to decide on what look I'm after, I'm thinking an early 60s mild custom vibe, so I'm trying to decide on an appropriate set of wheels, probably something like an Astro Supreme style from Cragar or Rocket. Touch up the paint and bodywork, new weatherstrips on the doors and trunk, get the interior cleaned up a bit and swap out the carpet, and then cruise it!


cheers
Ed N.

[VTJUNK]

I'd say you did well with that deal. These cars make great customs.

[Teddyzee]

Very good!