I have another winter project to add to the piles of winter projects lol. I picked up a 56 Catalina 870 hardtop. It's rough. and that's coming from a New Englander who has seen his share of rust.
This car was a flood victim from when Hurricane Irene came through a couple years ago, and it was in mud and water up to the bottom of the dash, and the owner, completely discouraged, just walked away from it. A friend of mine bought it for the chrome that had been done and was going to part it out but I convinced him to sell me what was left. He had already cleaned out the majority of the mess, but the standing water and moisture had done their job, eating up the floors pretty bad, and exposing some nasty old body work.
So far the engine, trans, rearend and cooling system have all been flushed out well, the brakes completely rebuilt, new shocks installed, some reassembly of the car done and I've actually driven the car down the street in the industrial complex where my shop is. It runs good, the 316 V8 pulls decent and the front end seems tight, although I'll be getting into that down the road. I've also been hunting down a parts car to aid in the rebuild, as I'm missing the grille and bumpers.
The plan is to make a driver, built in a traditional mild custom flavor. We'll see what happens.
As with most stuff, it looks better than it is. I robbed the Astros off another car I have in the shop, I won't be using them, they don't look right. I'm thinking chrome OE steel wheels, 15x7 reversed, spider caps, and 2" whitewalls.
This car was a flood victim from when Hurricane Irene came through a couple years ago, and it was in mud and water up to the bottom of the dash, and the owner, completely discouraged, just walked away from it. A friend of mine bought it for the chrome that had been done and was going to part it out but I convinced him to sell me what was left. He had already cleaned out the majority of the mess, but the standing water and moisture had done their job, eating up the floors pretty bad, and exposing some nasty old body work.
So far the engine, trans, rearend and cooling system have all been flushed out well, the brakes completely rebuilt, new shocks installed, some reassembly of the car done and I've actually driven the car down the street in the industrial complex where my shop is. It runs good, the 316 V8 pulls decent and the front end seems tight, although I'll be getting into that down the road. I've also been hunting down a parts car to aid in the rebuild, as I'm missing the grille and bumpers.
The plan is to make a driver, built in a traditional mild custom flavor. We'll see what happens.
As with most stuff, it looks better than it is. I robbed the Astros off another car I have in the shop, I won't be using them, they don't look right. I'm thinking chrome OE steel wheels, 15x7 reversed, spider caps, and 2" whitewalls.
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