What suprises was your car hiding?

[HerHotRod]

A recent post got me thinking about all the hidden suprises my car had in store for me when I got it.
One was when I had the body work done, a piece of metal of some kind was pop riveted :whoa: just below the back window at the corner. He showed it to me and it had the Coca Cola trade mark still on it :lol:. I wish I still had it, it was a part of history it was so old. You could tell the old fashioned writing on it.

Later I started getting a leak right in the middle of the front window. I took it to go get it resealed and when they pulled the window out he told me nothing was holding it in!!!!! There were no clips what so ever holding the window, and it had slid down and made it leak :nono:. They had used just the sealer to hold it. If I would have gotten in an accident the whole window would have popped right out!
I also found a hole in the floor board when I pulled up the carpet up by the brake pedal, along w/ one by the back seat. I've since been through the the whole car, so hopefully no more suprises lol.

Billy + Frances.......See what you have to look forward to :D

[BigBadBuick]

chevy chevy chevy

[bigB]

when i first got my '66 it had a overheating problem. so i changed the thermostat and still the problem persisted so i flushed to radiator and all sorts of barnacles came flowing out. unfortunatly one of those barnacles was holding my heater core together. so once that was displaced we all know what happens next .......... passenger floor board full of water, but not just water it had the trans flush in it and the trans flush proceeded to bleach my orginal 38year old carpet (that was in great shape minus a heel hole on the drivers side) so after i get done cleaning that mess up and cursing myself for fucking up my carpet i get it all back together and the god damn thing still over heats!!!!!!! so i rip the radiator out to flush it again replace my fan clutch reinstall everything and it's still doing it. out of frustration i go to replace my brand new thermostat thinking it may be faulty ............. would you belive i put the fuckin thing in backwards.:mad: that was one of my more irritated moments in life.

[Shockwave]

Half of my wiring harness went nowhere.
That, and some of the half-assed way of putting things together....

[figment]

right after i got the GTX i was driving it and wanted some fresh air so i opened the vent. then the sand storm begins. the vent was full of sand from when the car was being redone. sand everwhere, still cant get it out of everything

i did find the orginal build sheet, so that was cool

[Dano Moparo]

I bought a 73 Charger from a guy in Alabama a few years ago. He offered delivery so I had him bring it to my shop. After he took it off the car dolly I drove it around the shop to park it outside the door to my Challenger. When I applied the brakes there were none and I was heading right at the overhead door. I quickly turn to the right and compacted the aluminum shed next to the door. I say to the guy WTF is with the brakes, he says "oh it don't have rear drums on it" .

We took the motor out to rebuild it, removed the 2bbl carb, and screwed into one of the 2 intake ports is a 1'' plug?!?!? Musta been a leftover redneck fuel economiser from the 70's

[racingtheburg]

43k orig miles ....Reason being old scca race car they retired put in a barn hay bail with metal fell on it on the trunk lid nothing major.Thats were it sat for about 30 years of its life, Then a dr. picked it up had me and my dad work on it at the shop my father owned.From their the dr.'s son caught it on fire deliverying pizzas while his father was out of town and in the middle of changing the fuel filter,and told his son not to drive the car.....Long story short car caught fire I bought it lol ...

Oh and that its a factory race car :) no power anything but upgraded int. Very rare for back in the day reason being everyone bought those cars with atleast 1 power option. Mine has zero and from the person who owned the barn has told me many stories about how they use to race the car and it would kick some vetts ass lol...

Pretty much my cars life story lol

[HerHotRod]

I bought a 73 Charger from a guy in Alabama a few years ago. He offered delivery so I had him bring it to my shop. After he took it off the car dolly I drove it around the shop to park it outside the door to my Challenger. When I applied the brakes there were none and I was heading right at the overhead door. I quickly turn to the right and compacted the aluminum shed next to the door. I say to the guy WTF is with the brakes, he says "oh it don't have rear drums on it" .

That sucks, did it do much damage to the car? I guess you owned it by that point right?

I lost my brakes once. I thought it was a the rear end cover leaking but it was really the brake line above it. Where it Y's off to go to each wheel it is rubber and had worn a hole in it. Luckily I was in my neighborhood and no one around, so i slowly coasted to the driveway.

[Frankie]

Oh tons. It was sold to me as a 350ci with a BW T10 tranny. Turns out I had a 1965 327 and a Saginaw M20 tranny, both worth more money. My gearshift lever was cut and welded to fit. I found that out when it snapped off in my hand. Found some rust, a leaky window seal, etc...

[Billy]

Billy + Frances.......See what you have to look forward to :D
You forget, the first time around I'm not looking to make anything show quality or hell, ever nice for that matter. Holes in the body will just help me save some weight/ ;)

[Dano Moparo]

That sucks, did it do much damage to the car? I guess you owned it by that point right?

I lost my brakes once. I thought it was a the rear end cover leaking but it was really the brake line above it. Where it Y's off to go to each wheel it is rubber and had worn a hole in it. Luckily I was in my neighborhood and no one around, so i slowly coasted to the driveway.

I hadn't given him the cash yet, there really was no damage to the Charger, thank god it has a front end of a snow plow. The POS shed was leftover from previous tenent and destin to come down anyways. :-D

[Illswyn]

How about this? :crack:

http://www.tamparacing.com/photopost/data/500/letter.JPG

[Strokd85]

I'll let you know when it gets here, should be here on Tuesday or Wednesday..

[93coupeEX]

i had some nice rust under the chrome rockers, but what also surprised me was the only thing wrong ith the a/c was an o ring on one of the hose so i guess it evened out....

[Frankie Figs]

I had a 84 Camaro 6 banger that my dad bought me for my birthday. I opened the hood, looked around and saw that the front fender was caved in, then I looked at the outside and it looked fine :nono: So after that I decided to check for rust. I pulled up the carpet on the driver side and saw a section of a speed limit sign laying there, not even screwed in. For $500 and it ran I guess it wasn't too bad. Sold it for $600 and I didnt drop a single penny in it :) After I fix my daily driver I'll on the lookout for a 67-72 Chevy C10 with a straight body and NO RUST :D

[flubyux2]

the coolest thing i found in my TA when i bought it was the original build sheet tucked into the metal support of the rear seatback... aside from that, the car was quite mint and just like it had been bought from the dealer... no surprises, hackjobs, rust holes, missing stuffs or rodents. bought it with 78k, has 101k w/ fresh motor and paint. its sitting in a garage, wasting away :nono: i really need to get my baby back.

Herhotrod, i know about the smell youre talking about. my TA has a very disticnt smell. its a cross between OLD plastic, vanilla and sex. apparantly, my car was quite a hoe-getter back in the day. lol

[HerHotRod]

the coolest thing i found in my TA when i bought it was the original build sheet tucked into the metal support of the rear seatback... aside from that, the car was quite mint and just like it had been bought from the dealer... no surprises, hackjobs, rust holes, missing stuffs or rodents. bought it with 78k, has 101k w/ fresh motor and paint. its sitting in a garage, wasting away :nono: i really need to get my baby back.

Herhotrod, i know about the smell youre talking about. my TA has a very disticnt smell. its a cross between OLD plastic, vanilla and sex. apparantly, my car was quite a hoe-getter back in the day. lol

:lmao: That pretty much explains it.

Car sounds nice. It sounds like it may not have had many owners before you. I would be taking a road trip if I were you :D. If it is going to waste away in the garage, I would at least want it to be my garage so I can look at it everyday. It would be my motivation to get it on the road.

[flubyux2]

:lmao: That pretty much explains it.

Car sounds nice. It sounds like it may not have had many owners before you. I would be taking a road trip if I were you :D. If it is going to waste away in the garage, I would at least want it to be my garage so I can look at it everyday. It would be my motivation to get it on the road.

roadtrip? you can definitly count on that. my parents want me to come visit them this summer anyways, and id like to go back and see them as well. i can spend some time up there, finish up a few details on the TA and at least get it back on the road. at this point, i really dont care what it takes. i just miss the car!!!! i havent driven it in about 5 years :sad: back then, i was afraid of wiring harnesses and shit that wasnt necessarily "Drop-in" or "bolt-on"... now, my skills have gotten to the point where im willing to build a 426 pontiac SD and retrofit a T56 tranny. I would have killed to find a 4-speed TA... but they are so few and far between. ill just make my own shit now ;)

imports and turbos are fun... but "Nuthin Beats a V8 boy!"

[HerHotRod]

i was afraid of wiring harnesses and shit that wasnt necessarily "Drop-in" or "bolt-on"... now, my skills have gotten to the point where im willing to build a 426 pontiac SD and retrofit a T56 tranny. I would have killed to find a 4-speed TA... but they are so few and far between. ill just make my own shit now ;)

imports and turbos are fun... but "Nuthin Beats a V8 boy!"

I'm like how you were. If I don't know much about it or completely understand it, it scares me. Thats why I feel so comfortable working on my car, what you see is all there is. We actually have an lt1 that is going to go in my car, but the wiring harness, fuel injection, etc. is where I need to do some reading. I don't know much about it :(. It's going to be a big project to say the least. But at the same time I can't wait to start.

[flubyux2]

I'm like how you were. If I don't know much about it or completely understand it, it scares me. Thats why I feel so comfortable working on my car, what you see is all there is. We actually have an lt1 that is going to go in my car, but the wiring harness, fuel injection, etc. is where I need to do some reading. I don't know much about it :(. It's going to be a big project to say the least. But at the same time I can't wait to start.

eh, i have confidence in the skills between you and billy. i know itll get done and be done right! I love Resto-Mods that have New-ish setups powering them.

my car came with an Olds 403, and i wanted to swap in a 7K2 Pontiac 400.. but the starter was on the other side and a few other things that would require alteration on the wiring harness... i didnt want to deal w/ it at the time (i was 18 ), so i just rebuilt the Olds motor. boy, how times have changed!

[67ChevelleSS]

Mine didn't really have too many other than the custom zip tie brackets and the wood post for the alternator bracket.

[craig_302]

I come from an oldschool Mopar family, so one can imagine some of the surprises my dad and I found in various old cars. One really sticks out in my mind though...my dad and I were stripping down a 68 Valiant Signet (with a nice little small block) for paint when we came across the usual coin collection in the back seat. We didn't find coins from the US, instead we found coins from Isreal and all over the middle east. It seems that early on in the car's life it was over there serving as someone's daily grinder and the previous owner confirmed it. Wish that car was still around, it was VERY rust free and extremely unique.

[Dano Moparo]

When I did the brakes on my Challenger I found out the hard way that it was converted to 72 Charger disc brakes. The most fustrating thing I discovered with it was the clutch. Chrysler made a 10 15/16" clutch and a 11". I measured the disc and it was 11', after I waste Ed at Gearheads time getting me a couple different $400 centerforce clutchs I go back and measure the pressure plate. And sure enough 10 15/16". Old drag racers trick.

[arsoniq26]

ants lots of ants lol

[Alli]

when my dad got his s-10 two years ago, the fuel pump went out and not even a month after buying it we had to replace it. we didn't realize the back end was lowered on purpose yet front end remained in place.. and when changing the fuel pump we found out that the previous owner had taken the little s-10 mudding and failed to wash off the evidence. ended up getting totalled 6 months ago and now he's got a silverado. bought from a dealership rather than ma-pa auto mall. no problems so far.

[racingtheburg]

Thats just Pure american iron ......

[curtg21]

I've been lucky with my first classic, 73 camaro. just a leaky thermostat housing. oh yeah and I have to reinstall the inner fenders.
http://www.tamparacing.com/photopost/data/500/cc2_copy.jpg
My brother bought a 69 camaro 9years ago. we thought it was a pretty rust free car until he got to sanded for a repaint. What we found was that the rear rocker had been smashed and what we were looking at before was the most amount of bondo I've ever seen applied in one spot. All is good now though. He just runnered up at the super chevy show and was awared Top 10 drag car.

[HerHotRod]

I've been lucky with my first classic, 73 camaro. just a leaky thermostat housing. oh yeah and I have to reinstall the inner fenders.
http://www.tamparacing.com/photopost/data/500/cc2_copy.jpg


Nice car. I've always liked the split bumpers. I had a friend yrs back who had one. It was light blue and and pretty quick. I just never understood how he kept it so dirty. It was always a mess. All he cared about was going fast, and that it was.

[Mars_302]

My boss found a beer bottle on the inside of his door of his 88 vette. That was the first time it had ever been off too since the factory installed it ;)

[racingtheburg]

Pretty good stuff going here intresting .....

[alri0085]

My car is half American so I think it belongs to this discussion :hump: I have a 1974 Datsun 260z with a small block chevy 350. I traded my $900 VW for it. I drove the car a couple times before getting it, but I wasn't sure I was going to get it because the guy wanted 4K. Anyways, so one night this guy calls me and tells me he wants to trade my VW for it, so I tell this guy to meet me somewhere at 9:00 PM, I drove by there at 8:00PM and that guy was there, I was surprised for his early arrival, so we met and he took my car for a test drive. He left first, I tried to start the 260z and it didn't start, I had to wait for him to come back so he could start the car. I though that I had flooded the carb. Anyways, I got the car and this is what happened during the next two weeks:
1. fuel pump went out
2. while taking a turn the rear control arm popped out because this guy forgot to put the bolts back on
3. driveshaft snapped
4 brakes were gone
5. The reason he was an hour early was because the car had an overheating issue and he didn't wanna let me know about it

The car has been in my backyard for a month, but I'm not mad because I traded him a car he thought was worth 3k, but I got it for 900 at an auction.

[Dunecune442]

Besides the usual half ass electric tape fix for wires in the engine compartment...

hmmm, I was stripping out the shitty 100 watt system from my car when I realized the previous owner had used ROOFING TAR to hold the wire and carpet in place, but thank god only on the edges. That could have been bad.

The wiring was so horendous that when I pulled the power cable two or three wires started to literally burn because they had shorted. This car had been ghetto rigged to the max!

I was pleasantly surprised to find out that my "new radiator" was actually a remanufactured junk yard one :asshole:

Im sure Ill find some more.