Just about every auto blog, has a place where the reader can upload their cars. I think that’s great but I’d like to take it a bit further. If you have a project car, no matter the condition or state of restoration it’s in….erk….even if it’s just sitting out in the backyard and you’re thinking about restoring…let me know. I want to feature it on the front page this blog. There is a following for the Average Guy’s Car Restoration, Mods and Racing blog, (over 60 view in one day) and it’s followed on Twitter, Facebook and MySpace.
So become part of the Average Car Guy’s Nation. Drop me a comment and we’ll get your car featured. If we can muster up a good flow of cars, we’ll have a car of the month contest with a gift card give away.
I received a couple emails referring to the images on the blog. Generally, I can’t get copies of the Robert Hooper’s prints, but I can get copies of the Mustang interior.
If you are interested let me know…sorry..they aren’t free…but very reasonable.
Thanks for the interest. Remember, a blog’s life’s blood are comments. Drop me some.
As I slowly start to bring this blog back to the core of why I created this blog (Restoration, Modifying, Race..etc) I’ll begin to post some restoration tips. This will be things I’ve actually done, or friends have done that I know worked.
So here is one:
Most of the old cars with manually roll down windows have felt window seals. You know, the two cushions on either side of the door that the window slide up between. Those are normally rubber with felt covering and over time they get hard and shrink. The next thing you now you have water in the bottom of your door. That water will rust your car, even in Tucson, AZ where I live.
I don’t know if you are like me but I drive my cars, no garage babies or trailer queens and I drive them while they are in the middle of being restored…..erk…as long as they are safe to do so (had to through that in there…just in case!!!). This means they get wet, although here in AZ, it’s mainly from a weekly washing, it’s still water. I bring this up because, besides the door felt leaking, other rubber areas can leak as well. The very thing that makes AZ so great, the abundance of sunshine, can be harmful to your car. Sure it’s great for getting a tan and raising cactus… not so great for plastic and rubber parts of your car.
I know this because I had a problem with my Mustang and a rear window leak. Water would puddle up (slightly) in the trunk. If you are familiar with the older cars you’ll know that many of the trunks have a drop off on each side of the trunk floor that leads to the side lamps. This forms a nice little well in the bottom of the rear quarter panels and water collects there. Where water collects, water rusts….ya don’t need a degree in chemistry to figure that out.
So now I have water in both my doors and both of my quarter panels. NOT GOOD!!!!! Some cars were built with in drains in the quarter panels…my Mustang has them. However, if you remember back a few post (errkkk….Hey if you are new to my blog…go back and read the older posts..there’s some good stuff there…) I mentioned that my Mustang was rear ended. During the major reconstruction the body shop left debris in the quarters and it plugged the drain. Unprofessional, for sure (we’ll talk more about picking the right place to have the work done in another post), and dangerous.
So make sure you check this area out and keep the drains unplugged.
Now I went a step further…I took an 1/8 inch drill bit and added a couple extra holes in the doors and quarter to ensure that air gets in there and the water can get out.
Ok..anyone freaking out yet?? Good!!! I placed these where they can’t be seen (unless you are laying on your back with the door open in the very bottom of the door between the weather-stripping and the outside of the door, where it meets the rocker panel. And in the quarter panels I just drilled in the 1/4 space that is the width of the bottom.
I took a very small round file and smoothed the holes up and then took a little touch up paint to them.
Works like a dream and but you still have to check them and ensure they don’t plug up.
Here in Tucson we have a lot of road construction and as is the case with most states in the union, suffering some budget issues, so maintaining our roads is a bit lacking. Put these two things together and you have a lot of debris lying around the road.
Over the course of the last 3 weeks two incidents have taken a toll on the undercarriage of the CINC_Household’s car….)erk…..CINC is a military term meaning “Commander in Charge”). Seems a pieces of metal ended up in the front wheel well and snapped off the clips holding the plastic lining. That one had to go to the dealership for repair. Just last week the CINC couldn’t miss what appeared as a bent hub cap on a highway and this destroyed the plastic covering underneath the engine compartment.
So my task today is to replace that piece along with the sound proofing.
Need to get that done this morning, because apparently, although totally beautiful outside right now, we are in for some nasty weather this afternoon. I’ll post up some pictures of the work later on. Yes…I know…not a classic car and not a muscle car..but it’s got 305 hp w/ automatic slap shifting transmission….it can get out of its own way!!!! And one day…I’m sneaking it out of the garage and taking to a test-n-tune.
OK we are getting down to the wire. I have only two entries for determining who wins a $25.00 gift card to Checkers and the $25.00 gift card to Home Depot.
Drop a line and send a picture and you could get 25 bucks..hey it ain’t the lottery….but it’s free!!!!
So here are my cars’ values as calculated by my formula. The formula was the Purchase price (P) plus the Restoration and or Modification costs (R) plus or minus the condition (mean calculation of the differences between the various conditions) (C) plus sentimental value (Z)
P + R (+/-) C + Z = values.
The Mustang
Purchased it for $6,000
Restoration/Modification costs: $20,000
According to the Old Car Price Guide the average difference between the various conditions was $4320. So I start at 0 for the middle range which would be a Condition 4. I think it’s a 3 so I added $4320. So………..
Condition: $4320
Sentimental: $1000
Plug the numbers into the formula: $6,000.00 + $20,000 + $4,320 + $1000 = $31320
Using the NADA book prices the forumla looks like this: $6,000.00 + $20,000 + $4,683 + $1000 = $31683
For the Corvette the formulas look like this: note…I only traded the for the corvette, so I’m estimating the value of the Celica as $4,000
Old Car Price Guide: $4,000.00 + $10,000 + $5184 + $2000 = $21,184
