Quote:
Originally Posted by Tomguy
Unless it's a complete rustbucket then don't part it out  It isn't that hard to find parts for 108s, and it'd be a shame to see another one kiss the crusher. |
I know - and here is the according to what I know and some additional info from Hatch and Sons in 1998, which was about when we stopped.
Apparently, - and totally unknown to me, Henrietta was sandwiched not long before I bought her in 1992. That wouldn't have been all that bad except the body work involved a lot of bondo, which wasn't done real well.
So the underside WAS in great shape, because she is a Cal car and I had her re-undercoated about 2 weeks after I shipped her out East. I say WAS because I'm afraid that is no longer the case - and more on that in a second.
Someone did the top end in there somewhere, which was good, but they made a mess out of the wiring harnesses and a few other things that made for some interesting electrical ghosts. I spent from 1992 to 1998 fixing things other people had fixed not very well.
Anyway, she looked pretty good for the first few years, except the interior was all horsehair poking through the worn out front seats and the wood needed to be done and the carpets were worn. The back seat was redone, in gray vinyl and actually looks pretty good, if you don't mind vinyl. At one point I replaced both the front window regulators and motors, and yes, those are not for sale - I need em!
The deal with the body didn't rear its ugly head for a few years. Initally she was garaged in a heated garage in New England and not driven at all when there was any salt on the road. I drove her a lot the rest of the year.
I took her to Hatch to see about injectors, kingpins, tie rod ends and the like, and they showed me where in the front, rust had started under the bondo - and the same in the back.
She also started with a rod knock about that time - and the folks at Hatch discouraged me from going any further with her unless I had a Whole Lotta Money. They were very politic about it too.
Then, due to an Unscheduled Life Change, she lost her garage and lived in a driveway out in the New England coastal weather for a couple of years. The trunk had already had some leaking issues, and the rust just spread.
I got her up to NH, and she lived outside for another winter. When I shipped her down here to Atlanta and picked her up at the shipping company, she overheated all the way to Decatur. Since I was a poor single parent at that point, she was my last priority.
My wonderful, long suffering, then boyfriend, now husband, let me move her to his property. Triple A moved her because she just would not start (gas had gone to varnish, I'm sure) and she has sat here wrapped in a tarp since 2001. We joke my car moved in with him before I did.
For a long time I weighed redoing her against buying another one. Well according to my mechanic, here I go again with the one I just bought...
So, no Tom, I don't want to see her "go the crusher" either, and if I knew someone was going to work on her and not let her rot - I'd grab a few things out of her (those regulators and motors, the glove box catch, the antenna mast,) and gladly sign over that New Hampshire title.
So, whattya think? Part her out, or pass her on?
Ann