|
Someone needs to save this '63!!
My brother sent me an email about two weeks ago about a '63 "Chevrolet
Imperial" that was for sale at the garage where he and his wife buy all of their
gas and get their cars serviced in Fr. Lauderdale. I immediately
assumed it was a chevy, but wrote him and asked for clarification. He ran
an image search and confirmed that it was an Imperial. $2000.
I called, but they'd sold it. A few days ago my brother called again
and said the car was back on the lot, for sale.
I called again and spoke to both Jimmy and Wally. Here's the story as
I pieced it together from them:
It's a '63 Crown four door, 85k miles. Cream/camel colored. It
was purchased new in Illinois and the couple who owned it moved to Ft.
Lauderdale in 1965. They had it serviced at this same gas station ever
since. Mr. Owner died in about 2000 and Mrs. Owner stopped driving it
in 2002 and died soon thereafter. It sat for the next four years in their
garage, where it was always stored. Now the kids are finally closing up
the estate and have put it up for sale.
The previous buyers were two. One guy heard about it from a local
friend and called from Atlanta. He was going to come down and trailer
it back. He never showed, never paid any money, etc. While he was
still expected, a second guy wanted it and asked to be "second in line" if the
Atlanta deal fell through. When Atlanta didn't show and they called No. 2,
he got cold feet and didn't buy it. That's about the time I called for the
second time.
Condition: Jimmy told me that it had some rust on the rocker panels because
the owners drove it near and around salt water and didn't rinse it
off. The floors and trunk pan are rusted too, but not all the way
through. He also said the front seat needed to be re-upholstered.
Air was operable when Mrs. stopped driving it, and Jimmy told me the
AC system was still holding a full charge but needed a new expansion (?)
valve to cool again. He also said the brake cylinder and bellows were
shot, and the tires had sat too long. It runs strong, shifts properly
and they are driving it in and out of the shop at night but will not allow
anyone to test drive it without the brake repair.
I really, really debated with myself over this. It's a cool car and
is plainly teetering between reclamation and disaster. I have two play
cars already, my '58 Imperial project and my very operable '69 Electra ragtop,
and I've got too much going on with the two of them (and our two daily drivers)
to take on a '63. I thought about it all weekend, of course, but
finally came up with the conclusion that it should go to someone else. It
irks me because I do have the room or it, just no more time right
now. If my son was 15 instead of 9, I'd be arranging the shipping right
now. It would be a great car for he and I work on together. Right
now between he and his two sisters, my wife, the mortgage, tuition, cub scouts,
aging parents, swim team, job and everything else going on, I've got
to draw the line.
Gary Luedtke very kindly went and looked at it for me over the weekend but
wasn't able to touch it (locked in the closed shop). He sent me
two pretty good pictures of the rear end taken through the shop window.
I'll happily share those with anyone who wants to ask off line. He also
sent me the description that I've copied in below. One of our IML
pals (Sharp-eyed Joe!) noticed that one of Gary's pictures showed a fancy
Shriner's badge on the gas tank door, and we got all excited for a few
minutes until I pretty much confirmed that all Shriner vehicles were parade
cars, i.e. convertibles. Maybe this is "The Lost Shiner Hardtop?"
Who knows?
If it can't be me, I hope some cool IML person can save and enjoy this
lovely car.
Patrick E. Moore
Covington, LA
Car is at: the Citgo Station at 2366 E Las Olas Blvd
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301 ----- Original Message ----- From: "gary luedtke"
> <poppers@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> > To: <pnkmoore@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> > Sent: Sunday, August 20, 2006 6:31 PM > Subject: Re: IML: Can anyone look at a '63 Crown Ft. Lauderdale > > >> Patrick, >> >> >> >> i found the crown in one of the >> inside bays... >> and could only see its hind-quarters thru the window. JPG pix attached. >> it's a tasteful "light caramel" in color, and yes has rust. >> >> i'm the third owner of a 67,000-mile '63, stored on my driveway 5 years, >> and it has not a spot of rust on its undercarriage. the crown has rust >> behind the wheels on the bottom, which indicates it got a lot of water >> thrown up behind the wheels. >> i would thus doubt the mileage figures quoted. >> >> it also has the back edge of the trunk worn thru the paint. >> the whole car's paint looks like it never got waxed, having >> permanent-looking differences, which maybe a real good application of >> the >> three MaGuires wax procedure would bring back to some life. >> >> but i'd say a body shop would need to eliminate the rust first, and >> then a >> full repaint would bring this to a spiffy-looker. >> the back bumper chrome was good, but looked to have rust thru a 2 X 2 >> spot >> where some kind of bumper-sticker'd been. >> >> the interior looked dark, and that's all i can say from what was >> see-able. |
Back to the Home of the Forward Look Network