Got a line on a 1960 LeBaron sedan sitting in a
driveway locally. Owner had passed and the daughter
was liquidating.
She was in over her head, and had gotten some really
bad advice about values, like double market reality.
She wasn't happy about my offer, but we agreed to
proceed at what I thought was a fair price that was
below her asking price.
I made purchase of the car conditional on it starting
and running in the driveway, and she got a bit hot
about that, since the car had gotten a $1500
tune-up/investment 3 years ago and "should be fine",
despite the fact that the whitewalls were running down
the tires and the fact that there was green slime
growing on the body.
Instead of a leisurely compression check and once over
next week when I have time, I was pressured into
coming "tomorrow" and doing a hard start in the
driveway after checking only the oil and installing a
battery.
OK. Whatever.
Car was worth it, and if the engine's fried, I'm not
going to make that much of a difference anyway.
I drove about 60 miles through rush-hour Bay Area
traffic with the trailer to meet her back at her
house, and I put in the good battery that I'd brought.
Pulled the air cleaner and was met with the most
horrific sight imaginable under an air cleaner, and I
thought that I'd been around. Apparently not as much
as I'd thought before tonight.
Upon air cleaner removal, the aluminum on the carb
body had white velvet oxidation all over it. Bad.
The kind that looks like a sea urchin and is powdery.
A glance into the intake throat revealed standing
water!
Horror of horrors. The interesting thing was that the
top of the engine was dry, and the air cleaner metal
had no standing water in the grooves or any oxidation
whatsoever, so I can only presume that the water came
up from the block somehow, since the interior of the
engine compartment/underside of the hood was so clean
and rust-free.
Anyway, the bottom line is that the non-mechanical
seller was terribly affronted that I'd question the
receipts and fist-hand experience she had with the car
several years ago, and had the "running when parked"
syndrome going in the worst way possible.
Until I started moaning and stirred up a froth of
water in the carb with the end of my wrench to
demonstrate what was there.
Caveat emptor.
My trailer is empty tonight, and the money goes back
in the bank in the morning!
Maybe she'll reconsider the second price that I
suggested. Gravity is working in my favor at this
point.
She wanted to check with her mechanic that standing
rust-clouded water in the carb throat was indeed a
terminal thing.
-K
Kenyon Wills
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