As usual all my projects overlap.As I’m finishing up the shed and working the house renovation over at Steve’s the restoration of my 1965 Plymouth Valiant station wagon is beginning.I’ve spent years gathering what I need to fix this car up.Back in January the transmission failed.As I was coming home from running errands I had trouble getting it into 1st gear at a traffic light.After a few seconds I got her into first and drove off.All 4 forward gears worked fine so I didn’t pay much attention to it.Went to the hardware store and when I went to back out of the parking space I had no reverse.I looked under the car and saw the reverse linkage rod dangling with what appeared to be a piece of the shift lever still attached so I knew right then that I had to push it backwards but could make it home.Someone helped me push it back and I was on my way ! Days went by as I was dealing with this pain from the fall I took but finally I got under the car to change the shifter with a spare I had.Got it all set to go and adjusted right but if I put it in reverse it would jam up and not go into the other gears. At this point I knew I had a problem inside the transmission. The winter snows came and I just put it all off and out of my mind sort of.I did rebuild the broken shifter though and kept forward motion on the shed work.
Now it’s spring . I got the carpentry finished on the shed , the demolition and structural work done at Steve’s and yesterday I pulled out another 4 speed transmission from my inventory of parts to begin the swap so I can start driving my wagon again. I decided to open it up and have a peek inside to make sure all was good with it and spent the day doing that yesterday.
So, what had started out as a repair is becoming the restoration of my wagon .I’ve been wanting to fix my car up for quite a long time now and have bought all sorts of parts. I have a set of good used quarter panels I got from a guy in Oklahoma three or four years ago , a set of rust free straight front fenders from a car I parted out back in the 1990’s ,A good hood ,grill , front valance , four nice straight rust free doors that I traded some other parts for a few years back ,two decent straight bumpers ,and all sorts of other stuff I need . Planned on starting on it last year but the Covid ruined that plan .Well, at least I was able to help Steve get his 1965 Barracuda together . So now when we finish his house we will start tearing into my wagon .In advance of that I need to get her in drivable condition again. I’d like to run her up to my camp in June too so I can supply the place for my summer bike trips up.So much to do. Well,at least I have the means to do it now.I’d be screwed if I didn’t have all these parts .Got most of them for free or next to nothing from cars I parted out back in the 1990’s when no one wanted these cars.Today it’s as if they are made of gold.Just a rusted out parts car is 2000 dollars and anything decent is over 10,000 .Like everything in the land of the rich and the home of the greedy old cars are no longer something working blue collar guys can enjoy without going deep into debt.Sure am glad I kept all this stuff ! I built this car from a 400 dollar rust bucket back in the early 1990’s.This is where all my parts came from.
It took quite a few cars to build and the left over stuff got saved.It became an addiction actually.I’d buy just about every Valiant or Barracuda that crossed my path back then.No one wanted them ! I bought cars for a hundred bucks and took out thousands of dollars worth of good parts. So, now it’s time to use them and then sell off what’s left so they don’t end up in a dumpster when I’m dead and gone. I turn 72 next week so that expiration date could come anytime now, or not , so with the or not in mind I’m still building and planning on moving out west.I’m even planning on getting a 1930’s car after I get settled out in Arizona to play with. Always wanted a 30’s car .
It’s a beautiful day here in New York and you know what that means . Yup , TODAY I RIDE !
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