MattfromMaine
Member
Here is my current project and a rundown of where we are at the moment....
I had been casually looking for a c-body for quite a few years on the typical places, sorta hoping that I'd continue to strike out and save myself the conversation with the wife. Unbelievably, this '72 Newport Royal 2-door appeared on Facebook Marketplace and was less than a half hour from my house. We went and looked at it on Labor Day and after some "discussion", it was in my driveway the following weekend. The story behind the car was that the guy had purchased this from an estate two years earlier and hadn't really driven it. He replaced the exhaust and put new air shocks in the back. The original owner had purchased it from the State of Maine in 1984 for $900 with 21,539 miles on it (it has 62k on it now), having been a fleet vehicle for Department of Human Services.
I bought the car knowing that it needed work and that I'd be able to drive it while chipping away at it. After I looked at it, it was clear that the brakes need to get gone through, it was leaking transmission fluid from the cooling lines, and it needed a tune-up. Not surprised given the fact that it has been sitting for a while.
Well, I work at a high school that has the area technical center attached to it with an Automotive Technology program that will take on projects for the winter. I had met the instructor a few times so I approached him with a "do I have the winter project for you!". He immediately asked if it was the gold Chrysler he had seen in the parking lot that week and of course it was. Without skipping a beat, he said they would do it and asked what I wanted done. I told him what I suspected it needed and he agreed that he would do any brake/ suspension/ tune-up work it over the course of the winter. The deal is that I pay for parts and there is no charge for labor. The instructor has a few classic cars of his own that his students work on from time to time, so I felt good about his ability to do quality work for this driver.
Part 2 to follow with the repair info...
I had been casually looking for a c-body for quite a few years on the typical places, sorta hoping that I'd continue to strike out and save myself the conversation with the wife. Unbelievably, this '72 Newport Royal 2-door appeared on Facebook Marketplace and was less than a half hour from my house. We went and looked at it on Labor Day and after some "discussion", it was in my driveway the following weekend. The story behind the car was that the guy had purchased this from an estate two years earlier and hadn't really driven it. He replaced the exhaust and put new air shocks in the back. The original owner had purchased it from the State of Maine in 1984 for $900 with 21,539 miles on it (it has 62k on it now), having been a fleet vehicle for Department of Human Services.
I bought the car knowing that it needed work and that I'd be able to drive it while chipping away at it. After I looked at it, it was clear that the brakes need to get gone through, it was leaking transmission fluid from the cooling lines, and it needed a tune-up. Not surprised given the fact that it has been sitting for a while.
Well, I work at a high school that has the area technical center attached to it with an Automotive Technology program that will take on projects for the winter. I had met the instructor a few times so I approached him with a "do I have the winter project for you!". He immediately asked if it was the gold Chrysler he had seen in the parking lot that week and of course it was. Without skipping a beat, he said they would do it and asked what I wanted done. I told him what I suspected it needed and he agreed that he would do any brake/ suspension/ tune-up work it over the course of the winter. The deal is that I pay for parts and there is no charge for labor. The instructor has a few classic cars of his own that his students work on from time to time, so I felt good about his ability to do quality work for this driver.
Part 2 to follow with the repair info...