bigmoparjeff
Senior Member
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If anyone is wondering where this went to....
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Last week it crossed the river to PA.
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Where it will be in good company with other abused '73 Gran Coupes:
Who's been abusing these cars???
Their previous owners....Incompetent body shops....Car-flipping realtors....Over-salted roads....And might as well throw in Mother Nature herself.
So, How's that silver Gran Coupe from Jersey?
In some ways, much better than I had expected, but there's plenty of ugly too. While viewing the Craigslist add, I noticed that all the lower trim was missing, therefore, I expected everything on the bottom of the car would be totally roached: Quarters, rockers, fenders and subframe. The thought came to mind to pick it up cheap just for the beautiful bucket seat interior. As it turned out, a friend of mine in England was also interested in it and had already talked to the seller. He was informed that the lower trim was missing because it was lost, and chances are that the body shop that worked on the car broke all the clips. Most of the "nails" for the clips were still in place. That info changed my opinion quickly, so a friend and I drove over to check it out. It turned out to be a bit too rough to spend the money exporting it to England, so my UK friend decided to pass. After thinking it over for a few days, I decided that it would be a great car for taking to our local car club events. I had been alternating between my '69 Imperial and '70 Newport, but my once perfect dashes now start melting anytime either of the cars is out in the warm sun. The ever increasing number of A-hole drivers prevents me from enjoying driving some of my better cars, so this beat up Gran Coupe should fit the bill nicely. It looks good from a distance, but there's not a straight panel on it. With the nice interior and full compliment of power options, I'll be cruising in style, oblivious to all the exterior flaws that I can't see from the driver seat.
As had been mentioned earlier, the car was up for sale twice this year on Craigslist. First by a realtor who got it from the estate of the previous owner, and second from a Mopar guy who bought it from the realtor. The guy I got it from was knee-deep into a full resto of a '68 Town & Country, and decided to part with the Gran Coupe to raise some cash for the T&C project. The gent who passed away at least tried to spruce up the car, but chose the wrong people to do it, though that choice was probably dictated by a limited budget. The body work on the car has MAACO written all over it: piss-poor welds, lumpy body work, almost no paint prep, and a desert-dry semi-matte finish on the paint. The car is also completely covered with clear overspray from another paint job done nearby. They actually managed to more-or-less install a used lower quarter on the right side. Thankfully, they didn't try a full quarter. The body was peppered with minor dents prior to it's trip to the body shop, and it didn't take the owner long to add another 3 or 4 scrapes to it after the work was done. The car has some electrical gremlins that will probably turn out to be bad grounds, and as expected, the power windows are due for a clean and lube. There's actually a little spark of life from the power locks, which is unusual. I did a check on safety items, and it needs brake work and lower ball joints.
Well Jeff, that sounds pretty bad so far. Why'd you buy that thing?
Here's where the unexpected surprises come in:
The underside of the car is clean, clean, clean. Check that subframe. ( I know it's STUBframe, but that makes me think of missing limbs for some reason)
The rear area is nice too. They can get pretty crusty where the undercoating is thin.
It also looks like the heads were done, along with a timing chain, water pump, freeze plugs, trans lines, starter and idler arm.
One more bad thing:
This was not necessary.
Told it was done by dumb-*** realtor. Could have checked glove box for trunk release, or could have at least called a locksmith.
That's it for page one, as I've reached my 10 picture limit.
Jeff
.
.
.
.
If anyone is wondering where this went to....
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Last week it crossed the river to PA.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Where it will be in good company with other abused '73 Gran Coupes:
Who's been abusing these cars???
Their previous owners....Incompetent body shops....Car-flipping realtors....Over-salted roads....And might as well throw in Mother Nature herself.
So, How's that silver Gran Coupe from Jersey?
In some ways, much better than I had expected, but there's plenty of ugly too. While viewing the Craigslist add, I noticed that all the lower trim was missing, therefore, I expected everything on the bottom of the car would be totally roached: Quarters, rockers, fenders and subframe. The thought came to mind to pick it up cheap just for the beautiful bucket seat interior. As it turned out, a friend of mine in England was also interested in it and had already talked to the seller. He was informed that the lower trim was missing because it was lost, and chances are that the body shop that worked on the car broke all the clips. Most of the "nails" for the clips were still in place. That info changed my opinion quickly, so a friend and I drove over to check it out. It turned out to be a bit too rough to spend the money exporting it to England, so my UK friend decided to pass. After thinking it over for a few days, I decided that it would be a great car for taking to our local car club events. I had been alternating between my '69 Imperial and '70 Newport, but my once perfect dashes now start melting anytime either of the cars is out in the warm sun. The ever increasing number of A-hole drivers prevents me from enjoying driving some of my better cars, so this beat up Gran Coupe should fit the bill nicely. It looks good from a distance, but there's not a straight panel on it. With the nice interior and full compliment of power options, I'll be cruising in style, oblivious to all the exterior flaws that I can't see from the driver seat.
As had been mentioned earlier, the car was up for sale twice this year on Craigslist. First by a realtor who got it from the estate of the previous owner, and second from a Mopar guy who bought it from the realtor. The guy I got it from was knee-deep into a full resto of a '68 Town & Country, and decided to part with the Gran Coupe to raise some cash for the T&C project. The gent who passed away at least tried to spruce up the car, but chose the wrong people to do it, though that choice was probably dictated by a limited budget. The body work on the car has MAACO written all over it: piss-poor welds, lumpy body work, almost no paint prep, and a desert-dry semi-matte finish on the paint. The car is also completely covered with clear overspray from another paint job done nearby. They actually managed to more-or-less install a used lower quarter on the right side. Thankfully, they didn't try a full quarter. The body was peppered with minor dents prior to it's trip to the body shop, and it didn't take the owner long to add another 3 or 4 scrapes to it after the work was done. The car has some electrical gremlins that will probably turn out to be bad grounds, and as expected, the power windows are due for a clean and lube. There's actually a little spark of life from the power locks, which is unusual. I did a check on safety items, and it needs brake work and lower ball joints.
Well Jeff, that sounds pretty bad so far. Why'd you buy that thing?
Here's where the unexpected surprises come in:
The underside of the car is clean, clean, clean. Check that subframe. ( I know it's STUBframe, but that makes me think of missing limbs for some reason)
The rear area is nice too. They can get pretty crusty where the undercoating is thin.
It also looks like the heads were done, along with a timing chain, water pump, freeze plugs, trans lines, starter and idler arm.
One more bad thing:
This was not necessary.
Told it was done by dumb-*** realtor. Could have checked glove box for trunk release, or could have at least called a locksmith.That's it for page one, as I've reached my 10 picture limit.
Jeff
Last edited:
happened here???!!!!
