Life is funny...

No, not funny haha, I once had a 57 Chevy Bel Air, 4 door hardtop. Granted it was kind of in rough shape, and it needed a ton of work, but you know what... I was the ONLY one in my group of friends with one. No one else had one... I also lived overseas in a country full of Renaults and Mazdas. Having a 57 was challenging to say the least. However I loved the lines, loved the way that you rolled down all 4 windows and had a mile long open space, loved how you could fit 6 people and still throw a body into the trunk (just kidding). Hated having to deal with the incompetent mechanics. Nobody could ever make the car run right. It kept bogging down. It was starving for fuel, even after a full rebuild. To make matters even worse, traffic is a nightmare, so often times I would start to get anxious about stalling, and not being able to restart the beast. A couple of times it did die.. And a tow truck and 50 dollars poorer (for a struggling student this represented food and booze for like a month). It was a love hate relationship for me. 

For those that are curious about the type of car...  That is not the original beast.. That is the accident... And how it happened, would be a good episode for Roadkill. 

The back story is that I have had european/japanese cars for the last 14 years. I have had BMW's Mercedes and Honda vehicles in that time span.  None of them are what you would call good project car material. Granted the 450SLC was cheap enough to buy, but there are NO aftermarket parts. In perfect working order that huge 4.5 liter engine produces... 200 horsepower.. The 300E is the wifes chariot and the 635 BMW is a fun car, but suffers from the same lack of upgradeability shall we say that the benzes have.

The honda... The honda.... OMG the honda....

Lets not go there.. I keep it because it is an appliance, and gets me through the snow... But more than 30 minutes in it starts going up my back... literally. Can't drive it for more than that. So lets leave that one in the appliance ledger.

Now, onwards... The 57, and how it came to be.  I originally found a 56. It was a nice powder blue, and supposedly it was in "good" shape, came with a new 350, and a 350 tranny.. Sounded achievable at 6900...  I called the gentleman in question, and he stated: "The car has been sitting for the last 30 years in a warehouse, and is in pretty good shape for the year... It has little rust, and some minor issues."

Ok, fair enough. The car is about 4.5 hours away. Nice day trip. Go take a look...

The car was not quite as described... 4 door hardtops have on real critical piece of real estate. The B pillar. This is what hold up your rear door, but also allows the front to close.

The rear door in this car dropped an inch or two after I opened it.. Upon closer inspection the whole of the B pillar was being held together by the rocker panel that was rusted, and held together by.. the stainless steel strip. The rear door doglegs.. were completely gone.. And you can bet good money that the inner fenders were no good, and that you at that point were buying a roof with some cracked glass... I left the car with a really mad demeanor. I was NOT happy that I had been lied to. This was far more than "minor" rust. This was an unsafe car. I looked under the carpet... Not a single floor board was complete. They just pop riveted some sheet metal so that things would not fall through it!.

So, attempt 1.. doomed.

Stay tuned for attempt 2...