Used cars, and surprises

When you buy a used car, there is little assurance that everything will be perfect, or that the car was taken care of. In the case of the 57, the car had been well cared for, but it is a 58 year old car. By comparison most 58 year old cars in 1957 were, how shall we put this in polite terms? Dust, or relegated to museums. 

Having said that, a 58 year old car is going to have its surprises, and I am sure that this one is not going to be any different. I have really not taken a good look at things in the car, as I care very little for the engine, transmission, and suspension. All that stuff is going to be addressed in the future.

However... I noticed something missing. I am pretty sure that the motor for the wind shield wipers is located in the firewall above the distributor, and it leans at an odd angle. Mine is AWOL.

For those of you not familiar with the shoebox chevy's this (amongst many other things) were major advances at the time. A lot of cars of their age, (and some european ones) used vacuum powered motors to run the wipers. That seems like a legitimately fine idea, after all Mercedes used vacuum to power stuff all the way to the early '90s. you will say... And I will tell you I have one of those cars, and they used an auxiliary vacuum pump. Not the engine. Chevy was using electrical motors (yey). 

The system inside however left a bit to be desired... in that they used a "transmission" with 2 rollers, and braided steel cords to drive the wipers. Sounded like a bright idea at the time I am sure.

Modern wipers have bars, and have no play in them. The motor is also out of the engine compartment, and squirreled away somewhere safe. Cold electrical motors are far more reliable, than over heated ones in the back of the engine compartment. So what does this have to do with the price of china, you ask... Well, all those pulleys, and the cable, and the engine are no longer with the car. They MIGHT be part of someone elses... But not in this one.

So decision 1... Do I e-bay the parts one piece at a time and gather them around, and hope that they work well enough? Or do I update...

Second surprise... Looking for the wiper system, I encountered issue #2... No electrical whatsover under the dash. Upon further inspection the system under the hood was in no better shape. The fuse box... Well, 3 or 4 sickly looking glass fuses is not necessarily a good thing. Decision #2. Do I wing the electrical, or buy a pre engineered one?  I have done this in the past, so NO, it is not a big deal. However. I discovered painless wiring. Ordered one of their 28 circuit systems. That made the decision for the wipers easy. Go with a new system. Ordered the system that has 2 speed and intermittent wipers. Maybe later the wash bottle..

Now with those 2 major things, I should end up with a reliable electrical system, that in turn will make this a reliable car (eventually)

Surprise #3... When I bought the car, it did not have the original bench seat. It had a seat with a fold down center, and seemed to be more comfortable than the original bench seat on my first 57 (or maybe I remember that one wrong????) As I was looking at things, like my original fisher door sills, I noticed that my bench seat had levers. In a 4 door?  Well, lo and behold... The front seat backs fold... So this came out of a coupe. It is also a "power" seat!. So, My 57 has power seats... :-D

As for the last entry for the day, sadly when I went to remove the no name dangerously sloshy battery  and replace it with an Interstate one I have, I found that I had about 2/3 of battery tray. This I was not expecting, however a replacement part is a whopping 60 dollars with the fancy tie down kit. A couple of bolts, and the old one can go into the recycling can.