[C2] 1964 Convertible - Plain Jane - The Journey Begins.
12-15-2018, 11:51 AM
#102
Burning Brakes
Thread Starter
I had a few small issues with spark plug wires and radiator hoses that were entangled. The main problem was I did not disconnect the speedometer cable. Now I need to mount it to the body dolly! Thanks for everyone’s help on this site.
12-15-2018, 11:57 AM
#103
Safety Car
Great job. Congrats.
12-15-2018, 03:18 PM
#109
Safety Car
Yep. Nice job so far. Bet you are relieved.
12-15-2018, 03:33 PM
#110
Team Owner
Member Since: Aug 2008
Location: Rochester NY
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St. Jude Donor '09-'10-'11-'12-'13-'14-'15-'16-'17-'18-‘19-'20-'21-'22-'23-'24
12-16-2018, 09:21 AM
#112
Instructor
W O W. Great work, Holt! All on your own too... Great pics, and I think it’ll be fun as you uncover more details like the markings and other hidden details we haven’t seen as of yet. It’s funny how the steel dolly looks smaller under the f/glass body than it did on the “new” frame during mock up. Wish I was ther with you! I’m sure you had a smile on your face all day.
i think 387 may be the new code word around the wifeys...
i think 387 may be the new code word around the wifeys...
Last edited by ToySnakePMC; 12-16-2018 at 09:22 AM.
12-19-2018, 11:09 PM
#113
Burning Brakes
Thread Starter
Finally located the prior owner of 44 years.
Part One.
I have pretty good paperwork from the dealer when the used car was sold on 4-4-74 to Thomas W.
The dealer was Bill Cram in Seneca Falls, NY. He was at the time a Chevrolet Oldsmobile Dealer.
Tom purchased the car for $3204.66. The NY DMV odometer signed statement indicated 10,795 miles. At that point the car had prior registration in Pennsylvania. Tom was 18/19 years old and in High School when he purchased the blue 1964 Corvette. He was in Clyde, NY.
I have pretty good paperwork from the dealer when the used car was sold on 4-4-74 to Thomas W.
The dealer was Bill Cram in Seneca Falls, NY. He was at the time a Chevrolet Oldsmobile Dealer.
Tom purchased the car for $3204.66. The NY DMV odometer signed statement indicated 10,795 miles. At that point the car had prior registration in Pennsylvania. Tom was 18/19 years old and in High School when he purchased the blue 1964 Corvette. He was in Clyde, NY.
Last edited by hcallaway; 12-20-2018 at 09:13 AM.
12-20-2018, 12:13 AM
#114
Team Owner
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Location: Rochester NY
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St. Jude Donor '09-'10-'11-'12-'13-'14-'15-'16-'17-'18-‘19-'20-'21-'22-'23-'24
Very freaky, not only do we both have a silver blue '64 convertible, but when the first owner of mine sold it to the second owner it had 10,872 miles on it! However, that was only one year and one week after it was sold new.
Any indication whether he is still living?
(I used to run the train through Seneca Falls NY!)
12-20-2018, 07:20 AM
#115
Burning Brakes
Thread Starter
Finally located the prior owner of 44 years.
Part 2
Tom paid what must have been a fair price for a 10 year old Corvette.
Other options he could have looked at might have been these new cars sitting at the local dealers. $3204 was not too far off of a new car with a warranty.
$4450 Pontiac Trams Am 1974
$5846 Corvette Convertible 1974
Tom W is still around. He is 64/65. I was able to reach him and ask a few questions before he had to leave our call.
Tell me about the car. It was low mileage but not a cream puff. (It did have low mileage.) Tom had it only on the road for a short time. Why was that? (It had a bad gas leak at the carb.) NY had an Inspection Sticker and Registration Sticker on the Windshield. Both are still there from 1976.
His family was in the logging industry, so I am guessing it was not the everyday ideal car. When Pat and I finally got the car on the lift we were amazed at the amount of mud and dirt underneath the wheel wells including the frame. This pretty much explains why the frame was in poor shape. I’m not sure at what point the car was put inside the garage next to his house but it spent most of it’s life parked in there. How did it run? ( It ran pretty good I would crank it once or twice a year to make sure it was OK .) What color was the car when you bought it? ( it was the blue color it is now.)
Tom paid what must have been a fair price for a 10 year old Corvette.
Other options he could have looked at might have been these new cars sitting at the local dealers. $3204 was not too far off of a new car with a warranty.
$4450 Pontiac Trams Am 1974
$5846 Corvette Convertible 1974
Tom W is still around. He is 64/65. I was able to reach him and ask a few questions before he had to leave our call.
Tell me about the car. It was low mileage but not a cream puff. (It did have low mileage.) Tom had it only on the road for a short time. Why was that? (It had a bad gas leak at the carb.) NY had an Inspection Sticker and Registration Sticker on the Windshield. Both are still there from 1976.
His family was in the logging industry, so I am guessing it was not the everyday ideal car. When Pat and I finally got the car on the lift we were amazed at the amount of mud and dirt underneath the wheel wells including the frame. This pretty much explains why the frame was in poor shape. I’m not sure at what point the car was put inside the garage next to his house but it spent most of it’s life parked in there. How did it run? ( It ran pretty good I would crank it once or twice a year to make sure it was OK .) What color was the car when you bought it? ( it was the blue color it is now.)
Last edited by hcallaway; 12-20-2018 at 09:18 AM.
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ptjsk (12-20-2018)
12-20-2018, 09:32 AM
#116
Burning Brakes
Thread Starter
Finally located the prior owner of 44 years.
Part 3
The car had front end damage on the passenger side. Tom told me that he was parked at a restaurant in Lyons, NY about 7 miles from his home when a car backed into it.
The driver gave him his insurance information and a local body shop repaired the car. I guess since Tom was a young kid, he was satisfied with a OK repair. It certainly was not up to today's standards.
Headlight buckets are not very square to the body.
I asked him why after 40 plus years, why he decided to sell the car. He said that it was his intention to restore the car, but time and money just were not there. He was very interested in what we are planing on doing with the car. He seemed very relieved that our intentions were to keep it in the family and not flip it.
He had to go but asked me to call him and talk some more.
We are hoping he has some old pictures that he can share. He wants to get some updates on the project as we move along.
The car had front end damage on the passenger side. Tom told me that he was parked at a restaurant in Lyons, NY about 7 miles from his home when a car backed into it.
The driver gave him his insurance information and a local body shop repaired the car. I guess since Tom was a young kid, he was satisfied with a OK repair. It certainly was not up to today's standards.
Headlight buckets are not very square to the body.
I asked him why after 40 plus years, why he decided to sell the car. He said that it was his intention to restore the car, but time and money just were not there. He was very interested in what we are planing on doing with the car. He seemed very relieved that our intentions were to keep it in the family and not flip it.
He had to go but asked me to call him and talk some more.
We are hoping he has some old pictures that he can share. He wants to get some updates on the project as we move along.
12-20-2018, 11:25 AM
#117
Team Owner
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Location: Rochester NY
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St. Jude Donor '09-'10-'11-'12-'13-'14-'15-'16-'17-'18-‘19-'20-'21-'22-'23-'24
Outstanding! Does he have any info on the very first owner who traded/sold it to the dealer he got it from?
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hcallaway (12-20-2018)
12-20-2018, 12:55 PM
#119
Burning Brakes
Thread Starter
I am guessing that he know very little about the first owner from PA. Chevrolet dealer in Seneca Falls still in business so I may be able to try and them questions.
12-20-2018, 02:55 PM
#120
Burning Brakes
Thread Starter
Finally located the prior owner of 44 years.
Part 4
Today when I get in my office there is a note to call a phone number in New York about my Corvette. (I had dialed numerous phone numbers with the last name Washburn that were associated to Tom.) I called the number and I am speaking to the stepmother of Tom. She was married to his father for 22 years before he passed away in 2008. She tells me that she only saw Tom drive it a couple of times every couple years up and down the road. She felt like it certainly didn’t have insurance as he was just checking the car out. I told her I was amazed that he did not drive the car. She said she was surprised that he sold the car, in fact she didn’t know he had sold the car until I left her a voicemail message about being the new co-owner. I asked her about where the car was kept. She said that it was in the sawmill shed/barn at the lumber yard. The barn was divided down the middle with the Corvette on one side and the Saw Mill on the other. Obviously it wasn’t a weathertight building. Another explanation for why the car was so weathered to only have 22,000 miles.
In passing, she mentioned that she knew a story about the car but really shouldn’t tell it. I said please don’t leave me hanging, I have got to hear this. She starts off by saying I can’t imagine that this isn’t true, there’s no reason Edward (her husband) wouldn’t tell me what really happen. She said that Thomas was getting married. Either the day before the wedding or the day of the wedding his fiancée ran off with another man, that was when he parked the car. And for whatever reason he never really drove it again. She went on to say that Tom never married and never had children.
With any good car there has to be a good car story to go with it. The carburetor may have been leaking gas and Tom was afraid to drive it that way, but I prefer to believe the car sat as a result of a broken heart. It certainly makes for a better story.
Today when I get in my office there is a note to call a phone number in New York about my Corvette. (I had dialed numerous phone numbers with the last name Washburn that were associated to Tom.) I called the number and I am speaking to the stepmother of Tom. She was married to his father for 22 years before he passed away in 2008. She tells me that she only saw Tom drive it a couple of times every couple years up and down the road. She felt like it certainly didn’t have insurance as he was just checking the car out. I told her I was amazed that he did not drive the car. She said she was surprised that he sold the car, in fact she didn’t know he had sold the car until I left her a voicemail message about being the new co-owner. I asked her about where the car was kept. She said that it was in the sawmill shed/barn at the lumber yard. The barn was divided down the middle with the Corvette on one side and the Saw Mill on the other. Obviously it wasn’t a weathertight building. Another explanation for why the car was so weathered to only have 22,000 miles.
In passing, she mentioned that she knew a story about the car but really shouldn’t tell it. I said please don’t leave me hanging, I have got to hear this. She starts off by saying I can’t imagine that this isn’t true, there’s no reason Edward (her husband) wouldn’t tell me what really happen. She said that Thomas was getting married. Either the day before the wedding or the day of the wedding his fiancée ran off with another man, that was when he parked the car. And for whatever reason he never really drove it again. She went on to say that Tom never married and never had children.
With any good car there has to be a good car story to go with it. The carburetor may have been leaking gas and Tom was afraid to drive it that way, but I prefer to believe the car sat as a result of a broken heart. It certainly makes for a better story.
Last edited by hcallaway; 12-20-2018 at 04:46 PM.