Just like your cars.....the wife can be replaced too.

 

It sounds like you enjoy working on cars and have no trouble doing so. I think the car you're looking at seems right for you at the right price.

My only suggestion is that you carefully evaluate every part of the interior as you remove it...and repair/refurbish/recolor all the existing pieces that you can. And, if a piece is determined to be "toast", look for salvaged parts in good condition before you spend 'big buck$' for "new" parts that don't fit well.

Most of the interior panels can be washed, patched/repaired, reshot with SEM ColorCoat vinyl dye and reinstalled to look like factory-new parts. It will save you a LOT of money and the result will be better than just throwing $5K at new/aftermarket (oxymoron?) parts.

Buy it. Then, have fun!!

 

Thanks for the advice 7T1vette. I plan to do all I can to repurpose / save the existing parts, this car will be more of a weekend driver than a show piece. Can't get the wife on the back of the Harley to cruise the river road, but she's kind of excited about this.

A buddy of mine and I are flying up to get it tomorrow evening and driving it back to St. Louis. Nothing like a road trip to get to know each other a bit (the car and I, lol).

 

She's more tolerant than most and I've been through a couple... as I get a bit older and presumably wiser - but in reality just more tired and less apt to engage in conflict - I have learned to bite my tongue and things are much more tolerable.

I do, however, appreciate your sense of humor and it's not too terribly long ago that I would have taken that statement for gospel!

 

Sounds like a fun car. Now for some pics

 

Hey guys, hope this works. Having some trouble getting the pics up. It's dirty...... but here it is!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/13199851@N03/6087182231/


Edit: looks to be working. Let's hear it, good or bad!

 

On all fronts. Keep those interior parts and repair as needed. Ask me how I know.
David

 

Here is a couple of frame pics I snapped with my phone while it was up on the lift. I thought it to be pretty good. It ran well enough to make a 5.5 hour trip to St. Louis but I'm pretty sure there is some trash in the tank and needs some carb tuning. My first project will be the fuel tank / carb, may even tear into it today. The front end it tight and it drives straight but I do have a wheel bearing going in the rear and the exhaust is toast.

I'll get some motor/bc pics up soon.





Still having pic issues it seems, here's the original link with the frame photos.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/1319985...n/photostream/

 

Congratulations on your purchase. Looks well bought to me.

 

Congrats on your purchase and welcome to the '73 club! Here are a few pictures of my '73. As you've seen, this is a great forum and full of folks with a ton of knowledge. When in doubt search here!

 

I'm glad you posted pics of the frame. The first looks to be just surface rust. The second - the discoloration could be the start of more serious problems. Is it solid where it is darker? Really if these are the worst spots you are in pretty good shape from the looks of it. It would be nice to be able to tap it with a balpeen hammer and see what the metal sounds like at those spots. If it sounds like metal on metal - nice and crisp pings, that's a good thing. If it sounds or feels like you are tapping something dull or with give in it - not so good.

 

It's solid, I know b/c that was a concern for me as well. Just can't tell you how solid as I didn't have a hammer with me. I'll get up under there and tap on it. The shop didn't want me out there at all but I managed to snap a couple of pics and do a bit of inspection on that darker area. I can't remember if it was damp but we had recently hosed the car off, it may have been runoff or such?

Thanks for the advice.

 

Congrats on your 73 Corvette purchase! I LOVE the color, almost the color of mine but mine is a deeper purple. Hubby and I purchased our 73 in June 2010 and started searching for a professional Vette Guy to restore the interior. Our Vette already had a complete of frame restore and no rust.Woooo Hooooo! We have an estimaed $16000 in our 73 now and it's been worth every penny.

She also had a custom paint that would be classified as good but not amazing.

Last winter our 73 sat in our side yard with a car cover protecting her. Hubby and I removed the cover the middle of April and put the battery in our garage to charge. A few mornings later Hubby starts yelling, " Some one stole the 73!" I jumped out of bed and ran outside to see what the heck. I saw the very back of our 73 peeking out thru timber which is behind our home but still on our property.

Hubby did not lock the door when we took the battery out and apparenty someone tried to steal her and became upset when the tried to move her. Of course they had no idea the battery was not in the car. The Sherrif was called, we live in a rural area, and a report was taken. It took five men and two tow trucks 4 hours to get the 73 out of the timber. Estimated damage was $7000.00. Our insurance company has beeen great!

The 73 is currently in a body shop getting a top of the line custom paint, same color, Deep Purple.I will post pictures when we get her back!

 

BTW I see you are located in Ofallon, Missouri! I'm in Camdenton, Missouri! WE should get to gether and run these babies!

 

Absolutely! Just give me a little time to get the gremlins worked out!

 

Alright folks, I have a break issue. Not anything like I've dealt with before, go figure. The master cylinder was said to have went out prior to it being parked ~8 years ago. It now has a new MS, one new caliper (said to have locked when the MS failed) and new gaskets / rings on the 3 remaining calipers. Here's what is strange: the breaks are soft when cold, go clear to the floor, the stop the car - but not well. Once she gets warm it feels like one or more of the breaks engage and hang and the pedal is exceptionally firm. Both of the afore mentioned conditions are, however, not consistent. Occasionally the pedal is firm (appropriately) from start and everything seems correct. When it acts up I get some vibration in the front end and can feel the motor pulling against a more significant load. I believe it to be on the drivers side front and rear, these are the wheels that smell hot and the rear started smoking a bit. I tried the reverse and stop trick thinking they just needed adjusted and it worked great initially but it quickly seems to bind back up. Once this occurs it will hold the car at a stop while in gear.

I'm going to copy this to the C3 tech are but wanted to ask those that are following my project first. As always, I appreciate any suggestions.

She's currently sitting in my garage with all 4 wheels and the fuel tank off. New tank should be here tomorrow (rust). The breaks were too hot to mess with so I figured I'd go ahead and get a jump on my fuel issue. What is everyone's take on the vapor control module? I was very careful not to break the fittings when removing the tank but did have a strong gasoline smell when parked in the garage prior to the work done tonight. How exactly does this thing work, is it just a recirculation valve and is there a way to test / pressure test.

Lots of questions, I know... again, thanks in advance!!

 

Just curious... did you personally verify the "matching numbers" or did you take the seller's word for it?

As stated, you are fine at $5k although as Mike says, you will probably end up a bit in the red when all is said and done. Still a good buy for a ton 'o fun.

 

Oh, there's your link. Didnt see it before. Upload those pics to Photobucket so you can post the pictures easily here. Then we will give you some feedback!

Looks like a decent buy. have fun!

 

My first post was based on the sellers word, but honestly I haven't checked yet. More concerned about getting knee deep into it! I do need to check, but honestly am not that concerned. The motor certainly "looks" right, but again, I haven't verified. I know I'll end up dumping more into it than what I will get out, but, if I wanted a solid investment I'd buy real-estate, um... maybe apple stock, lol. I spent my whole evening in the garage with a couple of good buddies and at the end of this long road I'll have "ton 'o fun" to drive on weekends!

 

Enjoy the heck out it. That's what they are for.