Team Evil

I just now managed to remove the passenger's side lower dash panel and more disappointments and surprises. The backing fiberglass/plastic was shattered in the corners and cracked in two places on the main section. Covered with mud, I mean MUD as in dried caked-on formerly wet dirt ! A quarter inch in the tight spots and an eighth inch over all, cracked heater vent tube as well. Like it sat in the parts car yard out behind the dealer in the dirt mud and then was bought in and just wiped off on the top side to finish off this Vette for sale.

The car originally came from Corvettes & Classics Inc Taunton, MA 02780 and was bought there by my buddy for $10,000. He drove it for just one Summer and sold it to another of my friends for $9,000 who drove it for three months. Neither one touched it mechanically or cosmetically. It sat for over twenty years in that friend's closed barn before it was gifted to me. Clear chain of custody, ALL of these short cuts and screw ups that I'm finding were done by the shop in Taunton !

Alan 71

Hi TE,
Well, dried mud behind the dash certainly sounds like a 'flood' car!
I guess if you're lucky it was fresh water and not salt water.
Regards,
Alan

Team Evil

Yikes, never thought of that ! !

So far, no additional mud found, but I've only pulled one seat and that seems to be a replacement. Carpets are replacements as well. When I remove the driver's side gauge section I might be sadly surprised. On a plus side, the car runs well and ran performed just fine for the two previous owners, no mechanical problems, but still thank you for that observation !

Tommy

crawfish333

You know, I think it is unfair to blame a dealer that sold a car 20+ years ago. I know nothing about this dealer, but 20 years is a long time. A lot could have happened with this car in 20 years.

Team Evil

Nothing at all happened to this car in the past twenty years. It was bought and driven VERY carefully for two months during the Summer. Garaged and babied the whole time. It was bought from that friend by another and driven for another three months, babied and garaged as well. It then was parked in a heated barn/office space for the next twenty years. Seriously, NO mud was flung about under and behind the dash by either owner. Would YOU fling wet mud under and behind the dash of a car that you paid $10,000 for and had babied since the purchase? SERIOUSLY ! ? ! ? Neither would I, neither did they.

I know EVERYTHING about the history of this car, I'm best friends with both prior owners. Anything and everything that's wrong with this car was there from the get go and done by the flipper.

Think whatever you want, I can't be any clearer here.

GregX1

you should taste the mud to see if it is salty

I am am serious

hzz

You got it for free, it was a barn find that sat for 20 years, and you're bad mouthing the dealer it was at over 20 years ago.

Team Evil

I would have tasted the mud if I'd thought of it . . . !

Duane4238

If it sat in storage for 20 years, I would think the mud would have been from some kind of mud wasps. I have them in my garage and they can get into everything if you don't keep up with them. If you had a flood car, you'd be finding the mud in quite a few more places, like in wiring harnesses and plugs, etc.
Duane

Team Evil

Nope, spread all over the place, not at all like it would have been were it nest. I'm still thinking that this piece was retrieved from the ground or a flood car out behind the show room and put in place during the flip. No matter, of course, just one more weird shabby find. They're getting to be so common now, that I'm going to stop posting them.

chstitans42

We need PICTURES!

Cooter Tech

Agree, some kind of insect. We have some here that build mud nests in anything that has an opening and is well protected. Probably don’t want to taste it! 30 plus year old plastic is very brittle and fragile, sometimes just touching it, it will break or crack. Sounds to me like you got a good deal!

C3 4ME

I'm a little confused. Are you saying Corvettes and Classics is the original seller of the car? If I understand the timeline correctly, they are not. So, therefore, what about the history before that dealer had the car?

Team Evil

I'm unaware of the history of the car before it was sold by Corvettes and Classics. Corvettes and Classics sold the car (1974 Vette) to my buddy in 1984. Quite possibly they were unaware of what a botch job the car was, although the problems are very evident at first glance. I'm pretty sure that the interior was put together from spare parts, just checked the seat tags and found that the seats were manufactured in late 1976 and have been recovered. None of the panels were the same color underneath the dark tan leather/vinyl dye. Consoles were black, door panels were almost white. Carpets have been replaced with a cheap repro. Fender/body/door fit is horrible and fenders aren't really attached all the way around. There's a 1.5 inch gap between the passenger side front fender top and the door. Originally orange with a new (back in '85) respray in maroon. Must have lead a terribly hard life between 1974 and 1985.

Sorry if what I posted was at all confusing to you.

The13Bats

Well i have to take the vantage point of a few of the other posters,

Cant blame the lot,

In all due respects,
You were not with the car 100% of the time from first buddy buying it to you getting it handed to you, free,

You think the interior was parted together, who knows, perhaps dirt wasps, perhaps the part sat in the mud,

Many vette parts flippers parts look like they were on a lake bottom,

i guess the buyers or the first one could bitch that he didnt inspect the car well before buying it but your freebie on this one kind of cancels your bitching rights,

Im saying this in a fun poking at you jealous you got a free corvette kind of way...

doorgunner

Somebody.......offer Team Evil $100 and a steak dinner for the car as is.

It's a Win/Win situation.

leadfoot4

So, let's get this straight...........Your buddy bought a 10 year old car, with it's history unknown to him, sold it to another friend, who then sat on it for 20 years. You now have the car, are finding that it has some damage, and are trying to "bad mouth" the used car dealer who sold it 20 years ago.

HUH?????

suprkoop

I got a free boat from the second owner and the port side engine is full of caked on rust..maybe I should bad mouth the Viking dealer he bought it from..

Mr D.

You know what kind of mud that is? It's free mud.

chstitans42

I have NEVER gotten free Corvette, and doubt I will. Only complains about it because it was free and he didn't work for it.