<VV> rust-free western bodies

Chuck Kubin dreamwoodck at yahoo.com
Sun Jan 29 12:06:16 EST 2006


Hey gang,

At the risk of reopening an old, long-drawn-out thread
on the subject, I'll report some results. For the new
guys and those who DGIS about what I say, I originally
asked for thoughts on whether I should section or
repair my otherwise exceptionally-solid and mostly
restored Anti Christine, the victim of
three-hit-and-runs, or do a body transplant. Some of
you may remember that I bought a '68 Monza with a new
interior, good running gear and a crap body to rebody
the mostly-restored/repaired '68 AC with its new
interior, great running gear and crap body, thus
giving me TWO major headaches.
Both options are still open, depending on what I find
when I get the time and money to resolve it, largely
because of what I found in the category of the
"rust-free western car" that several of you have
suggested. In fact, the advice was "Just don't think
about it. Go get one of those rust-free western cars"
usually followed by some words alluding to the notion
that they are so numerous that we are kicking them out
of our way to go grocery shopping.
Being a sharp guy, I latched onto a notice and
exchanged emails with one of our members who mentioned
a gentleman about 25 miles NE of Colorado Springs who
has a field of Corvair dreams. My thanks once again to
the sender, whose name escapes me at the moment. I
followed the lead to an extensive chunk of land strewn
with cool cars of all types, plus buses, trucks and
some machines recognizable only because they had
wheels. He is a collector, not a junker, who has
amassed several hundred more cars than he will be able
to put back on the road in many lifetimes. 
We're talking '48 Pontiac ambulance. Packards. Nash. 
Body styles I've never heard of. A 1930s limo of a
make I don't remember. Literally tons of 1940s, '50s
and '60s cars ranging from pretty cool to F-- A!!! and
many of them rare.
He has more than 100 Corvairs. I know he has 32+ LM
because that's what Chico and I came to see. I
remember 3+ earlies for every late I saw and there are
FCs of all stripes.
Which means by now your shirts are soaked with drool.
To help you dry off, ponder that he isn't a junker and
while he'll sell some parts, he wouldn't let you strip
a car bare and leave a hulk. Well, maybe he would at
this point. He has stockpiled a lot of spare parts.
For a whole car, you would have to excavate a
title-less hulk from deep in a field and flatbed it
home. Write me and I'll give you his contact info, if
you want to give it a shot.
Back to the topic, the rust-free western car. One
word: bullshit.
His land is on the high Colorado plain about 40 miles
east of the Rockies. Relative humidity here is usually
about 12-15%.  It does occasionally rain and snow.
He showed me one coupe that came from the Arizona
desert and without ripping up the carpet to check the
floor, it appeared everything below the beltline was
pristine. The top was a different story, as the paint
was gone and the metal was massively pitted. How much
of that do you grind off before it is too thin to be
of any value? The rear window channel caught my eye;
the missing glass allowed it to rust to the point
where, to my partially-educated eye, I immediately
judged it all needed to be remade.
No car there was close to the notion of rust-free.
Doglegs, window channels, floors...all the usual
suspects showed up, as well as a few with the lower
left rear fender gone to battery acid.  I didn't find
a single 2-door late coupe that had all the usable
body panels I needed to clip, and every transplant
donor needed extensive work to get to the paint stage,
AFTER I would strip and junk AC. Among only a couple
of exceptions was his personal '69 coupe which also
appeared to need everything, and no, with a 1 in 6,000
chance, I didn't check the s/n to see if was the
missing last Corvair. He would have known that
anyways.
He showed me a convertible body he'd like to sell,
mostly stripped, that someone started to repaint. The
body is in very good shape, with one surface rust spot
on the floor, but the bared metal was never treated
and has extensive but mild surface rust. He showed me
one he won't, a '68 4dr with a 140 and factory air. It
too needed a bunch of bodywork.
Bottom line is on only one car that I really thought
would be worth the effort, but it is more valuable on
its own as a project car needing extensive (should
that be expensive?) work than as a donor.
We made a friend, we had a good road trip, my grandson
went on his first junkyard dive, and we deeply touched
the Corvair's heart. But no car for me, other than a
couple of distantly-affordable options.
So, I'm back to square one. There might be rust-free
western cars somewhere over the rainbow, in Arizona
Charlie's yard two days away or under a shed in some
other part of the desert. Maybe there is one that
hasn't been sun-beaten to death or crushed like a beer
can in the same places where AC is hurt.  But in the
middle of the most likely place in the state of
Colorado, no, they don't exist other than in the minds
of those who live somewhere else. I will have to
narrow my search to a local car with a good, solid
body that I can drive home and strip to the bones. I'd
rather spend an extra $300 on something that rolls
home than $3,000 hauling home a bigger wreck than I
already have.
Now, if YOU want to expend the effort, go ahead. I'm
right behind you.

Chuck Kubin
LIFCCX Grand Poobah

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