It's weird, I only bought three cars this year, and all three were 80's Chrysler products.
#1 was the rustiest Dodge Omni in the history of the automobile (because it had perfect front fenders), #2 was an '89 LeBaron GTC, because someone had swapped in the intercooled 2.5 Turbo II engine, and it was also a manual with the sought after A-555 transmission, and had 4 wheel discs. Basically the best possible donor car for my GLH build. It almost hurt me to chop that car up, it looked fantastic, everything worked (even the A/C and power convertible top) but it was just soooooo rotten underneath.
#3 will be something to enjoy while I build the beast Omni. It came up on Facebook Marketplace for a really good price, but still more than I really wanted to pay. The ad said the car had to be gone in two days.
I spoke to the seller, agreed to take a look, and made an offer- 1/3 of the asking price, but I really didn't need this thing. She accepted. The city had been threatening to have it towed, and were going to remove it on the Saturday at 1 pm if she hadn't relocated it. Other people wanted to buy it for the engine and the seats, but she wanted the car to remain intact and be enjoyed.
My garage is at critical mass (and it holds 8 cars), and I don't want to plow around any extras, so I had to get to the storage facility by noon on the same day I was picking up the car to reserve a spot. No biggie, an hour from home, and 20 minutes from where the car was sitting. I take off with the car dolly behind me at 11:30, make it about 30 seconds into my trip, and one of the tires on the dolly decides to eject its entire tread. No problem, whip around and pull the nearly new tire off of my completely rotted out and sagging parts dolly. Turns out the rim is too wide and it hits the deck of the good dolly... what the hell am I going to do now?!
So like any totally rational person, I hook the rotted out, sagging parts dolly up to my truck and hope for the best. IT WORKED. It was one last magical ride for this piece, and I could see the camber changing in my mirrors when the car was on top of it. Everything just barely worked out, I made it to the storage place at 11:55 to pay for a parking space, and made it to the car at 12:45. A tow truck arrived while we were loading the car (which was almost kind of satisfying), and the dolly didn't kill anyone or wreck anything. It's gone now... I saved the tires and sent it off to be made into a new Malibu.
Anyway, here's the latest "rescue", it's an '83 (my birth year!) Shelby Charger. A little beat up but intact, and it was on the road this past summer. I actually have photos of it parked beside my Pony that I took a couple of years ago which is kind of cool. I'll just be driving it "as is" while I build the Omni, but it will eventually be getting some proper love. It's too bad someone in the past thought it was a real Charger and decided it needed hood pins.
(Bolstering is overrated.)
