March 2026:
Note: I constantly update this blog post and other posts too..
Winters are hard on me.. Time to get stupid.. and buy something. BIG
But was I stupid ??
It was cheap. ( so not much invested) It drives, and I could have driven it home if it wasn’t still winter. This photo was taken in Creston when we stopped for lunch. Doesn’t look like winter does it . It’s still clean! But not for long… There is still snow on the mountain passes, and we have three of those to get home.
Meanwhile back in Grand Forks…
It’s here now ( home) and a little dirtier. And soon off to the car wash for the trailer and the car then I will unload the car. I’ve got to remember this Chevy is 38 years old ! Guess what I found in the glove box ??
The owners manual ! In excellent condition. Blew my mind. I never expect that. And yes I read the whole thing.
History Lesson…
What little I know. I bought the car from the son of the owner. Dad owned the car from 1992 till now. (Claimed) Only driven in the summer and stored under cover… OK I’ll buy that. It is a convertible and I can not find any rusty places. Dad was a heavy duty mechanic for the coal mines and lived in Elkford. Winter lasts more than six months there. So unless the dash was replaced, he drove a whopping 300,000+ kms in those 34 years. Yup possible, the math sorta works. However that 9000 kms every summer seams like a lot of driving. So the whole mile’d up thing is up for debate, and not what I was hoping for. It could be that this car came with the… ( notorious ) digital dash from these years that was prone to failing. And the only one he could find (from a wreaking yard) was this one with lots of Kms. We will never know for sure.
I must note here (after reading the manual) that the odometer has a feature that tells you if the numbers have been tampered with. Suffice to say THIS odo has not been tampered with.. But could have been changed.
I’m writing this post a bit early.. Haven’t even unloaded the car from the trailer.Got that done today and made a video too… Check that out …
Today I have had a much closer look at the car.. Put a new battery in, and air in the tires. Some gas in the tank.. Took it for a drive …about 4 kms on our rural roads. No issues. It drives better than I expected. I like it !
That’s the good..But let’s look at the bad stuff…
And you know there’s got to be some things not right. Let’s put aside the terrible paint job. That’s not going to be a problem for the time being. And it looks fine from 20 ft away. I’m more concerned with the condition of the weather stripping and the seals for the windows. It’s an old convertible ! Which means even more places that’s going to let the rain in. Sourcing these seals is going to be a challenge. I’ll take some photos of what I’m referring to.
#1 bad place to leak.
The belt line seal for the drivers door/ window on the outside is missing. The rain will just run down inside the door.. Not Good !
#2 bad place to leak !
This gap is between the front and rear windows. Is the rear window to blame for this? Is there a seal missing ? That metal piece comes off and I suspect it’s on the wrong side.
#3 Bad place to leak ! chunks are missing..
This time the rear drivers side belt line window seal. All four should be replaced. I wonder if something generic could be used. So I pulled this belt line moulding off to see how the felt / rubber seal is attached. ( what’s left of it )
Here it is.. the belt line is a metal cap that snaps onto the top of the door , or in this case the body behind the door. stapled to it is the rubber / felt window seal / wiper. I found a place in California that sells just the rubber / felt part…. By the foot. So I can repair this. What little is left of these seals is hard, brittle and doing nothing to stop rain from coming in. Two down one to go..
A new top !
The other part to keeping the car dry inside is the whole convertible top.. That’s a big one. But just today I found out the local upholstery shop here can replace the top… with a”glass” window for approximately $1600. My choice of colours.. I think I’ll stick with black. The rain is coming so for now I have a tarp over the car and a car cover over that.
