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My 'new' 64 square
stephenianjames - April 11th, 2005 at 08:12 PM

After mourning the sale of my 68 squareback I have bought a 1964.

Was advertised on ebay about a month or so ago, but didnt get any bids so I negotiated with the guy and got it for 2 grand.

Unfortunately the car has a fair bit of rust (full extent not known yet) whereas the description said all rust had been welded etc.

Also had a few issues which included breaking down on the drive back from Sydney to Melbourne.

However hopefully most of the rust is straight forward enough, and as I'm about to start a welding course it will be fixable.

The beast has alot of potential..seats are in pretty good nick for age (quite rare houndstooth pattern), headlining is knackered, but will replace when I install NOS Britax sunroof. Has also been converted to IRS rear and front disk brakes, has 1600 TP engine which seemed to run OK apart from breakdown (fuel line blockage).

First step will be this weekend when I strip interior and clean up rust in floorpan. Have bought some POR 15 and will stem the rust everywhere I can get access to, and weld later once I have completed welding course.

Plans for the beast include:

(1) full rust repair and new, gun metal grey paintjob
(2) install Britax ragtop sunroof
(3) Sort out mechanical issue for roadworthy
(4) Put on set of Rivieras or Porsche 914 style alloys

Here's a few pics of car in it's present state

stephenianjames - April 11th, 2005 at 08:13 PM

Another pic

stephenianjames - April 11th, 2005 at 08:14 PM

Pic of cool 'houndstooth' interior

Paddo - April 11th, 2005 at 08:19 PM

rate the road trip! even though I nearly died!

pete wood - April 11th, 2005 at 10:45 PM

Jeez dude, I was drooling over that for ages, I emailed the owner but he didn't reply. Sorry to here about all the rust. I hope you give him a nasty rating over that....:o

stephenianjames - April 12th, 2005 at 07:02 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by pete wood
Jeez dude, I was drooling over that for ages, I emailed the owner but he didn't reply. Sorry to here about all the rust. I hope you give him a nasty rating over that....:o


Problem is that I bought it from him after the auction ended (no-one placed a bid) and therefore have no way of leaving feedback. Thing is, when I rocked up to buy the car the guy reckoned he had to head off almost straight away and so I had limited time to check all the rust areas. I mainly focused on the sills, pillars etc and failed to look at the floor properly as his description was for surface rust only.

Much to my dismay when I iflled up with petrol down the road, petrol started dripping out of the tank and so I thought I'd take a better look at all the rust before I drove much further on....lifted up the rear floor mats where the bloke said he had new pans welded in a couple of years ago and there were holes everywhere.

I can understand the guy not knowing of rust areas you might find once you have stripped the car down, but this bloke said all these areas were recently welded up and resealed etc...very dissapointing but no recourse available. What can you do?

Anyway, I'm commited to getting the thing sorted out and back on the road so we'll see what happens. It has it's good points like I said such as decent IRS conversion, front disks, reasonable 1600 TP motor, good interior ec and is pretty straight.

Will post updates with progress which is bound to be a slow process.

Steve

[Edited on 11/4/2005 by stephenianjames]

Dannyboy - April 12th, 2005 at 07:47 AM

Stick with it mate , will be worth it i'm sure. Floors are easy enough to patch up.
It's always hard buying / selling long distance. Someone's idea of light resto is different to others. Hard for the seller to describe everything and also for the buyer to see what the cars like before travelling a long way.
I wouldnt dwell on it too much , be happy you have a great early square to start from and cruise!

Good luck , keep the pic's coming

Dan;)

Dannyboy - April 12th, 2005 at 07:50 AM

Oh yea can you post some pics of the roof? Is it a long one or standard size??

Dan:thumb

pete wood - April 12th, 2005 at 10:22 AM

happy I didn't chase it...

you should send Ebay a note on him anyway.

And dare I say it, you probably should have checked the car better properly. But you're porbably already kicking yaself. Anyway, sorry bout all the bother. I'm sure you'll work it out in the end. :)

Turbo54 - April 12th, 2005 at 01:06 PM

This is the same interior as mine, I am looking for a set of really good front seats for mine same pattern if you know of any, nice to see another early shape T3 being resto'd, good luck,
T54

stephenianjames - April 12th, 2005 at 06:55 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by dannyboy67
Oh yea can you post some pics of the roof? Is it a long one or standard size??

Dan:thumb


If you mean the sunroof it's the one Ruckus was selling. Havent picked it up but plan to some time this week. It's the standard sized one unfortunately, but will still br great!

[Edited on 12/4/2005 by stephenianjames]

stephenianjames - April 16th, 2005 at 08:54 AM

Very slow progress on the square to this stage..started pulled seats and carpets etc out and started cleaning rust off the floorpan. Probably not quite as bad as I originally thought...the left hand side is all pretty solid and most likely wont require welding. The right hand side is solid enough at the front, however will need some welding for sure at the rear. Haven't gone as far as battery area yet so I'm holding my breath for some pleasant/unpleasant surprises.

Unfortunately as I'm working longish hours and renovating/building at home progress on the square will be very slow.

Will update with some decent progress next time hopefully

frenzix - April 16th, 2005 at 09:08 AM

sweet