new here with a '73 Custom Cruiser

Good story!! Beautiful car!! I'm a bit jealous, though - a '73 CC is my dream car. Out of all the wagons my family had I liked it the best. Unfortunately, it was retired and replaced with a 78 CC when I stared driving. Worst part is, the man who bought it used it for a certian event we won't discuss. Anyway, welcome and one day when funds permit I'll join you in ownership!

 

Absolute necessity up here! I plug in when it get close 8F (-14C). On a V8, I usually ordered it with 2 of them. The Hood liner really helps. We've already plunged from 12F at 6:00 AM to -2F for today's HIGH. 55MPH winds, a total freezing blizzard!

 

Thank you, and it's funny that you should mention this. They've already asked if they can take a drive up from Charleston over the summer to take a look, and I've told them any time is fine.

 

Jaunty, Welcome aboard the board! What a great find! One of the guys, CapriceEstate, IIRC, just went to Autozone and got a replacement motor, or he commented on another member's motor issue. I'll see if I can find the thread.

 

I'm wrong. It was a wiper motor:
http://www.stationwagonforums.com/forums/showthread.php?p=60251#post60251

I know we've gone through this one before, probably under General Discussions or General Tech sections.

Just search for Clamshell... off the top menu.

 

LOL...hey, Normy....it was a HEATER motor....LMAO!

 

Here's three more photos. Two are of the interior dash area. That little thing hanging below the radio is a CB radio attachment (remember, good buddy, this was the '70s!). Hanging on the turn signal stalk is a little bag containing a bottle of touch-up paint that matches the color of the car and was included by the body shop that repainted it when they returned the car. The bottle looks unused, and I don't even know if the paint inside has dried out.

One thing you can see in the first photo is the end of a rather large tear in the seat bottom upholstery. The front seat bottom will need to be repaired. Maybe an upholsterer can repair just the damaged area and leave the rest of the front seat alone. As you can see in the second photo, the seat bottom upholstery looks ok on the passenger side.

The front seat backs and all of the second and third seat upholstery looks good and just needs to be cleaned. The carpet needs to be replaced as it is quite worn in places.

The third photo is of the car as it sat in the garage at the former owner's house. Yes, those are lawn chairs on the roof. Hey, space was tight, and that was one of the reasons they needed to sell the car. Fortunately the chairs were very carefully laid there and didn't scratch anything. And even if they had, well, heck, it's a station wagon, and what WOULD you put on the roof if not lawn chairs when you're going on a picnic!

 

Thanks, will do. Man, I would have fainted dead away if all I had to do was go to Autozone to get a replacement tailgate motor.


Speaking of which, are the tailgate motors for all of the '71 to '76 Custom Cruisers the same? From what wixom61 has said about the motor from his '76 fitting my '73, I would guess the answer is yes, at least for '73 through '76. Are they same as the motors in the other full-size GM wagons of those years?

 

I would bet yes but I am usually a loser, David (wixom) will know for sure.

The gray 3 wire cord is the engine block heater cord

 

Before I couldn't spell salezmun, now I are one! Darn CRS (Can't Read Slow)

 

OK. I saw some sort of three-wire looking thing coming out of the tailgate motor area. I'll take some photos tonight of what's there and post them, and maybe you guys can tell me what's what.

 

I see you have a rear defogger, is it the fan type or grid in the window? I have never actually seen one with that option

 

It's the kind with the toaster wires in the window. I don't know if it works or not. My dad had that in our '73 back in '73. I remember it worked ok, but I also seem to recall that it did fail once, and the dealer fixed it. I think this was the period when car manufacturers were just starting to make the embedded-wire kind that you see everywhere today.

 

Jaunty, that would be great, and as you can tell from just the three hours since you first posted your intro, what a great group of guys that make up this terrific forum.
I have grown very fond of each and every one of them, and I know you will soon feel the same way.

David

 

Welcome aboard Jaunty

Beautiful story... another clamshell wagon saved.

Wix already offered you some help with the tail gate: I'm not an expert on the powered tail gates, but got quite some spare parts... don't hesitate to ask!!