Thinking of getting this 1A2, think it looks any good?

The factory says they are good for 100K miles. If the car is running fine...leave it alone. And, yes, you can just get the cap & rotor KIT like any distributor. But, you will need seals & gaskets....get the whole timing set gasket kit from Fel-Pro...it's cheaper than individual seals & gaskets by a lot.

 

Owner says it started to miss a little, which is why he thinks the cap needs to be replaced

 

Well....don't know as I would roll the dice for $2700 without:
One...seeing the underside.
Two...finding the cause of the miss.
I think you should have someone familiar with these cars inspect it for you before buying it. We are discussing parts & repairs before you even know if it's a buy.

 

Unfortunately the wagon is in Ohio, about 500 miles from me, so this whole thing is tricky. Unless you guys know a good LT1 expert in Dayton.

I'm definitely waiting on the photos of the underside before I make any decision.

 

Good. Because Dayton is not a rust free environment by any means. Traditionally, it's a bad salt area. With the car being a cop car and, likely, on the street during most, if not all, of its tenure.....I have a hunch that the rust will be a deal breaker. I could be wrong, but......

 

Actually...in my mind, I had mixed up Dayton and Cleveland for some reason. Dayton probably wouldn't be as bad as Cleveland for sure, but....still, rust will be an issue.

 

umm mike, didnt your car come from dayton?

 

Nope. Kentucky border.

 

Okay, I have pictures. Lots and lots of pictures, as well as another description from the seller. Oh yea, he'd mentioned before that he thought that this had been a canine unit, and it appears to have been since he mentions the electronic rear window openers (something that I heard were only on the canine ones):

I looked more closely at the car as I haven't been in it since last year. The body is in great condition. There is no rust through the sheet metal or jambs or anything. There are a few small dents in the fender which you should be able to see in the pictures. Like I said, the inner wheel wells are pretty rusty, but I do have a set from another car - the new ones are perfect. There is a lot of surface rust underneath. The driver's floor pan is worse than I remembered. The rubber floor mat makes it feel strong from inside the car, but there is a hole about 3x5 inches underneath. That's the only hole I could find underneath. The video shows me pushing and knocking on the metal at various places to show that it's solid. There is a lot of surface rust on the frame too, but it's absolutely solid. The rear wheel well is dented from underneath, not too bad, but it is dented. The well is solid and looks pretty good from the inside.

It hasn't run for over a year and it started right up. It does feel like it's missing on a cylinder, but runs good. I never changed the plugs or wires, and I know one of the wires is worn out. You can see little sparks jumping from one of the plug wires to another wire or cable up front. But, it did start with just a few seconds of cranking after all that time.

One problem I found, and you can see in the pictures, is that it looks like the wheel cylinder has burst in the driver's side rear wheel. It wasn't leaking when I parked the car, but while we were driving it around it popped and started squirting brake fluid. By the time we put it on the lift it was all wet underneath.

Other details I remembered - the battery was new 2 years ago. It has a new starter and a new water pump - about 18 months or so ago. Other than that, the only thing I've ever done to it is an oil change.

The car should run fine with a brake repair and new plug wires and plugs. But, I assume whoever buys it will strip it down and rebuild it. That's what I planned to do. The engine has low miles and would only need to be cleaned up, the trans and drive train are fine and the exhaust is solid. But, you would want to patch up the driver's floor pan, replace the inner wheel wells with the good ones I have. Then, a very small amount of body work would have the car ready for paint.

You'll see the back end is full of parts. They are from the Caprice I stripped. I plan to use them for a truck project I have for some day in the future.

You can also see the 1a2 RPO code on the SPID label in the rear end. But, the codes are fading away - so you have to look close. You should be able to validate that from the VIN as well.

Like I said before, I do want to get rid of some projects. If you are interested, give me a call or e-mail and let me know what you think. If you decide you're not interested, please let me know that as well. I am going to put it on autotrader and probably in Hemmings if you pass. I do want to move it out before winter.

Thanks and I hope this info and the pictures answer your questions.

Now pictures!

 

More photos:

 

Well, koz...if you are asking for opinions...here's mine. Put that car far out of your mind and move on quickly. What this guy sees as surface rust I see as cancer. This car is not a good buy. At all. Opinions may vary here but I've had a lot of experience with cars over a lot of years and I wouldn't buy that car for $1000.
Now wait for the others to give their opinions.

 

Look at this one for nearly a third of the money.....

http://www.stationwagonforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=14960

 

Surface rust..... I know pics might make it look worse than it is, but I see a few missing chunks of the toe boards. Exhaust vibration dampener is not installed right, so there's a rotted flange or clueless Joe is working on the car. Move on, $1,000.00 looks to be all the money that car is worth at best. Every thing that makes the car a 1A2 is rotted.

Mike

 

These photos make me sad. Amazing to think something so majestic would sink on it's maiden voyage.

I wonder what the Grand Staircase looks like now.

She's so beautiful.


















All we have now are these few precious photos of this glorious relic, as she silently rusts away on the cold, dark and lonely ocean floor, never to...
What? er, oh.....well...nevermind.

David

 

I've said it before, I cannot fathom (pun) why you rusty land people don't just buy cars from the west... My '66 doesn't even have rust like that...