OK..so this is a misery loves company thread...sort of. I am embarking on my multi year restore of my 69 convert that i got in 97..drove for a few years then garaged til now...she is a mutt and good candidate for a restore. When cleaning out all the crap in it i threw away what i now realize was the orig positraction tag that was buried in a rear compartment ...not knowing at the time what it was and was not in full on restore mindset yet. Was more worried about getting rid of the mice carcasses and such. So just feeling sorry for myself for tossing a 50 yr old artifact..admittedly minor one. Any who..sorry if this sob story is out of protocol for the forum...still a noob here. Guess i will just get a new one...not that i care that much..and call it a day. Lesson learned...go...slow. Thx for listening.
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late Oct 1969 L46 350/350, M21 4spd, 3.70 posi convertible --As with life, restoration is a journey, not a destination. Though restored cars provide both journeys AND destinations! -
Re: Stupid Spilled Milk Story
Keith,
Read your post and had to smile because many of us have been there and done things that we wished for a do over.
That's a very inexpensive lesson to learn about your 69 vette, go find another tag and move forward. -
Re: Stupid Spilled Milk Story
Hi Keith,
Great story! I thought you were going to say you threw away the "tank sticker"! The posi tag is much easier to replace. Originals show up every now and again on eBay. Font is a little different on the repros.
BTW.....Welcome to the Pittsburgh Tri State Chapter.....Looking forward to meeting you at one of our events this year!
Jimmy
1973 Convertible
L48,M20,N40
Mille Miglia Red/Oxblood
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Re: Stupid Spilled Milk Story
40 years after I did it, I can admit what I did. I took some gas tank brackets out of a 62 (because they weren't correct anyway
) and trash canned them. A year later I figured out that the car was the famous Gulf Oil 1962 that won national SCCA A-production in 1962, and the brackets I threw away were custom built by GM for the solid-axle 37-gallon gas tank installed for racing. There were perhaps 8 sets of those made. They are well preserved deep in the town dump outside a town of 250 people in Northern Wisconsin. They were in the way of putting the soft top down. It was originally a hardtop only car!
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Re: Stupid Spilled Milk Story
That's a good one Mike...
Personally I have trhown away too many original interiors and painted WAY TOO MANY original paint Corvettes and musclecars. It took 20 years before taking to heart what I was told by by restorers who had done the same 20 years prior.James A Groome
1971 LT1 11130 - https://photos.app.goo.gl/zSoFz24JMPXw5Ffi9 - the black LT1
1971 LT1 21783 - 3 STAR Preservation.- https://photos.app.goo.gl/wMRDJgmyDyAwc9Nh8 - Brandshatch Green LT1
My first gen Camaro research http://www.camaros.org/forum/index.p...owposts;u=4337
Posts on Yenko boards... https://www.yenko.net/forum/search.php?searchid=826453Comment
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Re: Stupid Spilled Milk Story
40 years after I did it, I can admit what I did. I took some gas tank brackets out of a 62 (because they weren't correct anyway) and trash canned them. A year later I figured out that the car was the famous Gulf Oil 1962 that won national SCCA A-production in 1962, and the brackets I threw away were custom built by GM for the solid-axle 37-gallon gas tank installed for racing. There were perhaps 8 sets of those made. They are well preserved deep in the town dump outside a town of 250 people in Northern Wisconsin. They were in the way of putting the soft top down. It was originally a hardtop only car!
Mike, You forgot to thank your friend from Michigan who just happened to have the blue prints and an extra set to supply your required replacements. Your welcome! DComment
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Re: Stupid Spilled Milk Story
For all the details on Rev. Mike's adventure, I recommend reading the Fall 1981 issue of the Restorer "3,500 miles in a $3,500 Corvette". Whereas now someone going 2/3rds cross country in a 20 year old Corvette wouldn't be noticed twice, back then people would question your sanity.Comment
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Re: Stupid Spilled Milk Story
No Gulf Oil racer, but here goes...
In the early-'80s, on a college break (Thanksgiving seems to stick in my mind), I drove my mom's '58 across the country from Pennsylvania to Arizona. Two hours on the road and the overwhelming smell of gas demands a look. I stop in Front Royal, VA at the Chevy dealer to investigate. The fuel filler gasket is leaking at the top of the tank and fuel is coming out behind the seats. I don't remember fixing it exactly but must have gotten a part from the dealer. Back on the interstate and all seems to be going well except for a passenger hub cap coming off somewhere in Kentucky with the glint in the mirror catching my eye and the odd sound of it hitting the pavement and heading for the woods next to the highway. A long search finally located it and I put all of them in the trunk. Back to driving. The setting sun was brutal with no sun visors. Pieces of paper slid between the hardtop and header became my sun visors. The seat was beginning to make my back sore.
The next day, crossing the mighty Mississippi, while still on the bridge, the car started bucking and sputtering and all hell was going on in the engine. Cut the engine and pull off as soon after the bridge guardrail allowed. One of the carb linkages (memory foggy - forward rod of the 2-4 barrel setup?) had come off the carb. Fairly easy fix and back on the road.
Then as evening is approaching the headlights seem really dim, no, like seriously, really dim. I drive the nine miles to the next exit and carefully pull off the interstate in Groom, Texas, where it appears the whole town (the description of "town" is being generous) has rolled up the sidewalks and gone to sleep. At the far end of town, there's a truck service shop with the doors still open and light spilling out. The young guys in there working on their own cars after hours were most friendly, agreed that the generator was dead, and offered me their wrenches. They then called the owner of the local parts shop, which was an unpainted wood 1920s gas station converted to auto/truck/farm parts store. They reached the guy at home who agreed to come down and take a look to see if he had anything that would work. What do you know, he had an exact replacement on the shelf! Paid him with traveler's checks (remember those?) and installed it, fired up the '58 and had headlights again. Waved goodbye to the guys in the shop, the town of Groom Texas, and to my mom's original generator with tach drive sitting on the counter of the unpainted wood 1920s gas station converted to auto/truck/farm parts store. Still can't let this go after 40 years.
Drove a bit further to Amarillo to spend the night at the Holiday Inn. The next day I drove from Texas through New Mexico and then in to Arizona, all the while battling squalling snow and high wind with the bias ply, wide-white wall tires. Every day so far had seen some sort of breakdown and I had become hyper-aware of each lane sidestep, click, shudder, and groan the car made. I was completely frazzled when I finally pulled into my mom's place in Sedona and swore I'd never do that again.
The summer after that i drove my '67 the same route.Comment
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