1969 Lemans Vert Added to Stable
 

A neighbor of mine gifted me a 69 Lemans Vert he’s had parked under a tarp for many years. It’s red with white top/interior, bucket seats, console, automatic. He wouldn’t sell to me when I asked about 10 years ago and he said he planned on fixing it - we’ve all heard that story. Well last week he told me to come and get it free - two conditions- don’t flip it and let him drive it when it’s done. Truthfully, I’m not sure I want to get in this deep and may return it - gotta put it on the lift and get a look underneath. The XS 350 was rebuilt about 20 years ago and has less than 10 miles. All body panels have rust, trunk lid and pan are shot. Not sure about floor pane just yet but area under rear seats is solid. A few pics and more to follow.

Clean it up, make it run nicely and put a new top on it. It’ll look great going down the road, don’t nitpick it just because it has a few spots of rust here and there.

Enjoy fair weather fun.

Don’t repair anything other than to make it road worthy, ignore the cancer other than replacing the trunk floor.

Too bad he let it get 10 years rustier before he came to the realization that he’s never gonna do anything with it.

If you decide to sell it after some years have passed then give him a portion of the proceeds, or give it back with a list of repair costs that he should pay, what’s fair is fair.

I’m willing to bet once he sees the repair bill he’ll pass on taking the car back and then you can do whatever you want with it. Repairing it and enjoying it for several years and then deciding to sell it isn’t flipping, it’s called moving on and making room for perhaps the next one in line.

If he wants to take it for a spin after it’s roadworthy that’s great. If he’s expecting to have use of it multiple times after you’ve done all the work and spent the money on it tell him you’re going to pass. Having strings attached to a supposed gift isn’t a gift at all.

Great points. Question- So the radiator is about half full - he says he had anti freeze mixture in it. Would the antifreeze component have worn off over the years and not protected the block?


Both rear floor pans and passenger side front need patching. Frame and body mounts look good - apparently the rubber mounts were replaced at some point 4 wheel disc brakes- curious as to which conversion used.

More pics:

I got it up on the lift last night and drained the oil and coolant via radiator and block plugs. The coolant smelled normal and looks good - no rust came out. But it only drained about 3 gallons so not sure where the rest went.

The engine date I 27 9 (see pic) and it has “47” heads. I haven’t pulled the valve covers yet to see if the rocker studs were upgraded to BB Chevy type.

The engine turns over easily via the balancer bolt so happy about that. Gotta drain the fuel tank and transmission next.

Wow I love it.
You're thinking of passing on it because it has a little rust?
That's a dream car to some of us.
I'd be all over that.

I’m keeping her -Like BMan recommended , get it roadworthy first, put a top on it and drive it like Nick Nolte drove the Caddy in 48 Hours

I also have a XS 350 that came out of a 69 Lemans convertible. People who know the block codes get real excited when they see it...until I tell them the truth about the engine size.

You’re gonna love having a convertible cruiser to enjoy when the weather is warm.

I’m sure it needs some new rubber, if it was mine I’d get a set of very affordable 215/75-14 Hankook radials with narrow whitewalls. You can change up the look by snapping on a set of full wheel covers too. I did that when I had a set of 14x7 Rally 2 wheels and Custom spinner wheel covers on my ‘64 Le Mans convertible for a little while.

Classy.

Patina is the new paint job of the day now.
Thats how most of my cars are or else I'd
never get to drive them. LOL

GT

I'm happy calling mine rust. If I ever drive my car, I'll consider elevating it to patina.

Got gifted a classic Pontiac for free, and doesn't know if he wants it?

Jesus.