Quote:
Originally Posted by Safari Larry
|
Holy Havel on a Horse, you're the Pontiac Safari Larry? I've been devouring - and being intimidated by the breadth of - your website (and it's great to meet you here). I think you're right about putting off all the upgrades until we get the big stuff sorted. I'm just so darn excited about all this that I've got a bad case of Shiny Syndrome.
Now, the juicy details. Last night I finished going through all the papers that came with the car - and it was a gold mine. I have the original sales order - it was manufactured in May/June 1955 and sold in June for $3600 (taxes and fees not included). Also have the 1955 Pontiac sales brochure featuring the complete lineup for that year.
Additionally, and what forms the bulk of the papers, is essentially the car's entire maintenance and service history, from 1959 to 2001 - mostly composed of receipts, work orders, and the owner's supplemental notes. Owner 1 had the car at least as late as 2009 (she had a 2009-2011 registration in the papers, but never put the '09 sticker on her plate).
Side story. She got this car involved in a traffic accident in '94, against a brand new '95 Chevy S10 with less than 1k miles on it. A local Chevy dealership sent her a copy of the bill to repair the S10 - about $850. Her notes show that the Pontiac got its bumper repaired for $155. They don't make 'em like they used to.
After '11...nothing. According to the traffic ticket she got for the collision, she was born in 1917, so already almost 80 by the time of her accident, and I assume she made it into her 90s. My guess is that the car was sold by her heirs to Owner 2.
The second-to-last maintenance document I have, an invoice dated 25 Mar 2000, gives an odometer reading of 72845. In the past 25 years, therefore, the car has been driven less than 500 miles - current reading is 73103. So not only did Owner 1 quit driving in the 2000s, but Owner 2 did nothing with it either (he also had a Mustang Mach 1 and a Corvette Stingray, so I guess he preferred driving the higher-performance cars).
Owner 2's death sent the Stingray to his nephew, and the Mustang and the Pontiac to his daughter, who liked the Mustang but didn't need the Pontiac (enter Myself, stage left). According to the daughter and her husband, Owner 2 would occasionally fire up the Pontiac's engine, and let it run for ten minutes in his garage, but he never drove it. He would back it into his driveway and then pull it back into the garage. No one knows when this car last made a journey of any distance.
However, the good news - allegedly everything is in working order except the master brake cylinder (and a few smaller projects). Garage kept for basically its entire life. Repainted its original color in the late '80s. Interior reupholstered/recarpeted in the early '90s.
I don't intend to turn the engine over until I get all the fluids changed - gas, engine oil, transmission oil. Any fluids I'm forgetting about? What transmission fluid does a Hydra-Matic take?
Hope that's enough detail for Rachelsdad, and let me again express my gratitude for the help each of you has provided so far.