OK, things took a wrong turn. I can't deliver pictures this weekend, so I'll spill the beans now.
I have 4 cars, 2 1960's, Impeiral Margarine (73), and King George the 64.
My house is a 4-Imperial house before stuff starts to show from the street, and the other day, my neighbor who is decidedly NOT a car guy demonstrated that at least some of me is wearing off on him by telling me that he'd seen 2 Imps that day. I was impressed that he'd picked up on them at all. I doubt that he'd know a Cad from a Lincoln, so he's coming along pretty well if I do say so myself.
He also said that one was for sale and was only about 5 miles away - looked ok to him. I invited him to lead me to it, and I was floored to find that it was pristine. I mean there was a shaft of light coming through the clouds and a pot of gold and all that. It was dirty frm sitting, but looked like a 2 year old car. The interior is perfect, the body is perfect, the chrome is brilliant. Everything. This is the sort of situation that you dream about.
It took a little while to get ahold of the seller, and we went back awhile later. I opened the hood, and it was perfect. Opened the air cleaner cover and the carb was so clean that it looked NEW. No varnish, no discoloration. Wow. Looked inside and the odo was at 29,900. Original. I began to salivate. It smelled like 1964. Previous owner was an aunt. Uncle bought it for her to learn to drive in. She wasn't much for driving, I guess. It got put into the garage and she gave it to the guy that has it now. The thing is frigging mint!
The lady (seller) started talking price and I knew that she was not even close to the market value (high by 4 thousand) so told her how valuable the car was and all that but that I just couldn't afford it. I decided to leave it be. If you love something and all that....
Called back in a few weeks and the car hadn't sold yet - it was off on a side residential street and nobody was going to see it there anyway unless I told you sharks on the IML, and I at least know better than that.
Seemed like they had no clue about how to go about selling it.
I wound up getting her dad's number and we haggled back and forth and settled on a price and I still couldn't afford it at the moment, so we agreed that the last $500 could be spread out over time. Good enough. Done deal.
Well, I went out and bought the parts that I always put on a car that's new to me:
Matched fan belts
Radiator hoses
Power steering hoses (!!!)
Brake: wheel and master cylinders and flex hoses
Trans rear seal
I was to pick the car up and drive it home tomorrow (Saturday) on its STOCK tires, but the guy's wife got to him and he subsequently bagged the deal over the $500 in payments and didn't bother to call me as he decided to go out of town on impulse and would have probably had me knocking on his door at 9am without so much as a phone call to tell about the fact that I was now $500 short and I'd have to await his return monday and all. Bummer. What the hell is it with guys' wives where they get em to go back on their word after the make a DEAL? It was good enough on the phone and all, but I digress....
I have the $500 hidden away for rainy days, so I can pony up, but I'm starting my own business right now, and spending money is really irresponsible, but what does one do in this situation? Go for the car! I know that I can get my money back out of it because the lady's initial price wasn't all that far from what the car could fetch if sorted out and presented properly, but I didn't buy it to flip it. I want to DRIVE her!!!
We'll see what happens. That guy said he'd call me monday, robbing me of the weekend, but I made it this far in life without the car and I guess that I can wait a few more days.
Man that car was Tip-Top. I hope I get it. You'll see what I'm all gaga about when you see pictures of it.
That's the reason that I'm bestowing King George on a newly found friend from the list.
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