Sunday, May 18, 2014

Did we find it . . Or not?

We have been pretty busy but wanted to provide an update. While Marty performed a 3-song shower set, Jon and I scoured craigslist for vehicles and finished yesterdays blog posts. Marty added some items to the list and along with recommendations via Facebook and Email we completed a list of about 12 cars that we thought were worth pursuing. We then set "Mary Hendricks" (inside joke) on the bed and provided him phone numbers and car details and he tried to arrange opportunities for us to view the vehicles. We knew that we didn't have much opportunity to get any work out of Marty so we applied him with this task; plus he has some experience swindling people over the phone. 

We ended up arranging to see 3 vehicles and a 4th was added later in the day after a no-show. All the visits ended up being in the mid to late afternoon so we killed some time picking up some tools I forgot and visiting a pawn store. We did randomly stop along the way to knock on the door of a house with an old Galaxy 500 parked outside.




The first vehicle we saw (a vehicle we got a second chance on because another potential buyer was a no-show) was the one that interested us the most. It's a 1968 Pontiac Catalina with a 400 Big Block and almost no interior. The runner up was a 1979 Lincoln Continental that was so nice we thought it was too easy for this trip; it wasn't Roadkill enough, tied for third was a 1979 Jimmy or a 1955 Oldsmobile Super 88 (second owner!).  The Pontiac seemed to have just the right Patina and and the engine and transmission seem great. The problem was it had a flat tire so we haven't tested the brakes or the suspension yet. Here are some pictures of the beast. 

Can you say "Land Yacht?"

We'll try to scare any snakes out of the interior before we drive it.


Where the magic happens!

How we stand:

  • We are checking out of our hotel in a couple minutes (only had it for 2 nights)
  • We will pick up the owner of the Pontiac and some supplies and head out to the car
  • We will put a spare on and try to drive it for the first time to see if the brakes and suspension works
  • We'll also attempt to clean the fuel line by running the engine off a gas can and letting the engine fuel pump push fuel into another container to check for cleanliness
  • If that goes well we'll pay for the car and then head for Pep Boys or a similar location to see if we can get new tires installed and maybe get a visual of the brakes
  • ?? After that I guess we'll start driving back Route 66 (did we mention that was part of the plan yet?)
Wish us luck!


Oh and Marty is singing Eddie Rabbitt "I Love A Raining Night" in the shower again . .

3 comments:

  1. Looks like a fun trip, Mr. Hendrickson. Safe travels back to Wisco.

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  2. Thanks Jason! We haven't left yet . . stay tuned.

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  3. After the teaser from Party Marty yesterday some of us are dying for an update! Sounds like a great experience so far!!

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