towed another SC home - *pics

tbird88

Registered User
Went about 350 miles northwest, washed it on the way home somewhere west of Waco, gave it a little squirt under the hood too, got in last night with it. The hills up west of I-35 made a fool outa my pickup, a few long pulls on I-45 too. No more trips like this, the carbed 302 w/AOD and 2.75 gear just ain't the right tool for this job.

Still lookin' everything over, here's what I see so far:
Odometer shows 158,000 miles.
Trans has strawberry milk in it, at least towards the tip of the dipstick. I cranked it yesterday before I loaded it, been sittin' since December, fired up after 5-6 turns, no lifter noise, no smoke. Oil level in the engine is fine, too good to be true, still sinkin' in.
He said the blower only has about 20,000 on it, I believe it. Still has the little paint dab on the filler plug.
Throttle body looks new.
Box in the trunk from Moog, new poly bushings for the strut rods.
Dash is super nice, no cracks.
Seats are sharp except for the usual wear on the driver bolster.
Sunroof siliconed shut because it leaked, drain tubes probably stopped up.
New header panel, don't know if it's repop or Ford.
VMM still in place.
Rear bumper looks immaculate, all GFX look fine too.
Indiana car but I have yet to find a speck of rust.

Pushed it into the driveway by myself, rolls somewhat easily. I figured an average of 1.65/gallon for gas, 690 miles, approx 12 miles per gallon.
Whatcha think to do first? Drain the pan & converter, fill 'er up, try it out?

'89SC auto - $xxx
dolley - $85
700 miles of fuel - $95
coffee - $40
'nother SC sittin' in my driveway - priceless!

'bird

homeward bound
gr89trip4186.jpg


made it!
gr894216.jpg

gr894236.jpg
 
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umm,,your neighbors know you, right?? :D

Looks good. Depending on how many black SC's you have, you might consider a thin body pin stripe of like blue for this one, silver for this one, red for this one. LOL. I think just change the fluid, add some additive for good measure, and give her a try.

Good Luck.
 
Originally posted by tbirdsc35th
umm,,your neighbors know you, right?? :D

Looks good. Depending on how many black SC's you have, you might consider a thin body pin stripe of like blue for this one, silver for this one, red for this one. LOL. I think just change the fluid, add some additive for good measure, and give her a try.

Good Luck.
Pretty decent neighbors, at least they haven't ever called the police because of the burnouts... :) I originally wanted it for the engine/tranny as a backup/spare for Elvira but we'll see.

'bird
 
Nice find Wynn.......good to see it's going to a good home! By the way you were explaining it, I would switch out the front cap from Elvira. Whatcha think!!

Calvin
P.S. You got mail!!
 
Re: 2 questions...

Originally posted by NorthrnSCownr
Good score !!
How did you find it?
Girlfriend asked me the same question, best I can remember is he just emailed and asked if I was interested.
[Did he just want to get rid of it ie: tow it away???
Nope, wasn't free by any means but he gave me a real world price especially seeing as where it was and what I was gonna hafta go through to come get it. Looking back, I can see that his location etc might have made it kinda rough gettin' it fixed somewhat properly so he made me a deal I couldn't resist. It was far away and over the hills and down in a gulley off the Brazos River about 100 miles NW of Waco.

Not bad if you're vacationing in a car but when you get off the beaten path and start pullin' 2 tons up a hill...had to twist that smallblock HARD in 1st gear, I'm thinkin' rod bolts/u-joints/pushrods-flyin'-through-the-valve-covers and all the while my girlfriend is askin' "are we gonna make it?" and I'm goin' "Honey, please, not right now"...and then comes the downhill slide through the gulley on other side...started out idling with the brakes mashed and observing all of the skidmarks of those that came before me...we got though it in one piece, made the turn at the bottom but I'm not sure I ever wanna do that again in this particular truck though!

'bird
 
CAPTIVATING!

Wow... you had me practically on the edge of my seat as if I was in the cab with you!! :(
Sounds like an arduous journey, I'm glad you made it back safely, and am a bit envious of your growing collection!! More power to you! Keep up the good work, and I might as well take this time to give a thumbs up to your very sight and metalergy! Take care and have fun... Tom
 
Originally posted by FearThis SC
Nice find Wynn.......good to see it's going to a good home! By the way you were explaining it, I would switch out the front cap from Elvira. Whatcha think!!

Calvin
P.S. You got mail!!
You crazy Cajun, have you lost yer everluvin' mind? Wait, don't answer that! :)
Nah, I bought it as a partscar. The rear bumper cover is primo, might be the first trinket I put on Elvira. Nothing wrong with Elvira's rear cover except paint but until I can afford a paint job...
If I don't part this one I just got, the black 5spd in the backyard would be an excellent donor, has a great front clip on it.

'bird
 
Question for ya...

What color is the interior? Are you wanting to sell some interior pieces out of it? Depending on what color it is, I'm looking for the Drivers side seat control panel in good shape, no cracks, in the Currant Red Color.

Jeff B.
 
Yer going to have a hard time finding which keys go with what car.

(Mananna morning) Hmmmmm their all black. Uhhhhhh, which car is the running one again Sam?

Jeff
 
Re: CAPTIVATING!

Originally posted by NorthrnSCownr
Wow... you had me practically on the edge of my seat as if I was in the cab with you!! :(
Sounds like an arduous journey, I'm glad you made it back safely, and am a bit envious of your growing collection!! More power to you! Keep up the good work, and I might as well take this time to give a thumbs up to your very sight and metalergy! Take care and have fun... Tom
Speakin' of seat, I had a pretty good grip on that seat if you know what I mean :) It was indeed a journey, poor truck deserves a medal or at least a new pair of front tires!

'bird
 
Originally posted by JSC
Very nice story !!! Damn,even when an SC is being towed it looks cool !!!
It got quite a few looks on the trip home and places we stopped at. Then again, there were bound to be a few that saw it goin' down the road and wondered why in the world someone would want to haul some old Thunderbird home.
Little did they know what they were lookin' at... :)

'bird
 
Re: Question for ya...

Originally posted by Jeff Bratton
What color is the interior? Are you wanting to sell some interior pieces out of it? Depending on what color it is, I'm looking for the Drivers side seat control panel in good shape, no cracks, in the Currant Red Color.

Jeff B.
Hate to tell ya but it's Titanium. Only red panel I have is cracked & faded. :(

'bird
 
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