Reunited With An Old Friend

NY90RedSC

Registered User
Some people believe in karma and some don't. Still not sure if I do or not, but I do know fate has a way of working things out.
A few weeks ago, as I posted in another thread, my buddy told me of an old SC sitting in the brush, neglected. He had been wanting a SC for awhile but hadn't really gotten serious in his search until he stumbled across this car. I had originally told him I wouldn't go after that car because he was interested in it and wanted to see if he could buy it for a decent price. Well, he finally made connections with the owner a couple days ago and asked him about the car. The guy told him he found it in a local salvage yard a year or so ago just sitting there outside the gate. He was told a guy had just driven the car in about an hour ago and sold it for "a couple hundred bucks because he didn't have room for the car anymore and noone was interested in buying it."
When Dave, (my buddy), went out back with him to look at the car, he instantly recognized the car as my old SC. The guy bought the car originally to restore it and do some performance upgrades but ended up buying another old Ford to restore and rod out instead so he just parked the car behind his garage so the town wouldn't start hounding him about having unregistered vehicles on his property. He told my buddy the car just needed a battery and it should start right up. They tossed an old battery in the car and cranked it over. Sure enough, the car started right up.
Well, Dave finally got hold of me last night and asked if I would go with him to inspect the car so he wouldn't get ripped off. He never let on about the car being my old SC. I went with him this morning and after trudging through the weeds I saw my old SC collecting pollen and weeds. My jaw hit the ground as I was told the car had been stripped when I went back to the yard to try and buy it back a couple days after I had sold it. Dave looked at me and asked me if I thought it was a decent car, with a sly grin on his face. The owner came out and asked if we were interested in buying the car. Dave asked him how much and he told him he could have it for the price he paid for it, a measley $175. I told Dave if he didn't buy the car he was crazy as I knew how good the car ran and how dependable it was. Well, Dave rubbed his chin and after a couple minutes told the guy he appreciated the offer, but he didn't think he was interested in buying the car. I was busy pawing through the car seeing what condition it was in after sitting all this time. There were tree saplings starting the grown through the engine compartment, a mouse made a nest in the glove box too, but other than that I didn't see where anything had been molested on the car. When I heard Dave say he was going to pass I popped my head up and asked the guy if he was serious about the price. The owner smiled and assured me he was serious and tossed me the keys to see "if it might start after sitting all this time", as he put it. I climbed in and cranked it and sure enough the car started right up. Of course I had no idea Dave had been there the day before inspecting the car at that point. I backed the car out of the weeds and pulled it around to front of the garage where I let the car idle for awhile. Other than the valve cover gaskets leaking some oil onto the exhaust manifolds, the car purred as smoothly as it did when I owned it. Unfortunately the exhaust has rotted away though, but other than that the car is still the same as it was when I parted with it.
I called my wife at work and told her about my find and asked her if I could buy it back but she told me that right now, until I got the money from some parts I had for sale there was simply no money for me to buy the car. Plus, I have already made a deal to buy another SC and I am really looking forward to getting that car as well. Anyways, the guy asked me what parts I had for sale and I told him of a couple small block chevy engines and trannys and other GM high performance parts I had for sale and he asked if I would be interested in swapping one of the engine/tranny packages for the SC. I jumped at the offer and he'll be coming over this evening to pick up the engine and tranny. So, I basically got my old SC back for a 305 Chevy engine and 200 4R transmission so he can do a swap in the old Ford he bought to restore. I will have my SC back this evening in the yard as well.
When I asked Dave why he didn't want the car, he told me he simply couldn't do that to his best friend. He knew how much I regretted selling my SC and when he realized it was my old car, he knew if it was for sale at a decent price that he would let me have 1st dibs on it.
I have some work to do on the car, that's for sure. But it's my 1sr SC and it's back home where it belongs. I will guarentee one thing too, it will NEVER leave the family again. Everything happens for a reason and this car didn;t come back into my life just to be sold or traded away again.
Sorry for the long post, but I am happier than anyone can imagine. I have my old SC back and to top it off, I'll be adding a second SC to the family as well, this one being an AOD car for my wife. Not to mention, true friends are hard to come by and Dave sure is a true friend.
 
Thats the exact reason i'm so afraid of selling my old SC. I bought it with 3k$ i scrapped up my first year in college. It got parked and sat in my parents spare garage for almost 5 years until 2 months ago when i had it shipped from Detroit to SA where I live now.

Aside from blown rear brake line it started and drove.

Unfortunately cancer has set in heavy deep. Ive got rocker panels but i just keep finding more rust. I keep looking for a roller to transplant the power plant into.

I know if I sold it, id never see it again (it would definitely get parted). Lucky break you have there.
 
m sitting here with a big a$$ smile on my face .

thanks for making my day just too cool .
fate works its mysterius ways
 
F-ing A. Kick @ss story man....things happen for a reason. that car is meant to be urs...cherrish it!

Oh, and i do remember reading the post where you say about that old car sitting in the back of someone's house...man, crazy.
 
Sounds like that 90 FSM I'm sending you will come in handy! Great find, and good luck with the car.

JD

(manual should be there first of the week; hopefully before the holiday).
 
thats cool as hell, if i happened to stumble across my first SC for sale, i'd probably buy it up in a heart beat, even though it was a rust bucket.

So are you still interested in that GFX kit i have for sale? haha.
 
Great story..Were you the on ethat drove it to the junkyard to begin with?

Yep. I was the one that made that awful trip that day. I hated doing what I did, but at the time I had no other choice.
I got the car home last night, finally. I drove the car and found out the brakes DEFINITELY need to be replaced. The car shook violently when I applied the brakes on the drive home, shaking the whole car. I will go through and replace everything eventually in the brakes.
The car is a little louder with the exhaust being rotted as well so that is definitely going to be fixed in the near future too.
The valve covers are seeping oil and the gaskets will most likely need to be replaced in the near future. The paint is also faded ALOT more than I remember and the clearcoat is peeling alot more too, but that's to be expected with it sitting out in the weather for a year.
There are other little things that need to be fixed too, but at least the car is back home where it belongs. I had to pinch myself to make sure I wasn't dreaming when I got up this morning and looked in the driveway and saw it sitting there. I had really written that car off last year and there wasn't a day that went by that I didn't think about it and how much I regretted getting rid of it, especially selling it to a salvage yard.
I will get pics posted later today after I get it cleaned up a bit....
 
What was the reason you took it to the junkyard in the first place?

I am debating about getting a new SC rather than spending the money on paint and new rockers for mine since I could buy a southern rust free car for dirt cheap these days. However there is just a sentimental value on the car for me that I don't think I could replace. I have had some good fun with the car and it's like an old trustworthy friend. I was so tempted to get this white SC from Cali w/ a bad engine and just swap my engine/trans/stereo/rims/suspension over to it. But the car itself wouldn't mean as much to me as the one I've busted my you know what on for the past 6 years since I bought it when I was 18 and a senior in high school.

I've also got a 1992 5-speed that needs paint and door hinges and some cheap repairs but I'll never part with it. I bought it when I was 16 and worked at McDonalds to pay for it. I'm going to start shipping the stuff it needs back to Michigan where the car is, and when I go to pick it up later this year I'll have everything I need then I just need to get it painted.

It's funny how these cars become a part of your life and aren't just a way from point a to point b.
 
Well Scott, I found myself in an awkward position last year with having too many cars and no room to keep them. I had to buy my wife a more dependable car and we ended up withn a 2003 Monte Carlo SS. We had no room for the SC and the city started issuing citations to me for having too many cars. It's illegal to park cars overnight on the street as well, so I was really in a bind. They threatened to take me to court and to impound any "derelict" cars I had at my house.
So, I tried to sell the SC, even posting it here for sale but noone was serious about buying the car and time was ticking so I had to do something or risk a 30 day jail sentence and having the car impounded, making me liable for those expenses as well. That's why I ended up driving it to the local salvage yard and getting what I could for the car which was next to nothing.
I did have someone offer me a space to store the car after I sold it and I went back a couple days later only to be told that car had already been stripped and scrapped. They wouldn't let me out back to see so I just considered the car written off at that point. I guess that's why I'm still in shock that I actually have the car back after a little over a year. Miracles never cease it seems. She's home now though and that's all that matters.
 
S.c.

Cool story...............I plan to keep mine and give it to one of my Grandkids.
When I have grandkids that is.............I'm already 56.
 
that is one cool story man congrats on getting your car back hopefully you'll have a spot to keep it now
 
It took a few days but I finally took some quick shots of the car now that it's back home.
As you can see, a mouse took a liking to the glovebox, but the most surprising thing was the fact the head and taillight covers were still with the car, scattered across the back seat.
I took some closeup shots of the pine tar that is on the car too, so I will have fun trying to get that mess off the car. All in all though, after a good washing the car cleaned up halfway decent. The clearcoat is definitely a bit more faded, but the car needed a paint job anyways. Now the fun starts! ;)

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