Letting the wagon go... :(

Sounds like your having A REALLY BAD DAY:banghead3: A little mold and a few spiders are a pretty easy fix...have you seen MY CAR?
A little Spary Nine and a vacuum will do wonders!

 

lol Fannie.. I have.

Unfortunately it will take more than a cleaning spray and vacuum to get my car up to par.... Its just the interior was the really nice thing about the car... now it looks revolting. I am sure it would clean back up, but it depresses me.

 

Awe Man, I really don't know what to say, I wish I could help, honest!

 

Tony,

I believe you have your car parked outside. When parked for a long period of time, you really need to keep them inside. These car like to leak and they get worse when outside. I lost a '71 Impala because of this. It was time to take it off the road as the car needed body work (hit a deer), paint and some overall reconditioning (has 156,000 miles on it). This car was parked under a carport for the first 22 years and it had hardly a leak. I didn't have a garage for it at the time and figured it would be OK outside. Beside the regular elements, it started leaking big time and it got to a point that I decided to just use it for parts. Right now I could use some garage space real bad but I won't take my present '72 Impala out because of this lesson learned. I would either buy an Air Tank (Wal-Mart) or just change the flat and get some real good interior cleaner, get up early on a Saturday morning, put on your favorite music and before you know it, you'll have it back again. Sitting just 3 months shouldn't of caused enough problems that you can't tackle pretty quick.

If you wouldn't mind a little more advise, I believe the $4000 price is dragging you down some. I would look at it like you paid just $1500 for it and don't be afraid of investing a little more money into it to get you over the hump. You could be right near reasonable completion and not even know it.

Bill

 

Thanks Ted... me too.. maybe if you find a magic wand, wave me up a Chevrolet tech from a dealer from the early 70s. lol. I wonder if there are any guys out there that worked at a Chevrolet dealer in the early 1970s, that worked in the service shop? :confused: Dont ever seem to be... guess they have all passed away?

Bill, yeah thats correct. Our little carport is gone and all it has over it is a cheap car cover that has been blowing off. Twice last week and it came terrible storms and soaked the inside of the car because of leaking windows. This has only happened twice, so its still OK on the inside, but if that went on, the car would be destroyed in months. If I had tools and a nice garage to work on it, it would be a different story (and some money, lol). Grandpa has a garage on his house that is now empty, because he gave my uncle his MINT '55 Cadillac. I could put the car in there, but I have a 15 year old cousin that likes to break things and I dont want it down there. He broke window out of the Cadillac a couple of weeks ago. I am sure he would vandalize my wagon too, so I am not going that route. I appreciate the additional advice and about not thinking about the $4500 I have already put in it.... that would help, but I am smack dab out of cash for anymore work. I dont even know at this point if the engine will have to be taken apart again or not. I am going to tinker with it some tomorrow, I am off. I am actually going out now to put the battery on a charger.

On a different note, I did have to advertise on other sources (not a bit of interest on the classifieds site here, which amazes me), but there is a guy with a what is said to be a nice '73 Buick Estate Wagon that wants to maybe trade (waiting for more details on that) and another guy with a NICE "ride/drive" '73 Cadillac Sedan DeVille. I am waiting for more info on that as well.

Thanks again for all of the advice/tips/encouragement.

 

In addition to the above reply I made...

Well, took Bills advice today (this evening) and got the wagon out of the hole. I bought some meguires interior cleaner and went to town on it. I was able to remove all of the unsightly mold and mildew from the seats and door panels, then went over them all with black magic. I am sure its only a matter of time until its like that again. Dad didnt have time to help me with the car today, but a neighbor came over to just take a quick look-see to what he thinks. He seems to think its in the "firing" or carburator. The car seems to run fine, but bogs down under load. I could not even get it to pull up the driveway again from a stop. I had to back up and get a running go. I took a little video of the car running and me trying to get it up the hill... takes a while to download on photobuckets, but I will try to post it soon.

I did take some "after" pics of the interior. I was going to take some "before" photos, but forgot... you would not have believed how wretched the door panels looked with the mold. Cleaned up good though and only seen a couple of small spiders (inside), several on the outside, but there was a huge "funnel" web on the back seat over to the door, so there was one of those huge things in the back seat at one time. (chill bumps, lol).

Dad came home and was observing the car... he is trying to talk me into really pushing to sell it or trade it. He said I would have a fortune in it to have it restored the way I want it. I told him though if I sold it, I may never find another. There is a guy interested in it that has a 73 Cadillac that I like, but I would like to find a wagon to trade it for before I make any final decisions. The back tire was flat, had to drive it out on a flat and it was all mangled where I made it to where the hose would reach, but we jacked it up at that tire and was able to air it up.

Kinda see where I am out now and the situation I am in... the woodgrain had turned white in many spots, but some lemon pledge brought it back some... sad:

 

More...

 

SEATS LOOK GREAT, CAR LOOKS GOOD. Maybe whatever made the large web has moved into the engine?

 

Dayum!!
That car looks SUPER, 72King. Keep it. Fix it. Drive it!

 

Wow! Here in the desert Southwest We'd kill for that interior. Looks great!

 

Interior looks great. Not one crack on the dashboard either. I forgot that it is a 9-Passenger. Nice car.

Bill

 

May have! LOL!

Thanks Silverfox... you dont know how much I would love to drive this car down the the highway.

Yeah, its pretty good to be as old as it is. I almost bought another 72 Kingswood Estate out in Phoenix, AZ before I bought this one. The car didnt have any rust, but the interior was baked and the woodgrain had also all baked off. This car was inside for many years too, which helped, but unfortunately the damp and humid conditions here in the southeast have caused some rust around the windows and lower quarter panels thanks to leaky window seals.

Thanks Bill. Yeah, the non-cracked dash amazes me... my 71 Caprice sedan had a terribly cracked dash board. Yep, she is a 3-seater. Wouldnt pull 9 people at this point though. lol.

Here is a little 55 second video I took today...you can hear the engine is pretty smooth idling, but in gear and under load, it bogs down and has no power. I cant remember which he said, but dad said he hears a lifter and may be a little off. Also thanks to the fan roaring, you can hear much. Also, still cant believe the door buzzer works, but on this it sounds like a fog horn. lol.

http://s39.photobucket.com/albums/e172/Tennesseestorm/Tonys%20Kingswood%20Estate/?action=view&current=025.mp4

 

Tony....you got too close to the engine on the rev. Need to hear that again from inside the car and from further away outside. Mind doing another clip with someone else revving it while you shoot & record? I'm not sure what I was hearing with the camera way under the hood. I THINK I know but another clip as I have described would sure help a lot.

 

Thanks. I will. I actually have another where I am "trying" to get the car back up the steep part of my driveway. It takes awhile to download it to photobucket and I am about to retire for the night, but I will download it and post it tomorrow. Yeah, that was the fan blowing air into the camera causing that sound... I didnt know it was doing that until after. lol. I will post that other clip tomorrow - you can hear the engine and bogging in that one really good. Thanks.

 

Great looking interior. In your case you just may have to park it in a sunny spot to discourage more mold growth.