1970 Ford Country Squire Newbie

Well i have an update on that wagon for you guys. We left Windsor on Saturday morning at 8:30 and arrived in Oakville around noon. There it sat in the driveway my new VERY original unrestored, rust free car! I must say unrestored DOES NOT mean mint! any way she was as stated and cool looking to boot. We did a test fire on the engine and it immediately came to life. The only problem(s) was this strange knock coming from the front of the engine? My first thought was that the seller had overlooked this knock during the sale and I was never going to make it home by driving it 4 hours. As i dug deeper into the problem i noticed a leak under the car by the oil filter it turned out to be fuel. The fuel was squirting out the fuel pump vent hole only on engine start up. So this also would prevent me from getting home with the car, but getting back to that knock i found the fan bolts loose and the shaft on the water pump worn and wobbly. I wasn't impressed and was a bit sick with the thought that i might have to walk away from this deal and my deposit. I will tell you guys that the seller was the nicest guy in the world and i don't believe that he had a clue what was going on with the car as he had been paying for all the work to be done on the car and may have been in over his his head a little bit. I immediately fixed some vacuum leaks on it and diagnosed the problems in about ten minutes and he thought i was a car god of some sort. This man offered to find and pay for the parts and have them installed if i still wanted it and would wait for the repairs. how could i say no to a nice guy like that??? I took him up on his offer and took my wife and son to lunch while he went to gather the parts, upon our return he was standing in the driveway with a coat hanger and pliers---he had locked all the keys in the car:banghead3: This was shaping up to be a fine day. The hanger wire was to stiff to go through the jam and i suggested a slim jim or piece of shim none of which he had. I asked if he had CAA (AAA) and he did so in he went to call them. As i stood in the driveway my wife text me from the car laughing, saying this "is" the Griswold's family wagon! I walked back to the car to have a laugh with her and i looked down as i stepped off of the curb and guess what was there? a piece of shim stock! I picked it up walked back to the car slid it in the jam and popped the lock lickity split. (i am not making this up) I walked to door and called him out to announce that we were set to go and again he looked at me with awe. So off we went to the nearest Canadian Tire Store to have the parts installed and we had to wait until 6 O'Clock for them to be done. Did I tell you this guy was really nice? Did i tell you he talked alot? Still a great guy but boy did he talk. He went to the service guy to ask if it was close so many times i thought we were going to get thrown out The best part of the day was watching all of the service guys check out the car and smile (laugh) at it!!! While it was on the hoist i had the opportunity to inspect the underside and it was unbelievable that this car is 42 years old. My 05 ram has more rust than this car, no kidding. Well 6:15 rolls around and we get called to the service area, the water pump is not the right one its for a regular duty cooling system and mines a heavy duty system. Again he asks if we are still in on the deal and i said yes but we had to head home empty handed as the pump could not be located until Tuesday. I suggested that he comes to Windsor next weekend and brings the car with him.
The Griswold chronicles continue.

 

Well you have me enthralled! Great story so far.
Stay with it please.

 

Haha! Keep us updated!

 

Sometimes it is easy, and sometimes not ... it sounds like you will get a good car once you actually get it.

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/?cmd...49&item=190667068240&sspagename=STRK:MEWAX:IT

Thanks for the story, saw this car on Ebay and thought that someone is going to get a decent wagon. As I am in Oakville as well I was tempted to go and look at it but never got the time.
Give it a tune up and cleaning and enjoy it.
There are deals out there on used and NOS and half the fun is the hunt.

There is a place in Oakville called Special Interest Cars and they have a crap load of Ford NOS, they will be retiring and shutting down the business soon but I have had great luck there with parts and the prices are good.

Enjoy taking it to the cruises and shows etc. and it will get a lot of attention.

Please keep us updated

 

That's the great part about this wagon, the seller has had all the leaks repaired with new seals, motor tuned, all fluids and filters changed, power steering, water and fuel pumps, new rad and heater core, and various hoses tops out the list i think. I'm thinking the first project I will be tackling are the springs and shocks and various suspension bushings just to firm up the ride. Regards Thirsty Islander

 

As long as you are happy with it then all is good.
The main thing is to enjoy it, if thje weather is dry I am out there in mine even if it is just to the grocery store. Cruise season has begun.

 

I'm happy to inform everyone that the griswuld (previous owners wagon name) has arrived last night. I got a call that the water and fuel pumps had been changed and the owner would drive it half way if i wanted to meet him on the highway. Well i figured that if he could make it two hours on the highway then i should be able to make it the other 1.5 hours home. When he pulled into the service center parking lot no smoke or steam was belching from under the car with no leaks noticed. Although in hind sight there may be a leak in the gas tank as it used almost a half of a tank for an hour and a half ride home. The wagon rode true and straight down the road with just a bit of a shimmy when going over bumps (annoying) but nothing else. The original stereo and speakers blasted out the tunes and i had a smile from ear to ear. I hope to soon have some pictures posted for all to enjoy. Thirsty Islander

 

Congrats on taking possession and making it home safe and sound. Maybe the shimmy over bumps means it is time for new shock absorbers?

 

you won't be able to wipe that grin off for sometime, enjoy it!

 

the gas disappearing is because its a BIG BLOCK !!!!

once you get the carb set up proper....it will only eat you outa house...not home

congrats

 

only a carb with a smile would be a drinker , looks like its to good to be true great rig go and enjoy

 

Oh Wow thank you verry much that was a great read... Awesome Story and yet another Happy Wagon Owner... Whoo Hoo

 

I was just rereading your intro, an enjoyable read and a nice intro to your wagon.
So do you still have it?

Did you ever get pictures posted?

Did it drink you out of house and home?

again.

 

Hey fanny, no it didn't drink me out of house and home but I did!!! How do you think My friends came up with that handle. Lol well here is the story on that girl, I was having so much fun with her that I wanted to redo an old car from my youth an impala convertible only in a '65 as I had a '66 30 years ago. Well the wife really didn't like having two cars hanging around so guess what one I sold? The wagon. Well I went into a deep depression as you can guess and couldn't sleep at night. Although I am enjoying the impala it's a total frame off restomod project and I'm not doing any driving with it.
The old girl I sold was in wonderful shape, a rust free California girt that after two days of buffing had beautiful patina on the original paint. I miss her but please don't tell my wife she will get jealous for sure.
Well after searching the web and whining about not having my wagon to drive the wifey relented when I found the mint 1977 colony park being sold by the original owner. So after a one year sabbatical I'm back with a new girl to drive and she's beautiful to say the least. Ya know what I missed most? It was people asking why??? Lmao!!! They just don't get it. As I've told others, go outside the box and explore what's out there. Find that oddball car that's mint and pay rock bottom prices for it then have tons of FUN!!! I can and will be driving this car everywhere and we have a vacation planed for this summer. I can't wait to get out there and draw a crowd.
If you read some of my other posts you'll see I was looking for white walls for the '77 and I got a set of 235/75/15 Toyo's to put on it, a very nice tire that I like a lot more than the Hercules mrx iv that although was the same size were actually an inch and a half smaller than the toyos in diameter. I also had the rims painted the colour of the car (cream) then remachined the face then had three coats of clear put on and they look fantastic. Since the car is in storage I haven't put them on yet or got pics to post. I guess I will have get off my ass and get some shots posted, is it possible to do from a iPhone?