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A couple of summers ago, I bought this classic thinking it would be a fun ride and a good summer weekend fixit project. It turned out to be more work (and $ and lack of mechanics who knew the car) than I could handle.
I did drive it, but that ended when it died in the middle of an intersection and I had to have it towed home.
I've been holding on to the thing, occasionally thinking how dope it would be to have it in good condition, maybe a new paint job, tooling around on a summer weekend afternoon.
But it's gathering dust, and pigeon poo, and cat/possum tracks throught the dust layer.
Should I be practical and sell it, put the cash to a more pragmatic purpose, sell the darn thing and reclaim my parking space, or hold on to it and fix it up right when I've got the $?
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Getting rid of my MGB was one of the best things I ever did. What a lemon! But if it's a '69 Firebird you should sell it to me. A GTO Judge would be nice too.
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Avanti was a cool car. My doctor had one when I was a kid. Where is the radiator in that thing? As I remember there wasn't a front grille.
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Sorry skillery. This car's a dinosaur from an auto-evolutionary transition phase. Sorta like a platypus, of cars.
Posts: 3061 | Registered: Mar 2004
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Haven't had probs with overheating. The main problem is the electrical wiring. The various previous owners have disabled this and that, tried to install remote doorlocks, etc. This is a mess.
nice red one. the one I've got's gone through a couple customization's. (scoop in the middle of the hood and flarings on the wheel wells) engine rebuilt in '95.
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I'm still in love with the Firebird . A fellow I know was fixing one up for his kid in high school. What an abomination! Kid's probably gonna put one of those silly FastNFurious wings on the back.
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nice haunches on that firebird, that's the avanti legacy. thankfully, the googly-eyed headlights didn't get picked up. unless you count the bat mobile.
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Hood scoop and wheel flares? I never pictured the Avanti as a muscle car. Like I said, my doctor drove one. It struck me as more of an upscale car.
Posts: 2655 | Registered: Feb 2004
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actually, skillery. looking at the photos you posted brought this home even more. that firebird looks like a direct descendant of the avanti. little more masculine.
i think the upscale look is kind of an old-school look. supposedly sinatra drove one, and the guy who wrote the james bond novels. it has kind of that spy-car look, except for the white-walls.
admiring cars aside, I was wondering if I should sell this thing?
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I wouldn't sell it unless I had something else to hang my dreams on. Ya sell your dream car, and some woman's just gonna grab that money and remodel her kitchen.
Posts: 2655 | Registered: Feb 2004
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An Avanti is one of the minisculely few American cars worth whatever effort it takes to restore it. If it's gonna just rot in your parking spot, sell it to a serious car buff. But if you really intend to fix it, you've got the foundation for a true dream car.
Sadly, this car's value has been nearly destroyed if what you say is true about the hood scoop and the added on fender flares. Restoration to improve the value would require undoing that nonsense, and that means finding replacement hood & fenders.
As for the electrical wiring, most cars were pretty simple back then. A basic knowledge of DC circuitry and an ohm meter should get you 90% of the way there. Expertise in tracking down shorts should go the rest of the way.
My advice is to undo all the junk other people added. (I bet they cut into the interior door panels too, didn't they?) <shudder>
Then start tracing circuits one at a time, replacing wires as needed.
You might want to offer it to Jesse James' Monster Garage program.
Posts: 22497 | Registered: Sep 2000
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fallow, if I had enough money I would take it off your hands. However, I am restoring a 1964 Chevy P/U so getting anything else is out of the question. If you want here is a link to a site that I use once in a while for links to parts sites. You can glance thru the classifieds for people looking for or you can place a classified. Someone will find the ad, but I can't guarantee the sell.
Never mind, don't place ad here. Too expensive.
[ March 13, 2004, 06:48 PM: Message edited by: Stan the man ]
Posts: 2208 | Registered: Feb 2004
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A lot of classics sell pretty good on E-bay motors. You might try posting it there in case there is someone out there just looking for that particular year/model vehicle for nostaligia reasons.
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This thing has automatic windows (original, believe it or not from 1964). That's where I started my attempts at restoration and that's where they ended, too. "window roll down. window get stuck. take door apart. take other door apart. figure out window winching mechanism (sight unseen). dismantle. pull pieces through various holes. reconstruct. lube. put door back together. window go up. window go down. window get stuck. and repeat...*
The body is fiberglass, so it's not really rotting in that sense, though the chrome is starting to tarnish.
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