I've got this 62 that I bought a couple of months ago. I purchased the car from another dealer friend, who is retiring and closing up his shop. He got this car (plus 1 other) from a local widow back in 2021. The previous owner had the car since late 1983. The car shows 88k miles.
No real discernible history is known about the car. The VIN number puts this car as being produced in November of 61. The story that came with the car....... it has a warranty block in it. The block is dated July 23rd, of 62. I don't know how credible the warranty story is, as the heads are 462's dated in 66. That added to the fact it has a non finned 8" balancer. The engine pad is clean with no stamps, nor any machine marks that would indicate the typical machine shop work that would appear on a deck. Having said all of that, I'll take the high road and just call it an NOM. The car does have it's born with close ratio T-10 4 speed. The rear end housing is the correct positraction housing, although the center section is currently a non "P" case dated 64. I seem to run into that an awful lot on these C1's.
What the car does have is a body and frame to just die for! I cannot find one spot in this body that would indicate any post St. Louis glass work. The car has been repainted in it's correct Ermine White, although the jambs look like they are original paint in addition to the hardtop. The chrome, stainless, pot metal, and window glass are really nice. All of the window glass is original to the car / hardtop with the exception of the windshield. That makes sense given the mileage and it has had a replacement dash pad installed.
I bought this car a couple months ago with the intention of reselling at some point. It had some needs, but nothing major. I sent the car over by my Dad's place (I didn't have room at the time) and he took the time to clean the car up, clay out the paint, and hand rub the car. In no time at all, he fell in love with the car and bought it. My Dad was just gushing over the body and how nice the car ran / drove. Then, fast forward another few weeks. My Dad falls in love with a 63 SWC I bought from Nick (Supreme Deluxe). Some horse trading over a couple of beers, and I own the 62 again.
This week, the car got delivered up here into the great white north. I'm getting busy doing what I normally do on these cars. A small handful of things needed tending to, but no big deal. Now this is where the problem comes......I'm starting to fall in love with the damn thing myself. Here goes the thread on my process.
The car is originally optioned as a hardtop only (no convertible top). It has the obligatory Wonderbar radio, heater, and whitewall tires. I've been tuning on the carb, adjusted the dwell, threw some real timing into it, along with fresh fuel and voila, this runs REALLY good! I pulled the wheels, cleaned and adjusted the shoes, flushed the hydraulic system, to find the front bearings packed with white lithium grease. Repacked the bearings (they looked amazingly nice) As I write this, I am waiting for the new front grease seals to show up from the parts store.
As I progress, I'll post some updates.
Tim
This should really clean up nice! How bout the glasspacks? They sound really good!
Yuck!
Check out the original sealer in the rain gutters...
All the body seams look this...... nice and crisp. Just they way they left the factory
