Well, with the price of gas higher than Whitney Houston in a weed patch and a muddy mess at work due to construction, the beater ('93 Escort) has been getting some use lately. The Crossfire is literally babied. It is always clean, well tended, and covered up when not in use. It is somewhat refreshing then to be able to pull dents, spray primer out of a can, slap bondo around, sand, and spray Duplicolor on the Escort to work away its flaws. Whereas the Crossfire is a rare and precious car that I dote on (and have not yet worked on at all), the Escort doesn't need the best. The work can be "good enough" instead of perfect. It doesn't need to be washed. It doesn't matter if it gets dings and stone chips. And, when I want a project, there is always something to do. I gave it a good tune up the other day, adjusted the clutch travel, and changed the oil. The carpet has been scrubbed, and things that were not working in the dash have been repaired. It starts right up and hums happily now. About half of the rock marks on the window have been filled. New bumpers are going to find their way on to the little wagon, at less than $30 an end. Of course, I wish the beater was an older European sedan. And, maybe in the future it will be. You can always get your money out of an old car like that (if you pay less than a grand and keep it up). But for now, it's the Escort. And, the little bit of tinkering I can do on it is cheap, and satisfying. It some ways, it is a fun car too. Just fun in a different way than my Crossfire.

Anyone else have a project on the side, that you work on, when you are not waxing up your Crossfire or bolting on the limited range of aftermarket parts available to us?

 

Although I don't consider it a beater I am currently underway restoring a 1956 Chevy from the ground up. It is taking time and can only go so far with monetary constraints, but am about 4-6 hours of work before i get the body off the frame. The front end sheet metal and the trunk deck and hood have already been sandblasted and body work done and primered and they look primo(as a matter of fact the trunk deck only had 1 pinhole of rust in it not bad for 50 yrs old). Will be looking forward to get it done and am still debating of changing the engine to make it somewhat of a sleeper with all outside stock or leave the 1963 model 283 in it for now. Oh well decisions decisions.

Thanks

Todd

 

Todd, you should post pics! My wife's uncle has an old '55 Buick with the dynaslush trans in it that he is restoring. Lots of rust patching and hunting for obscure parts, but it is coming together. Projects like yours are definitely worth documenting. My $0.02 - ditch the 283, and drop in something with more "get up and go". After all, if the numbers don't match, there is no sense in trying to replicate the original powertrain (unless you are after more authenticity in the feel of the car). IMO, if I had that car, I would do a stock interior, stock exterior (chrome trim and all), a mild street engine, and find some classic 15"-16" mag wheels with black sidewall tires.

 

LOL exactly what i was think Juddz but was gonna stick with original wheels and caps with wide whitewalls that were a little sportier tires than the originals. I actually am trying to go for the original feel of the way this baby drives and handles. If you have never driven one, then you have no idea how the automobile has progressed . I will try and get some pics up so you can see the progress. I do have one now but it is just the front end before I put 160,000 miles driving back and forth to college for 5 1/2 yrs and work for about 7 yrs.

 

My Beater is a '90 Jag XJS V12 60k miles.

 

The oldest thing I have driven was a 1959 VW Microbus. A friend of mine had one in college. The reduction boxes had been removed, and the engine displacement increased (by using assorted bits and pieces from other types of old VWs). The top speed of that bus was mercifully higher than its 50-55 mph terminal velocity might have been. I remember pinning the speedometer at near 70mph. Slow, but considering it is a brick punching its way through the air with only a fraction of my Escort's 88 hp to do the job, I would say it wasn't too bad. Then again, I also remember a Geo Metro whipping past us on the long grade up Mount Shasta in northern California, as we struggled to hit 35-40 mph up the grade. I also remember replacing a valve retainer on the road (using butter to hold it into place as we relaxed the spring into place), and morning coffee spent over adjusting the front drum brakes. The radio was upgraded to a nice Pioneer CD player, and if you turned it all the way up, you could sometimes make out what song was playing over the constant DIN of the VW's hopelessly uneven firing sequence. Funnier yet, there was a chipped tooth in the transmission, that would ever so often work its way around and wedge between the gears. That happened on an on-ramp outside of Redding, CA. The bus pitched sideways, and locked up solid. It came to a screeching halt, and the engine stalled. Rocking the car a little bit and working through the gears somehow dislodged that little nugget. Eventually, that trans met its end just 15 miles outside of Bellingham, WA (home at the time). But, it could have left us stranded in rural California. Funny how you don't worry about much beyond how many chips are left in the bag of Ruffles, and if you've got twenty dollars for beer that night, when you are driving across states in your early twenties.

 

Call me a post wh*re, but the VW fun doesn't stop there. I also had a Canadian friend who owned a 62 Microbus. It was in nice shape, with faded (but not rusty) body panels and murals of religious themes inside. In fact, somewhere on that bus (in prominent letters), it stated "Jesus was a hippie". To make a long story short, I saw my friend one day in front of his house, and the van was no where in sight. I asked him about it, and in his Canadian accent (imagine Bob Mackenzie saying this), he said "Did you hear what happened to my van? It's totaled, eh". Apparently, it meets its sad fate on a frosty mountain morning, ice was involved (as were inadequate drum brakes), and the front end of the bus was opened up like a tin can. My friend lived to tell the tale, and was not at all concerned about the implications of owning another vehicle which has so little crash protection that you can see the rear side of the headlamp bezels inside of the vehicle, just below the dash. So, he traded two cases of his home brewed beer, and got another one sans engine. With some dog-eared Little Nickel Want-Ads and less than a hundred bucks, he secured a nice running engine and had a van again.

 

with any break down or electrical problem...it'll be the "bank breaker" not a beater.

 

Well believe it or not, i actually had to keep in front of my drunk friends one night going back to my dorm and they decided that there little nissan pickup was gonna outrun my big a** heavy chevy. I had it at 125 mph to stay in front and it was a shaken away, and I finally backed down thinking that if they want to die going that fast then let them. I also made it from Weatherford, OK to Broken Arrow , OK in 2 hrs - that is at least 180 miles but i wasn't sure how fast cause my speedometer was broke then. My Chevy still has the cast iron powerglide that came with it so I got a lot of work to do on it LOL. I can't get anyone to work on the tranny at all anymore cause it is too heavy.

Todd

 

Just beautiful ... timeless. Always liked the XJS.

Greets