last evening one of the guys I occasionally hunt with asked me to look over a potential project car, that he was thinking seriously of purchasing.
the car was up on old rusted jack stands in some guys car port with a tarp over it, as he removed the tarp, it reveled a two door,1965, chevelle that had a trashed interior, a bit of random surface rust and a lot of gray primer paint, there was a big block chevy short block that was obviously very rusted and not easily rebuilt in its current condition and the engine was set up to use a manual transmission, which was also missing.
I wrote down the door frame vin plate number and block id number.. they did not match, the engine short block was a 1987 truck,
the rear differential was obviously wrong as it was a 9" ford that looked like it was very slightly shorter in length than the wheel locations in the wheel wells indicated.
now my friend is hardly a car guy.....thats why I was asked to look it over.....the body , frame, suspension,and interior did not have any obvious serious rust that was obviously going to be expensive to repair the floor and dash, trunk, hood trunk lid, fenders quarter panels rocker panels looked rather decent, only mild surface rust, no obvious cancer that I could see, so I asked what the old lady selling the car wanted for it.....it had been her husbands "ILL GET TO RESTORING IT SOMEDAY.. PROJECT" until he had a stroke..... the lady had a copy of the title and it had his name and address listed showing he bought the car in 1978,
she said she wanted $1800, as it sat, and mentioned there were a few parts in the tool shed out back....those parts were some old rusted oval port heads, and a very rusted iron matching intake and exhaust manifolds.
I told my friend he was getting a darn bargain, IF he was serious but this was not a beginner level project and he would eventually have to spend months and thousands of dollars in the restoration....he was not thrilled, with the prospect of spending months and several times what the car project cost initially, but he purchased the car and now has it in his home garage.
when I got home I checked the vin number and the car originally, looked like it may have had a manual transmission and a 283 v8
running a vin/title check would have been my first step,
https://www.carfax.com/company/vehicle-identification-numbers-vins
http://chevellestuff.net/1965/vin.htm
http://www.myss396.com/ChevelleInfo/Vins/1965_Vins.html
https://itstillruns.com/decode-chevelle-vin-numbers-6037975.html
http://www.superchevy.com/features/sucp-1012-z16-chevy-chevelle/
http://elcaminostuff.macswebs.com/6465/65/vin.html
https://www.dmv.org/vehicle-history.php
https://www.searchquarry.com/vin-decoder/
https://cars.usnews.com/cars-trucks/how-can-i-get-a-free-vin-check
https://www.edmunds.com/car-buying/which-vehicle-history-report-is-right-for-you.html
the car was up on old rusted jack stands in some guys car port with a tarp over it, as he removed the tarp, it reveled a two door,1965, chevelle that had a trashed interior, a bit of random surface rust and a lot of gray primer paint, there was a big block chevy short block that was obviously very rusted and not easily rebuilt in its current condition and the engine was set up to use a manual transmission, which was also missing.
I wrote down the door frame vin plate number and block id number.. they did not match, the engine short block was a 1987 truck,
the rear differential was obviously wrong as it was a 9" ford that looked like it was very slightly shorter in length than the wheel locations in the wheel wells indicated.
now my friend is hardly a car guy.....thats why I was asked to look it over.....the body , frame, suspension,and interior did not have any obvious serious rust that was obviously going to be expensive to repair the floor and dash, trunk, hood trunk lid, fenders quarter panels rocker panels looked rather decent, only mild surface rust, no obvious cancer that I could see, so I asked what the old lady selling the car wanted for it.....it had been her husbands "ILL GET TO RESTORING IT SOMEDAY.. PROJECT" until he had a stroke..... the lady had a copy of the title and it had his name and address listed showing he bought the car in 1978,
she said she wanted $1800, as it sat, and mentioned there were a few parts in the tool shed out back....those parts were some old rusted oval port heads, and a very rusted iron matching intake and exhaust manifolds.
I told my friend he was getting a darn bargain, IF he was serious but this was not a beginner level project and he would eventually have to spend months and thousands of dollars in the restoration....he was not thrilled, with the prospect of spending months and several times what the car project cost initially, but he purchased the car and now has it in his home garage.
when I got home I checked the vin number and the car originally, looked like it may have had a manual transmission and a 283 v8
running a vin/title check would have been my first step,
https://www.carfax.com/company/vehicle-identification-numbers-vins
http://chevellestuff.net/1965/vin.htm
http://www.myss396.com/ChevelleInfo/Vins/1965_Vins.html
https://itstillruns.com/decode-chevelle-vin-numbers-6037975.html
http://www.superchevy.com/features/sucp-1012-z16-chevy-chevelle/
http://elcaminostuff.macswebs.com/6465/65/vin.html
https://www.dmv.org/vehicle-history.php
https://www.searchquarry.com/vin-decoder/
https://cars.usnews.com/cars-trucks/how-can-i-get-a-free-vin-check
https://www.edmunds.com/car-buying/which-vehicle-history-report-is-right-for-you.html
Last edited: