honda305 Home honda305 Auctions honda305 Gallery honda305 Forum


honda305.com Forum

Login
□ Search
□ FAQ 
□ 
Vintage Honda Owners,
Restorers, Riders and
Admirers

Worth Restoring My '63 Falcon???

Who said it was only about Motorcycles? What else do you collect, restore, enjoy... ?
User avatar
brewsky
honda305.com Member
Posts: 1816
Joined: Wed Jul 23, 2008 5:21 am
Location: Princeton, WV

Post by brewsky » Tue Jul 12, 2011 5:49 am

No Checker here, but I was tempted to buy the twin to my first car the other day......a 51 DeSoto 5 window coupe, all original and low miles.

Flathead 6 with fluid drive 2 speed (slow and extra slow)
66 dream, 78 cb750k, 02fz1, 09 wing

Vince Lupo
honda305.com Member
Posts: 1371
Joined: Wed May 04, 2005 7:17 am

Post by Vince Lupo » Wed Jul 13, 2011 4:29 am

Car is on the way!
Image

Vince Lupo
honda305.com Member
Posts: 1371
Joined: Wed May 04, 2005 7:17 am

Post by Vince Lupo » Wed Jul 20, 2011 12:23 pm

Car arrived yesterday. It's not quite in as good of shape as I had hoped (you know those wonderful eBay photos!), but it seems to run pretty nice and it drives well. Hopefully this is going to be a long-term ownership process, so I'll likely be able to iron out the issues the car has without pouring $10,000 into it. The mechanic now has the car, along with my long 'to-do' list, so hopefully everything will be okay.

Image

Vince Lupo
honda305.com Member
Posts: 1371
Joined: Wed May 04, 2005 7:17 am

Post by Vince Lupo » Wed Aug 03, 2011 3:09 pm

Things are coming along with the Checker -- the radiator is out for re-coring, the wiring is getting sorted out, as well as other miscellaneous bits. The frame needs a bit of repair up by the steering box, but that's going to be looked at next week.

In the queue with the rest....
Image

Vince Lupo
honda305.com Member
Posts: 1371
Joined: Wed May 04, 2005 7:17 am

Post by Vince Lupo » Thu Aug 18, 2011 2:28 am

Car is almost done, in terms of fixing all the 'bodges' that the previous owner did. Amazing that a car like this could be advertised as 'well maintained', with all the weirdness that my mechanics found.

Newly re-cored radiator is back in, electric choke is fixed, all the wiring has been properly sorted out, temperature gauge has been installed (this car only had a speedo, a gas gauge, and an odometer as instruments!), alternator bracket had to be remade, and a host of other issues have been addressed. Only thing left for them to tackle are some engine leaks, and I might get the car back today. Then it's off to the body man to have a frame issue addressed (a bit of rot up by the steering box), and have the rest of the car assessed for possible restoration and paint.

I'll try to post some more shots of the beast, now that it's becoming a bit more presentable!

Vince Lupo
honda305.com Member
Posts: 1371
Joined: Wed May 04, 2005 7:17 am

Post by Vince Lupo » Fri Aug 19, 2011 12:25 pm

Picked the car up this morning, and it's running very nice, which is a relief! If the weather holds up today, I may drive it over to a local classic car gathering tonight at a nearby shopping plaza.

Only think mechanical that it needs to have done is to replace the seals near the harmonic balancer, and hopefully that should do it for a while.

I also went to the body man this morning, and he should be able to fix the frame issue as well as the two mounting blocks for the front bumpers one day next week. As well, we've made a tentative plan for me to bring the car to him in October and have him do everything else. Should take him about a month to get that all done.

A couple of shots from this morning...I'll try to post some more soon!

Image

Image

Vince Lupo
honda305.com Member
Posts: 1371
Joined: Wed May 04, 2005 7:17 am

Post by Vince Lupo » Sat Sep 03, 2011 5:58 am

Things are moving along pretty well with the Checker, and I'm actually much happier with it now. All of the mechanical things are fixed (with the exception of the fuel sending unit for the gas gauge), and the car is now leak-free. One of the lifters loosened and was making a nice ticking sound, but that turned out to be a relatively easy fix. The frame issues were taken care of too, and that was actually one of the cheapest fixes, believe it or not.

Car goes to the body man at the end of the month -- the vinyl top is coming off, and all the body issues will hopefully be addressed. I've decided to go with the same burgundy colour for the body, but the roof, bumpers, grille and taillight bezels are going to be painted a silvery grey (much like the SuperHawk silver). Then off to upholstery guru Don Jenkins in Frederick, MD for the headliner and new seats.

A shot from a classic car gathering from last night. My wife barely tolerated it for about 20 minutes.
Image

Post Reply




 

CB-77 | CYP-77 | Road Test | Riding Log | Literature | Zen | Marketplace | VJ Survey | Links | Home