'73 Chevelle SS Wagon (local find)

[bucket]

You should do what I did to my I-ROC rims. I stripped the black paint off with paint remover. Washed them really good. Polished up the aluminum. Then taped off the aluminum I didn't want to paint and resprayed them black. Then clear coated them. They came out really nice looking.

You must be registered for see images attach

Later traded them to a dude with a camaro for his stock rims and a 84 kx125. Lol

I have a polished and painted set too. But the insets are a med-dark gray.

 

[bucket]

Currently there's no updates for work done on the car... because I haven't done anything. But today I finally got around to stopping by previous owner Frank's shop. I think he was very happy to know that I have the car and plan to get it back on the road. Apparently when he quit driving it, the car was perfectly operational. He said the engine was healthy, the trans was healthy and there was nothing wrong with the rear axle either. Apparently the AC worked when it was last driven too. He said he really regrets letting the car sit so long and deteriorate. So my plan of just going through the basics and getting it roadworthy may be very possible. He also wants me to stop by with it when it's on the road again, and he also has a bunch of old pictures of the car.

And apparently the car lot guy I bought it from actually lost 500 bucks on the deal.

 

[bucket]

Picked up a set of 15x8 rally wheels this evening. The rings are little banged up, but the wheels have very nice paint and they are AZ-coded GM wheels.

You must be registered for see images attach

 

[78C10BigTen]

Picked up a set of 15x8 rally wheels this evening. The rings are little banged up, but the wheels have very nice paint and they are AZ-coded GM wheels.

You must be registered for see images attach

Dont need my mexican hats now? Lol

 

[bucket]

Dont need my mexican hats now? Lol

No, I still would like those ones too

 

[Keith Seymore]

Picked up a set of 15x8 rally wheels this evening. The rings are little banged up, but the wheels have very nice paint and they are AZ-coded GM wheels.

Those will be a nice addition.

I used to run the derby style caps (with about 1" cut out of the length) and I ran the "Mexican hats" for a while too.

At one point I had: the original derbys, the cut down derbys, the small '67 caps, a set of flat police caps....and didn't run any of 'em (lol).

K

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

 

[82sbshortbed]

Picked up a set of 15x8 rally wheels this evening. The rings are little banged up, but the wheels have very nice paint and they are AZ-coded GM wheels.

You must be registered for see images attach

You can get a set of 4 rings new for under a 100 bucks too. Nice score.

 

[bucket]

The current trim rings are plenty good enough for now. They are less banged up than the rest of the car, lol. I believe they are the proper 70's Corvette rings.

Got the tires mounted and balanced today too. I miss the days when I could do that myself.

You must be registered for see images attach

 

[Catbox]

Those will look right proper on that car sir!

 

[bucket]

Mounted the wheels on the car today. While the wheels were off, I also blew out the frame rails because there was A LOT of dust/dirt/rust accumulation in them. Now that there's 4 matching wheels on the car, I came to the realization that the passenger side sits about 1" lower than the driver side.

Mounted the driver side first:

You must be registered for see images attach

It was pretty well dark by the time I got the passenger side wheels mounted, but here's a picture anyway:

You must be registered for see images attach

I think there may have been 'guesstimate' odometer readings each time the car changed ownership. I say this because of the brakes. The right rear drum still had this factory looking tag on it:

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

The front rotors also appear to be original. They have the machined groove around the center of the pad surface like my '70 Impala has. They also have what looks like a GM part# cast into them and the date code is Jan 15th, 1973 (or '83 I suppose).

I'm itching to get the car off the trailer now. So I pulled the rubber fuel lines to the tank and made sure there were no obstructions. Looking in the filler neck, the tank appeared reasonably clean for sitting 20+ years. The tank was completely bone dry. So I poured in a couple gallons of fresh gas and pressurized the tank to let the gas siphon out of the fuel lines. The fuel that came out was still clean, but had an orange tint. I'll probably just button the lines back up and pour in 5 gallons of fresh gas, then call it good. After first blowing out the frame lines of course.

 

[78C10BigTen]

Mounted the wheels on the car today. While the wheels were off, I also blew out the frame rails because there was A LOT of dust/dirt/rust accumulation in them. Now that there's 4 matching wheels on the car, I came to the realization that the passenger side sits about 1" lower than the driver side.

Mounted the driver side first:

You must be registered for see images attach

It was pretty well dark by the time I got the passenger side wheels mounted, but here's a picture anyway:

You must be registered for see images attach

I think there may have been 'guesstimate' odometer readings each time the car changed ownership. I say this because of the brakes. The right rear drum still had this factory looking tag on it:

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

The front rotors also appear to be original. They have the machined groove around the center of the pad surface like my '70 Impala has. They also have what looks like a GM part# cast into them and the date code is Jan 15th, 1973 (or '83 I suppose).

I'm itching to get the car off the trailer now. So I pulled the rubber fuel lines to the tank and made sure there were no obstructions. Looking in the filler neck, the tank appeared reasonably clean for sitting 20+ years. The tank was completely bone dry. So I poured in a couple gallons of fresh gas and pressurized the tank to let the gas siphon out of the fuel lines. The fuel that came out was still clean, but had an orange tint. I'll probably just button the lines back up and pour in 5 gallons of fresh gas, then call it good. After first blowing out the frame lines of course.

Im still 100% that this car is super ugly but the wheels look killer on it! Lol

 

[bucket]

Im still 100% that this car is super ugly but the wheels look killer on it! Lol

Lol, I think that's how most people have felt about the '73-'77 cars. It takes a special kind of person to like them I guess.

 

[bucket]

Well, the Chevelle SS wagon is no longer holding down the trailer, lol. The wife wasn't too thrilled about it, but I parked the car on the gravel up by the house, where the 454 SS is usually parked.

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

Lol, she was even less thrilled when I told her that I intended to keep parking the 454 SS in the driveway too and her '00 Suburban was getting relocated to out by the garage.

 

[78C10BigTen]

Well, the Chevelle SS wagon is no longer holding down the trailer, lol. The wife wasn't too thrilled about it, but I parked the car on the gravel up by the house, where the 454 SS is usually parked.

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

Lol, she was even less thrilled when I told her that I intended to keep parking the 454 SS in the driveway too and her '00 Suburban was getting relocated to out by the garage.

She run?

 

[bucket]

She run?

Not yet, still have to put the carb on it. But all the underneath stuff is done or at least checked out. Even the brake lines look good. Right now at least it can sit there and look pretty with it's shiny wheels.