Should I Rescue It?  Corvair Sale Part IXish

"That Bastard Kurtis - An Attempt to Standardize My Username Across Platforms" (thatbastardkurtis5) 01/24/2015 at 08:24 • Filed to: None

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The latest thing that had come along in my quest to sell the Corvair was a trade for a '66 Le Mans station wagon:

Unfortunately (or kinda fortunately if I'm honest, I'll elaborate in a moment), the owner and the guy who wanted my Corvair couldn't come to an understanding. It's a pretty cool car, I could still buy it down the road some time...389 with a 5 speed stick. But anyway.

It's kinda fortunate, because that would have been a straight trade, and right now I'd be better off getting something cheaper and pocketing some cash. But what else is new, right?

So I'm really looking at errrrrvrything for something cool to replace the Corvair. Fox Mustangs, I found a 3rd gen Camaro convertible that has an LT1 and a 6 speed (hasn't gotten back to me), series 1 Jaguar XJ6s, and what I spent all last night looking at: Triumph TR6s.

My dad has had a trio of TR6s in his life, so he's a fan. That's helpful, having my dad on board with a project is always a good thing...he's an engineer by trade, but he's one of the best mechanics I've ever met. I mean I'm pretty good myself, went to an automotive tech school, but I still run problems by my dad before doing anything else because he just knows stuff.

So I found a white one in CT, but it's sold. I found a red one, also in Hartford CT, but it's been up for a month and is probably sold and doesn't have a title.

Then I found this right up the road from me in East Providence RI:

That's the best angle of it. These ones are worse:

(That one is actually pretty good).

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

And right back to pretty bad.

But there's some upside. First, it's extremely cheap in TR6 terms because, frankly, it ought to be. Second, aside from the left side, it looks mostly solid underneath and it runs. Third, it's local, so it won't be difficult to get it here.

Why wouldn't I go all vintage race car on it? "Oh, it doesn't have a windshield frame? That's cool, I'll be wearing a full face helmet while driving it anyway." "Oh, it's missing a bunch of gauges and door panels? That's cool, I'm just gonna fab up some sheet metal door panels and a sheet metal dashboard." "Oh, there's damage to the left side? Who cares, I'l bang it all out with a damn hammer."

Basically, I could set it up as a fun track day car while I acquire the things to also make it a streetable car.

I've got an appointment to take a look at it this afternoon, so that'll be interesting. Hopefully the underside looks about like it does in the pictures, and there's no frame damage from whatever happened to the left side. Also, hopefully it stays really cheap on eBay...it ends the day after the Corvair, so that's pretty cool.

John Norris (AngryDrifter) > That Bastard Kurtis - An Attempt to Standardize My Username Across Platforms 01/24/2015 at 08:34

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"389 with a 5 speed stick"

Are you kidding me? Where is this and how much?

That Bastard Kurtis - An Attempt to Standardize My Username Across Platforms > John Norris (AngryDrifter) 01/24/2015 at 08:49

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It's in Rhode Island. My guess is around $4-5k...the guy I was working with was trying to trade a Rambler American (probably worth around $3k) for it to trade to me, but the guy wanted too much money on top of the Rambler...I didn't ask how much.

It's rotted around the rear windows and the front windshield. The windshield really isn't a problem, but finding the metal for the rears would be impossible. I was thinking of just cutting the rear windows out and going panel delivery on it.

John Norris (AngryDrifter) > That Bastard Kurtis - An Attempt to Standardize My Username Across Platforms 01/24/2015 at 09:28

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Yeah, sounds like a fair amount of work. Interesting car though.

I'm sure it had an automatic from the factory so someone put in some effort for the 5 speed swap, particularly mating it with a 389.

aberson Bresident of the FullyAssed Committe > That Bastard Kurtis - An Attempt to Standardize My Username Across Platforms 01/24/2015 at 10:14

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TIL that TR6s and alfa spiders share the same taillights

aside from corner light