Barn Find - Restoration Opportunity

[Peter Coomaraswamy]

keeping original

Thanks folks for the encouragement, I think I'm going to do my very best to keep this one 100% original. From what I can tell every part is there so although it will come apart, with any luck it will go back together the same way- just cleaner. There will have to be some new parts like springs and shocks, bushings and tie rod ends.... and I'll have to drop out the engine/trans and re-seal everything but that's allot easier than hunting around for a 5 speed and doing all the additions, re-routing, etc. I even like the wheels and hubcaps. I think it will be fun to have a "time machine" and 79K on the clock is not bad to start with, but man allot of crap can go wrong in 79K miles- I think we got her just in time!

BTW her name is "Hamleta" I have spoken with the original owner, now 85 years old, and he said the car never had a name.

I asked the delivery driver what he thought of the car, he was Russian, he said "I don't like dis car, dis ding a pain in the a$$, every time I stop peoples coming around my truck, ask me what it is, I tell dem I don't know, dey keep asking, I have to tell dem go away I have work, dey keep asking, I glad it off my truck".

He was actually a very nice guy as most of these folks are.

I will get her up on the lift later and send more pictures.

 

[Stevehose]

for me a lot of the fun is in the sorting - mechanical & cosmetic, when I got mine I found hidden keys, old maps and insurance cards etc. Pieces of the car's history. The Vermont map from 1984 still rides in the passenger door pocket where I found it.

 

[Peter Coomaraswamy]

With my luck I'll find Jimmy Hoffa. I'm lucky in that I have the complete history of the car from the day it was bought until I took delivery but the piece between the last owners death and the transfer to Mario needs to be sorted as the forum members in NH all played a part in getting her to Texas.

Now, I'm saying this prematurely but thanks to everyone who helped!

I'm a little tainted on "social media" and before this forum I thought the best use of social media was trading Dead tapes- and those days are long gone, but even my wife, who dislikes all my activities, thinks this forum is really cool and the members who have visited and stayed with us have left a lasting impression on her (and my kids)...and me.

 

[CSteve]

Peter, I was responsible for two runs of CS Register badges over the last 10 years. Coincidently, during the second run a guy appeared on e9 who had just purchased a quite original coupe.
Lo and behold(whatever that means) there was on original badge lying behind the front grille in perfect condition. You never know.

Are you a fan of Shakespeare? Your naming her Hamleta gives it away. And your writing tells me you are a reader. Steve

 

[Stan]

Hamleta... to paraphrase Flip Wilson, is that like omeletta, without the egg?

 

[Peter Coomaraswamy]

It would be a shame to call her Geraldine, Flip was funny but not that pretty.

 

[Peter Coomaraswamy]

preliminary inspection

I'll throw this out here, as this coupe looks fairly unmolested. There has definitely been some work done to her but things seem pretty stock. If there is a need for particular "stock photos" just let me know and I'll do my best to post them; stuff like how the early washer nozzles are placed. I'm putting up some pictures of the rusty areas but they all look pretty addressable once the engine is out. Of course when the parts come off is when you really see the issues so although Mario and company have been pretty accurate so far I'm still expecting some not-so-fun surprises. J may have to re-adjust his quote; as "an 11K coupe may be the most expensive car you ever purchase". I hope I'm being pessimistic. Oh, and while we're at it- I did not find Jimmy Hoffa, not even someones missing hampster, but I did lay out what I found in a bag in the trunk for possible identification. The red band with the hooks looks a little scary and those V-shaped hooks look strange too.

 

[HB Chris]

The black U shaped plastic part fits on hand brake handle, seat belt buckles sit on it.

 

[Mario L.]

With my luck I'll find Jimmy Hoffa. I'm lucky in that I have the complete history of the car from the day it was bought until I took delivery but the piece between the last owners death and the transfer to Mario needs to be sorted as the forum members in NH all played a part in getting her to Texas.

Now, I'm saying this prematurely but thanks to everyone who helped!

I'm a little tainted on "social media" and before this forum I thought the best use of social media was trading Dead tapes- and those days are long gone, but even my wife, who dislikes all my activities, thinks this forum is really cool and the members who have visited and stayed with us have left a lasting impression on her (and my kids)...and me.

Peter,

There isn't really a whole lot between the seller's passing, as I recall it was in May of 2014, and my acquisition . . .Ski Coach turned me onto the car, we inspected it together in the basement garage of the farm the seller owned.
It had been there for many years, since the inspection sticker which I believe we left on the windshield expired.
The seller's family did wipe the car down before we first viewed it, so it wasn't covered in dust . .
Sorry, no pictures . . . It is worthy to google the late seller . . he did a lot for NH during his lifetime. I won't post his name here.

Mario L.

 

[Peter Coomaraswamy]

More history

I thought this would be interesting...

From the original purchaser's family;
I looked through my old photo albums and found this picture taken in London. (My father had a house at 130 Pavilion Road for decades and car is parked in front of the house. It was always garaged there and rarely used.) I think this photo was taken in August 1974. It looks like the Kodak stamp on the back of the photo says Oct74. It looks like my father already had it registered in NY by then. He used to give the guy at the local Mobil station some money and he would “inspect” the car and give my father the sticker and my father would keep it registered in NY so he could drive around London and collect parking tickets with impunity. It also made it easier when the car was shipped back to the States since it was already registered here.

When we first got the car, it had those German Zoll plates, and we drove around Europe in it and everyone thought we were German. One time we stopped to eat a picnic lunch at a roadside scenic spot somewhere on the Continent, with parking for a lot of vehicles, but we were the only ones there. A tourist bus pulled up but waited just outside the area. It was full of Italian tourists and it wouldn’t enter our area until we got in the car and drove off. That was less than thirty years after WWII and I think they didn’t want to share the area with a bunch of Germans. Little did they know that our blond seemingly German family consisted of five American Jews.
My brother and sister and I fought a lot on that trip about who had to sit on that raised uncomfortable middle back seat! I’m the oldest so I didn’t have to sit there.