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| Previously Owned Rides Part II | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1983 Mercury Grand Marquis LS | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| While driving through the tiny hamlet of Carthage, Illinois I spotted a clean old Merc' for sale. An elderly couple owned it, so I knew it was pampered. It had the CFI 302, AOD, and all the power options you could want. Everything including the A/C and Ford premium sound system worked great! The 5.0 liter V-8 was solid, and would tear a nice little patch of asphalt up after I tuned it up (see left). I put new tires & brakes on it, and Sarah detailed it...then I proceeded to hit a 10-point buck on Interstate 88 in November of 1997. The once beautiful car was never the same after that. I bought a new front clip & radiator core support and primered it up. It went from a clean machine to hooptie in 3 months. My dad sold it while I was on vacation in 1999 and I spent the money on a Cutlass. . | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1986 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme Brougham | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| I bought this car from a friend who couldn't get a dealer to give him money for it when he bought a 2000 Cavalier. I offered him $200 cash for it, and fixed it up for a summer driver. I always liked the G-bodies, and this one was pretty! It was dark grey metallic with a burgundy velour interior. The 307 4bbl V-8 was a champ, but the weak TH200C transmission was on its way out. After some work she looked very presentable with the wire wheels and polished chrome...but I didn't like the fact that the trunk and frame were crusty. I sold it for $850 to a gentleman who liked 22 inch rims. He painted it metallic black and threw $5K into a stereo for it. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| 1973 Ford LTD Brougham Station Wagon | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| This $350 wonder came with a strong-running 400M motor, and bullet proof C6 trans. It was a "trailer special" model the featured all the heavy duty cooling and towing gear. An elderly couple bought it new to tow a 30' travel trailer. I grabbed it because it looked like a fun ride, and it was damn cheap. Eventually this car donated its engine and drivetrain for my 78 F-150, and I junked the carcass. Occasionally I wish I hadn't. It would be the second car I sent to the scrapheap. |
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| 1978 Ford F-150 Custom | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| I rescued this truck from a muddy grave near the Kaskaskia River in Southwest Illinois. It originally belonged to Sarah's Grandfather. It pulled a 35' trailer around sunny Yuma Arizona for years. It hauled tons of coal to a remote cabin in the Ozarks in the winter. It held fond memories for Sarah, as she and her sister rode around with Grandma & Grandpa in the big red truck. But a bad brake line, and low oil pressure in the 351M forced the truck to sit for 10 years. Enter me. I purchased the truck, towed it back up to Chicagoland, and got the old motor running well enough to drive it back down to college. After 6 months of driving the beast, I lost all oil pressure (bearings went at about 204K) and limped the poor truck home. A transformation had started....read on. |
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| BACK | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Continued... | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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