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The first picture down below is how it looked when I got it home and out of the garage in the spring. I first saw it in January 2001 as it was in line heading onto the auctioneers platform at the Silvers Auction held at the Fort McDowell Casino in Fountain Hills Arizona Driving the car is the former owner. The bids did not meet his reserve so he drove the car out the other end of the tent to the parking lot with me on his tail. I negotiated with him hard for several hours before he finally wanted to get rid of me so bad he said "OK"! I've found that most people who buy cars at auctions are dealers who re-sell the cars in their own showrooms or owners of Car museums. As such, they want cars that are in good condition and are complete and correct. They're usually willing to pay top dollar for such cars. This car, a '62 M code Sport Roadster, did not have a tripower on the engine but rather a 4V intake and carb typical of the "Z" code Tbirds. The interior had also been changed from its original red leather to black vinyl back in 1980 when the car was repainted. There were also quite a few areas that the paint was worn through to the primer from polishing and buffing over the years, and the normal door dings and stone chips in the paint. I tend to look right past all of those incidental deficiencies and concentrate on the important things. In this case, the most important being the "M" in the VIN and the "76B" on the data plate. Interiors can easily be changed, correct intakes can be found and I like to paint! This car was destined to come to Tropical Minnesota! (Well, it is at least one day a year) |
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Before restoration | |||
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How it will look (except the tires) | |||
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TPLS62 being delivered | ||
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Engine going for rebuild | ||
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How it looks today | ||
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Tri-Power Heads | ||
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Rebuilt Carbs | |||
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Bakelite Spacers | |||
| TPLS62 Ford Gate Release | ||||
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In the photos above you'll see TPLS62 being delivered to "UnTropical" Minnesota At least there wasn't a blizzard that day. The roads were Icy so the trucker wouldn't make the delivery to my home (I kinda live in the sticks) so I directed him to a friends business about 8 miles away. I drove the car home from there so I won't be able to say "It's never been driven in the snow". One of the first things I did after I bought the car, was to find a complete, correct Tri-Power intake and carbs. I then sent the carbs to Joe Bunetic and had them completely rebuilt and re=plated. I've since added a website with everything you ever wanted to know about Tbird Tripowers and how they differ from the often confused for Galaxie Tri-Powers. Click here to see it For the past 6 weeks I've been busy disassembling the entire car and inventorying the parts I need to order and re-chrome As I did with my'63 Sport Roadster restoration last year (Click here to see it) I also have all the paint off the exterior of the car, and all the undercoating and seam sealer have been scraped off. My tent is set up over the car for sandblasting and I'll begin that tomorrow (monday). The only rust to deal with on this car is very minor, The typical battery tray floor needs replacing, the bottom of the spare tire well needs repair and some very minor repair to the trunk floor. The quarters are solid as are the passenger floors and door bottoms. After I get the body shell sandblasted I'll get some better pictures of the damage areas before and after I repair them. The engine is at the machine shop getting rebuilt, the tranny will be going very soon to my tranny man, the door panels were sent to Dash Specialists in Medford Oregon and all the chrome will be going to AIH Chrome plating in Dubuque Iowa. These guys are good! (all of the above Specialists) I've sent my parts list, for new and reproduction parts that need replacing, to several of the Tbird parts houses for price quotes. I should have the last one back tomorrow and then I can place the order for the parts. I'll publish the list later along with what vendor I order from. |
TOM MARUSKA CARS