A Brief History Lesson

My '63 Savoy moredoor should have been written off as a parts car years ago. Even then, with all the rust there wouldn't have been much to save outside of the grill, trim, hood and deck lid. But after seeing how clean the interior was I just couldn't bring myself to tear it apart. After all, since I actually drive it, I spend most of my time inside the car anyway so what difference does it make if the body's a mess? Right?

Anyway... I found the car on Craigslist, local to Grayson, Carter County, Kentucky. It came with original paperwork showing the dealer, date purchased and the owner's name so I eventually did some research online and managed to locate a photo of the dealership as it looked in the mid 70s. The owner was a local woman who probably received the car as a birthday or Christmas gift as suggested by some local residents on a social media genealogy forum who had worked at the dealership at the time and remember the car being sold (you gotta love small towns).

Call it karma, but knowing a little of the car's history just makes me a bit reluctant to part the car out. I guess I consider myself a caretaker of sorts. So, for now I'll continue to use it as a testbed (that's why I've named it Mr. Stein, short for Frankenstein) and work on the car's body as I learn metalwork and brush up and expand my brazing and welding skills.

Gotta Start Somewhere

The results of my first attempts at brazing. This is on the right front fender of the Fury parts car that will eventually be installed on the Savoy sedan. This is the bottom of the fender and bolts to the frame via a brace, normally not visible. The area was pretty sketchy looking anyway with the sheetmetal being thin and rusty so I decided it was a great place to start. Overall... it was a good experience and I've learned what mistakes I made and will correct them and improve my skills. I'll continue next week by filling in some old trim holes.

Motivation

Circa 1979

Frankie's Day Out

Took Mr. Stein out for a test drive Saturday afternoon; about 10 miles. I am being overly cautious since it's been a few years since I've been on the road with it. But with the new fuel system and the tweaks to the motor, it seems to be running nice and strong with plenty of power.

Idle Chatter

Valve Lash

Valve Lash is the mechanical clearance between the valve tappet and the rocker arm. On these older Mopar slant six engines with solid lifters, valve lash adjustments are performed with the engine running, after it has reached operating temperature. The recommended service interval is 30,000 miles.

diagram courtesy of satikudlu.blogspot.com

Snooze Nooze

Sometimes I go down to the shop, drink a few beers, smoke a couple of cigars and just enjoy the atmosphere. This was one of those times.

I did clean the wagon's old distributor cap off as a test, by soaking it in a bucket of cold water and some Dawn dishwashing detergent overnight. It was caked with a 1/8" thick layer of greasy crap.

Turns out it's an original Mopar Forward Look piece.

Also cleaned the Ball & Ball / Carter 1bbl carb that I pulled off the wagon while I was at it. Now it's ready for re-building.

Suddenly, It's 1977

Searched eBay and found a cool old Cal-Custom bolt on gas pedal foot from back in the day. And that nerdy, late 70s high school look is starting to come together. 😜

I still have tons of sheet metal work to do but I wanted to do some "fun" stuff first.

Motivation

Prognosis: Fatal

The wagon's been at the shop for 2 years now and Saturday I decided tear into the motor and have a look at the ol' slant six to see if I could find out why the car had been abandoned in the late 70s.

It wasn't pretty.

When the car arrived, the motor was locked up. Since the odometer reading is over 100k I was expecting the worst.

That does not look healthy. And oh yeah, the distributor won't budge.

#1 intake pushrod isn't looking good at all.

#4 exhaust pushrod is gone and probably down in the motor.

And that's why I picked up the rusty but unmolested '63 Fury with the 318 polyhead and 55k showing on the clock.

Shop News 6.10.18

Re-covering the dash visor on the Savoy moredoor has been on my to-do list for a while, got the idea a couple of years ago to do a 70s inspired fake fur thing. Finally tackled the task on Saturday. Looking at it now, I'm thinking I'll cover the instrument panel pod behind it in black fur.

Tach It Up

Got my vintage Sun Super Tach 2 wired and installed. See the video clip at the bottom. 👍

Motivation

A Warm Fuzzy Feeling

...and it aint moldy bread.

This weekend's work included a pleasant surprise as I set out to swap out the right rear brake drum off my '63 Savoy with one from the Fury parts car, on account I booger'd up one of the studs a couple years back. Gathering my tools and setting to work, the Fury's drum came off a little too easily and I found out why; looks like it had received a brake job not too long before it was parked and abandoned. Parking brake cable too. Next job will be to unbolt both assemblies from the rear axle and put them away for future use.

This last shot is of the right rear brake assembly on the Savoy. One of things that appealed to me when I was considering purchasing the car was the fact that besides being unmolested it had recently received a complete brake job, lines, master cylinder and brake cable. Though I do have a complete set of old school brake tools to do my own work when I have to.

Random Thoughts

Was the odd styling and placement of the '63 Plymouth's front turn signals a final nod of appreciation to Virgil Exner, the godfather of Forward Look? That was my thought after seeing this mid 50s rendering of a design proposal for the 1957 Imperial, with its oval, fender mounted headlight assemblies.

Hmmm...!

Image from "Concept Cars, Prototypes and Show Cars"
[https://www.flickr.com/groups/22276389@N00/]

My Own Personal Frankenstein

Shop News 5.21.18

Fuel system replacement work completed.
8 gallons of fresh ethanol-free gas.
Ran to operating temperature to check for leaks.
Then a quick road test. 👍

Details

Pump to carb fuel line salvaged off Dragon2 for use in Cap'n Sketchy. It won't be needed on the wagon since I have to pull the drive train and plan on installing all new components anyway.

Shop News 5.6.28

• Fuel Lines and Hardware from Inline Tube
• Spectra Premium Fuel Tank and Sending Unit from Rock Auto
• Sending Unit Ground Strap from Auto Metal Direct
• Fuel Tank Pad from Detroit Muscle

• Bumper and Brackets off Fury parts car
• Bumper Bolts from Auto Metal Direct