Part II: Should I save it? 72 Sprint

As promised, here is my update on the topic of this thread: Should I save it? 72 Sprint.

Long story short: I bought it on Saturday.

The pick up:

I got to the guys house early Saturday morning and checked out the Sprint in person. It was quite a bit worse than I thought. It was a roll over the driver's side and it came to rest on it's top after an encounter with a pine tree on the driver's quarter behind the door. The previous owner didn't even know what exactly happened.

Other than the damage to the quarter, top, and some dents on the driver's door the hood and front fenders, everything looked really nice - definitely a 67,000 mile car. The underbody looked really nice too, no tweaks that I saw and no rust, I can clearly see the paint marks on the rear end. The front end was out of alignment, a couple of the tires were flat, and it was really dirty. A pretty sad sight.

The guy got some gas for the carb, and it fired up on the first crank. My 73 doesn't even start that nicely. It ran a little rough, but it was sitting since December. After a couple minutes the engine smoothed out, and then the smoke began! Holy crap! Tons of smoke! What it turned out to be was that when it was flipped over on it's top, quite a bit of oil went in the cylinders and then into the exhaust as a result.

I dropped it into gear, and the tranny fluid was also low from the rollover, so I had to rev it up to get it to move. I limped it over to the trailer, all the while smoke was pouring out the back - it was quite the sight at 8:30 in the morning, I'm sure.

Fast forward to my house:

I got it home without incident and topped the tranny off with 2 qts of fluid, and now it drives pretty nicely. I let the car sit there and run to burn out the rest of the oil. It took a few run cycles, but I think I got almost all of it burned out. The engine runs really strong - it burns out pretty well too

I proceeded to vacuum, wash, and clean out the car. It even has factory Ford rubber floor mats with the Ford oval and a GT40 on them! Another item of interest, was a dead CHICKEN under the front seat! When I was cleaning the trunk, I noticed that a portion of the trunk floor was popped up a little bit. Uh, oh..... The rear of the car looked like it was repainted at some time, and the valance was replaced as well, so I figured the car was involved in some sort of mishap previously - the trunk floor confirmed it for me. Knowing this, I took a better look under the car, and saw what I was hoping not to. Right at the top of where the frame rails go over the axle, each side is buckled slightly (I will get pics of the damage). To me it looks like this could be repaired easily with a frame machine, and I don't think this damage happened during the roll over, but you never know. Everything else on the underbody is super straight and rust free. Also of interest was a lot of rubber residue in the passenger's wheel house and hose clamps on the front of the leaf springs - remnants from a homemade traction bar setup from the past.

Anyway, I know there is lots of damage to this car, but I am still convinced it is repairable. The car has a clean title, and runs really great. I think I am going to sit on it for a while before I make any decision. If I can swing it, I will fix this car. Yeah, I may be crazy. Hey Ray, want to come do a top and tail swap with me?

On to the pics!

 

Damage closeups:

 

Interior pictures:

 

Engine, AAA member since 72, and chicken found under front seat:

 

Wow that is rare!! A chicken under the seat!! Defiantly restore it just for that fact!!

 

That is one CLEAN Interior for original (at least in the back)

 

Yeah, there are some splits in the seat, a couple cracks in the dash, and the headliner is trash from the roll over, but it is pretty clean

 

Yeah, it blew me away when I moved the seat up to vacuum under the seat and I saw a big pile of feathers! That is definitely the most unique thing I have found in a car.

 

I think when its done u should put a rubber chicken under the seat

 

He'll, I wish I was the that found it!!! I'd fix that baby in a heartbeat!!! That will make a nice car!!! Ever want your money back just let me know.

 

If I was in the market, I'd fix it.

 

I say the car is fixable, the chicken is'nt.

 

i second the rubber chicken, then you can call it the chicken car

 

Hahaha! That chicken is gross!!! How the hell would someone not know there was a chicken under the seat?? Maybe that's how they rolled the car? the chicken was crossing the road, and they swerved to miss it?
Anyways, looks like a super clean car, and well worth repairing. I wouldn't think twice.

 

I agree with everybody - FIX IT!