I've been working on my friend's car after I had it towed to my shop.
Her dad bought the car new and it has been a part of her family memories for 60 years.
But, it was in pretty bad shape. Her dad drove it infrequently (in Shriner parades) until around 2000 and parked it. When her dad was diagnosed as terminal a few years ago, they took the car to a local restoration shop who did a cosmetic restoration (paint, interior and trim) but no mechanical work.
During the past year or so, I would drive the car every few months, but otherwise it just sat. It recently became difficult to start and last month, refused to start at all.
So after cleaning up the starter wiring and discovering that the neutral safety switch had become disconnected, i thought all the starting problems were solved, but no such luck.
Removing the starter and testing it, the solenoid works OK, but the armature will not spin, so the next step is a re-build.
Then I'm looking at a carburetor and fuel pump re-build because, you know, ethanol fuel is hard on those things and they were showing some deterioration before the starter acted up.
In other things, the differential, transmission and rear engine oil seals all leak, but not a lot, so as long as I keep the fluids topped off, it should be OK until the family decides Just what to do with the car. All the brake lines are corroded, but not leaking and the brakes are solid. All of the front suspension is worn. The sad part is that the car may not be not "worth" a big investment to re-build and repair all that stuff; '54 Firedomes in better shape are selling for +/- $14,000.
Until the family decides, I'll try to keep it in as good a shape as I can.
