The most tiresome thing about the 2 door hardtop, was that for as long as I've had it, it's been immovable. Non-running. That's a necessary part of fixing a car up in the first place, but with this car I want to get back to what I did when I was younger--restore and drive--a budget restoration that doesn't take forever.
Within a day I had decided to find a running engine and transmission, as complete as possible. This is intended to be a comfortable driver, and I'm looking for reliability and ease of use and economy over performance on this one.
I wasn't able to find a complete car for a drivetrain donor vehicle, but I did find a car I could actually drive before I bought the engine and transmission for $300. It was a '77 Impala with 80,000 original miles. A 305 engine, with a 1987 vintage 200R4 transmission, 4 speed automatic. A day later, I brought them home in my truck.
The neighbor and I started installing them the next day.
