Condore21
Member
Hello all,
My name is Brian and I joined this site to help get my father's '66 stingray back up and road worthy. Just a brief history, the car is a '66 that was customized by the previous owner. My father purchased the car in 1974. It has the 327/300 engine with a powerglide. I am unsure about the rear and the only modifications to it were done to the exterior. The original owner was a woman who rear ended a truck. The person my father purchased the car from bought it to make something "special" for his wife. He fiberglassed the headlights down, put a plymouth gtx grill with oldsmobile delta 88 headlights in place, flared the wheel wells, and molded a spoiler on the back. There are no emblems on the car. The car was originally white and it is now painted in a cadillac silver.
My father only drove the car in summer and stored it in winter. When he bought his house and had us kids he was forced to take the car off of the road circa 1986. There it sat in our garage til my brother and I were old enough to start working on it and having some knowledge about cars. The car has been sitting for 22 years, only being started a couple of times a year to keep everything lubricated.
In the past couple of weeks we have put new tires on, getting rid of the out-dated polyglas tires that have been on it since '74. The calipers on all 4 wheels were shot, so I threw in the money and we have since replaced all of them and some new rear brake lines (those e-brake shoes in the rear are a pain!) I just purchased a new 6-piece exhaust system from manifolds to mufflers. That will be going on shortly. After that, we plan on having the carb rebuilt by a local guy (my dads friend) and then a full tune up with change of fluids.
Now for the bad. Ever since I could remember, the driver's side door has a hard time openning from the inside. My father has to put his shoulder into it to get it to open, but it opens flawlessly from the outside. None of the fan speeds work, as well as the wipers do not turn on. We have checked all of the fuses with a test light and they are good. Guess I will look for the ground to be the problem... Also, when you hit the hi-beam switch it shorts out the low beams. I think we narrowed it down to a bad switch. We have a replacement, are the hi-beam switches that hard to replace? Also, the clock stopped working years ago and the power antenna does not go up and down. I believe the cable has snapped.
Sorry for the long read, just wanted to get it all out there for you guys. Just wondering, anyone else here from NJ that has a decent knowledge of these cars?
I will end this thread with a thank you all in advance and some pics!
My name is Brian and I joined this site to help get my father's '66 stingray back up and road worthy. Just a brief history, the car is a '66 that was customized by the previous owner. My father purchased the car in 1974. It has the 327/300 engine with a powerglide. I am unsure about the rear and the only modifications to it were done to the exterior. The original owner was a woman who rear ended a truck. The person my father purchased the car from bought it to make something "special" for his wife. He fiberglassed the headlights down, put a plymouth gtx grill with oldsmobile delta 88 headlights in place, flared the wheel wells, and molded a spoiler on the back. There are no emblems on the car. The car was originally white and it is now painted in a cadillac silver.
My father only drove the car in summer and stored it in winter. When he bought his house and had us kids he was forced to take the car off of the road circa 1986. There it sat in our garage til my brother and I were old enough to start working on it and having some knowledge about cars. The car has been sitting for 22 years, only being started a couple of times a year to keep everything lubricated.
In the past couple of weeks we have put new tires on, getting rid of the out-dated polyglas tires that have been on it since '74. The calipers on all 4 wheels were shot, so I threw in the money and we have since replaced all of them and some new rear brake lines (those e-brake shoes in the rear are a pain!) I just purchased a new 6-piece exhaust system from manifolds to mufflers. That will be going on shortly. After that, we plan on having the carb rebuilt by a local guy (my dads friend) and then a full tune up with change of fluids.
Now for the bad. Ever since I could remember, the driver's side door has a hard time openning from the inside. My father has to put his shoulder into it to get it to open, but it opens flawlessly from the outside. None of the fan speeds work, as well as the wipers do not turn on. We have checked all of the fuses with a test light and they are good. Guess I will look for the ground to be the problem... Also, when you hit the hi-beam switch it shorts out the low beams. I think we narrowed it down to a bad switch. We have a replacement, are the hi-beam switches that hard to replace? Also, the clock stopped working years ago and the power antenna does not go up and down. I believe the cable has snapped.
Sorry for the long read, just wanted to get it all out there for you guys. Just wondering, anyone else here from NJ that has a decent knowledge of these cars?
I will end this thread with a thank you all in advance and some pics!
!! Nice story and photos. Thanks for sharing them! I agree with Tom... keep it as is and enjoy it!
Jane Ann
