As some of you may know, I bought Tom Millers 73 GS. Beautiful car. Body and interior are not too far from perfect. At least for a 50 year old car. Best part is I drove it home for 3 - 4 hours on the highway with zero issues. Today I put it up on the lift and I was not horribly dissapointed. It has some minor leaks but nothing crazy. It has some minor issues which I will repair as time goes on. First up is the speedometer that reads fast. Damn thing was triggering my OCD on the drive home. I pulled the driven gear to count the teeth on the driving gear. Driving is 21, driven is 36. So I ordered a 45 tooth driven gear. It will help but I need to change the driving gear to an 18 tooth. That I will try to change over the winter. The rear trans seal is leaking so I will address both at the same time. I will update as I go along.
I have known this car since 1977. Was owned by a teacher at the skill center that I attended in Saginaw MI whose parents purchased it new. He was my auto shop teacher there. Was purchased by a good friend of mine in the late 1980's who had the body repaired and repainted by a long time friend of his then rebuilt the engine with the speed parts that are on it now. We drove caravan style to the Nats several years throughout the 90s. He sold it to the guy who repainted it, who then raced it at a local circle track in spectator drags a few times (2 cars racing). It then went to Ohio and found its way to Tom Miller.
I know pics have been posted of this car already, but I'll add a few from the pics I took for the insurance.
I believe it is actually called 'Silver Cloud'. I'm not a big fan of Silver but this one is kinda cool. Depending on the lighting it can look green-ish or tan-ish. Color change is nowhere near as dramatic as the Ford 'Mystic' but it does seem to happen.
welcome to the Colonnade world, or should I say the "Red headed stepchild" world. Beautiful car! Fernando
Thanks, I am really enjoying the car. I know I should be going thru it with a fine tooth comb but I am having too much fun driving it.
I found something interesting in the glovebox. I forgot what it's called, but it's that hard plastic tape that you can type on. It's got the name and address of what I assume is a previous owner. Larry Schwinck out of Saginaw, MI. Any of you guys know him?
Hmmm, I personally prefer 'the Colonnades'. Which to me sounds better than misfits. It's arguably a better looking car than the Skylarks. These cars were a victim of the times. Gas shortages, dropping HP, skyrocketing insurance rates. None of which was the cars fault.
I mean no insult at all; I love the colonnade cars. I really like ‘68-9 cars, too, and use ‘stepchild’ as a matter of pride. Hope you didn’t think I was insulting it. Patrick
sorry to hijack, but I want to get some new exterior door handles for mine, does anyone know who would have them. Info you might need Walter! Fernando
Protecto Plate for warranty work is what the card in the glove box is called. Larry would be the original owner. He is the teacher who owned the car when I first became aware of it in 1977.
To be clear, it is not a protecto plate card. It was tape from one of those label makers that everyone had back then. I'd post a picture but I didn't want to post the guy's address.
