I have heard of a guy here in TN that builds trannys. I was also told he once collected Olds and still had some. I finally got in touch with him last week. He has all but stopped doing transmissions, but after we talked he told me to bring our T-400 from a GTO to him. I had another shop that would do it, but I wanted to see this guy's Olds. You never know, this guy might sell us something.o No: So, we arrive and see rusted trucks and equip. sitting everywhere. The guy has a nice shop. He finds out the info. on the GTO and says the trans will be ready in a few days. Meanwhile dad is walking around outside with this guy's old father. He sees a rotting Olds and asks questions. The guy asks us if we want to see his rare Olds. Sure we said. So, the rotted one is his former drag car that's an original 70 W-30 4 speed! Then we see a rotted 70 SX all complete. Go out back and in a field are 2 more 70 W-30's rotting.:rant: Last was a shed with a 72 complete 442 that was fair. This shed was full of Olds parts from when he parted 23 Olds back in 78 when the county made him clean up. All the cars have been mixed and matched with other parts. One 30 was Ralley red with no frontend. Another was a post car with no frontend (anyone say rare?). The rusted race car was quickly going to the ground. He claimed to have the original eng. for it but not the tranny. This really hurt looking at these cars! Don't think dad has slept well since. No, this guy will not sell ANYTHING! He doesn't want anyone to know the cars are there. That's why he has them hidden. We offered him a great deal, but quickly saw that $100k wouldn't buy one. He did let me take pics. The camera is at work but I will post asap.
Probably tired of window shoppers and treating him like he doesn't know what he has over many years. Seen that many times.
Yeah, that's what he said of course. He wants to start with the coupe car. He told my brother that his kids are grown now and he wasn't up against it financially anymore. He said he could spend 2 or 3 thousand dollars now without any worry. That wouldn't get started! Dad offered to fully frame off one of the cars for another car and this guy didn't even consider it. He says he has all paperwork on the coupe from when it was new.ou:
It is crazy to let cars like that rot. What is wrong with these people? They should at least sell one so they can build a building to cover the other ones!
Near my house i know of 2 Charger R/T's,2 70 340 Cuda's,68 Super Bee,69 GTS Dart,70 Challenger T/A,69 GTX,69 SS Nova,70 Z-28,70 Challenger R/T,71 Challenger [sunroof],70 442,71 GS Stage 1,most of these cars are owned by 2 different guys,won't sell,the cars are rotting into the ground.
i know where there is a 70 stripe delete LS6 numbers match car. 4 speed, with a bench seat, just sitting in this guys garage, with boxes of crap on it, covered with about an inch of dust, no major rust i can see. been after it since i got out of basic training in 2000. guy wont sell it, always ask," why do you want that old car, ain't worth drivin anymore, cost to much" , lol, if he only knew.
Keep after him but be nice about it. Make sure everyone in his family knows you want it. Don't want to miss out if he kicks the bucket.
I know a guy that has a 68 W31 and a 66 L69 442 sitting in a garage with a huge layer of dust on them and a 68 W30 in another garage that just needs to be put together. Oh yeah.....that's me! One of these days...........o No:
You might not have to wait for him to kick the bucket, if you make sure his wife knows you're interested. Show her a fist full of hundreds. She won't sell without him, but she might just decide she needs new curtains. I bet she can be more persuasive than you can ......
Reminds me of when I was a kid. Guy in Milan had a 1928 Pierce Arrow enclosed drive sedan. One off coach, 414 cube in line six, divider window etc etc. Could have used a resto, but was maybe a good weekend away from being drivable. He was happy with it sitting there in the garage covered in bags of garbage, because he had been offered big money, but "had something that nobody's money could buy". uzzled: Don't know what if anything happened to it, it might still be there, he might have kicked and it got hauled off. o No:
Here's the 70 W30 4 speed car that he raced in the 70's. He bought it in 1973 and both him and his father says it had a small metal Hurst badge on the exterior sail panel when he got it. The previous owner told him that Hurst had done minor performance upgrades to it. I know of no Hurst action with a 70. But they might have modded this one for someone.
Here's the 72 442. It looks pretty good. But, they pulled the engine/tranny out in the late 70's and installed it in their Chevy truck that pulled their race car. The truck and drivetrain are long gone now. Notice the W30 intake stuck in the dirt on the ground. That's the way the whole building is! I saw good 70 fenders stuck here and there. Original grills, 8 track players, gauge packs, ram air hoods and even some red inner fenders.
not much left of those babies!! I wouldn't even consider trying to save those rotted heaps. Very sad.
Here's the RR colored W. Can't get much info. from them on it. It's a 4 speed with bucket seats and all interior complete. His father says the engine is gone. It's got the - - for the paint code and appears to be original paint as all the cars do.
Last but definitely not least! This is the W30 coupe. Frontend is mostly gone. The inner fenders are red but have turned black from the weather. Motor has F heads. Buried in the weeds, grass and groundhog dirt is a W27 alumin. rearend! It's got the alum. housing and cover. Interior is all there. He will not even put these cars inside.
Oh, the humanity.......... I've seen a whole lot worse restored up here in the rust belt. If they have paperwork, they are worth $$$ and may be worth saving. F heads? Try about $2k to start off. W27 axle? 4k on up. How old is this guy? Son may change the tune after his Dad is gone. Keep close.
This happens way too often. What a shame...there are plenty of folks who would have paid them handsomely for the chance to own a real W-30 car. :ball: :ball:
