Imperial Home Page -> Imperials by Year -> 1964 -> Kerry's 1964 Saga
January 31, 2001. Working away in my home office when the phone rang. To my pleasant surprise, it was Jeff Carrothers. He had been surfing the IML want ads and saw a new ad for a 64 crown and noticed it was a 256 area code. Immediately he thought that might be near me so he called the guy and then called me. Turns out the car was about 5 minutes from my house and the guy wanted it gone TODAY because he needed to move it from his coworkers mothers driveway. The ladies husband had passed away 3 years ago and it made her sad to see it. He had bought it from her and I suspect he did not pay much..
We made an appointment. Car supposedly runs but has to be manually fed gas. 68K miles and appears accurate. Last year for pushbutton. Leather stained but restorable. Newer cloth inserts show no wear. Carpet faded. Tires good. Weatherstripping shot. Two windows work, two don't. New battery. New Mist green paint which is fairly decent but not perfect and certainly not worth the $1400 supposedly paid. Still I think it will buff out well I think.
I made an offer, he whined, I held firm, he whined some more. Finally I said, if you want it gone today that's all I'm going to do. He blinked and I left for the bank. On the way I called Jeff. I think he was surprised I had bought it but it seemed to me to be a very good deal (as long as the motor and trans work, they SHOULD??) and the moment was at hand, you know??? If Jeff wants it he can have it, if not, I'll definitely keep it.
Always envied folks with a low mileage car. Everything I've ever had has been already completely worn out and I ended up doing EVERYTHING.
Jeff said I could keep the car and even refused a finders fee. I'm still in his debt and will help him paint his 59 like we did with Elijah Scott's 73.
February 1, 2001
Had a few minutes. Took some rubbing compound and attacked the scrape on the right side. Looks like they sideswiped the garage door opening. It rubbed right off and left NO trace. Upon closer inspection, the paint is metallic and in pretty good shape. There are a couple cracks and sanding marks and some bumps that were never rubbed out but it should clean up well.
Now to the engine. Tried blowing back through the fuel line with no luck so I disconnected it at the tank. The line was clear but I could not blow back into the tank. When I removed the sending unit and fuel pickup I saw why. The bottom 3 inches of the fuel pickup line was PLUGGED with varnish although the filter was clean. Old gas smell was strong. I reassembled the fuel line, sprayed some starter fluid in the carb and VAROOM. No smoke, no clicking. I'm impressed. Idle is a little rough but with bad gas its better than I expected.
I let it idle while I looked at the brakes. When I pulled the master cylinder cover off, the chamber was dry. I refilled it and gently began tapping the pedal. Each tap produced a small air bubble in the fluid and in about 5 minutes I had a hard pedal.
Wiping off my hands, I climbed in and tried to figure out the pushbuttons. To my great pleasure, the trans dropped right into gear. Wonder if it will drive. Well, the oil, water, and trans fluid looked good and my son is home if there is a problem. Why not?
Parking lever up, PUSH that drive button, trans drops into gear. Engine coughs and sputters but we move stately if unsteadily forward. As we progress the engine runs fairly poorly. When I shift into neutral it revs fine so I deduce its the bad gas. Probably no octane left since its been at LEAST 3 years since its been driven. Turned around at the first road and she died. My son towed me home and I parked it where I could drop the tank but to my surprise she fired back up.
The temperature is going to drop so I pulled the 73 out of the shop and was able to back the sputtering old gal in the shop. When I get over my cold, I'll drain and clean the tank.
After spending some time looking, I'm convinced this is a 61000 original mile car. Always wanted a low mileage original!
Jeff is coming up in a couple weekends to help get her going. In honor of the mist green paint, I think I'll name her "Misty". My goal is to drive her to the Anniston meet in late May.
The following photos are in no particular order.
Passenger side. Notice you cannot see a dent between the doors where the scrape is.
PUSHBUTTONS!! Woo WHOO!
4 good tires and original wheel covers
Rear view, you can see a dent in the bumper
Cloth appears to be new, leather is stained or the dye has worn off. Should be fixable.
On drivers seat there is some leather cracking but again, should be fixable. Carpet is faded.
Weatherstripping is shot but its hard to see.
Top of drivers seat. Seat is one piece, power assist which works
Apparently had a trailer hitch at some time. See the slot? Bet anything, the dent was caused by him backing into the trailer hitch of the boat trailer.
Door panels are good
Car was repainted but looks good.
Nice and straight. Should clean up very nice.
Scratch. I think it will buff out. I can't feel any dent. (this did buff out completely)
Translucent steering wheel, with only 1 small crack, AM radio works as does power antenna.
Front view
This page was last updated October 6, 2003. Send us your feedback, and come join the Imperial Mailing List - Online Car Club
