| I just spent two days in California (returning to find my Civic completely buried by the Denver snowstorm I thought I'd dodged), visiting family and 24 Hours of LeMons co-conspirators. Time was short, but there's always time to visit the junkyard! Colorado junkyards are good for finding long-forgotten four-wheel-drive cars, but you can't beat the San Francisco Bay Area for doomed classic Detroit iron. Yes, this wagon has the Chrysler pushbutton automatic shifter. It also has California-style rust. That's the kind of rust that results from bad weatherstripping allowing rainwater to get into the car, where it sits all winter… for years. Yes, that's moss growing in the hole; I suspect this car spent a decade or two in a damp, shady back yard overgrown with weeds and wild blackberry bushes. Then you get pine needles filling the rain gutters, which leads to this sort of rust. These cars were cheap, reliable (by 1960s standards), hauled a lot of kids and groceries for their size, and sold in huge quantities. Sadly, most of the Valiant (and Dart) wagons were crushed at least a decade before station wagons become hip among old-car freaks.
from The Truth About Cars http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com |
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