Bringing Home 55 New Yorker St. Regis on Sat

I purchased the vehicle from an estate and the car is in relatively good condition. Here is the background as I know it. It is a CA car, I am purchasing it from the original owner's estate, owner passed away in 2007, the car has been stored indoors since '07\'08, the last tags on the car expired June 1994, the car was garaged, I have no keys, the body is straight and the paint is in good condition (once you wipe all the dust and spider webs off). rodent's have been in the engine compartment, but the wiring appears to be in tact, the armrests need help, the chrome is good but starting to pit, the glass is good, and no rust.

I have a couple mechanic friends that work for smoked ribs, pulled pork, & diet coke. I'm so lucky.

When I get it home the first thing I'm going to work on is cleaning up the fuel system. I will replace the fuel pump & filter; any recommendations for a pump & filter?

I think I can tune up the carb to get the car running, but may need to rebuild or replace: again, any recommendations for parts kits or replacement carb?

It needs a battery: suggestions?

This is my starting point. As part of the fuel system once over, I'm changing all the fluids. Then I'll see if the engine is seized.

Any other advise at this point is appreciated. I'll post some pics and keep you updated on the car.

Here are some pics of the engine and the storage condition of the car.

Nice find!

YES! Nice find, alright. I can add that 11,076 of the 1955 Chrysler St. Regis 2-door hardtops were built.

You lucky dog! NAPA has the correct battery for your new Chrysler. NAPA part #7204, not cheap at about $100. Interstate Batteries part # 2-XHD, $129. AutoZone Duralast part #2, $?. All 40's and 50's 6 volt Mopars take the BCI Group 2 size battery. A few months back I found a Group 2 online for $49, but, I have not been able to find it again.

not cheap at about $100. .

When is the last time you had to buy a battery Bob? The price of metal is up and $100 wont buy much of a battery these days. I know a guy that pays $100 per day to set up a used battery buying place over the weekends here in my town. That helped when my rental was empty for so long. The studies show that 33,000 cars will drive by there on a typical Sat or Sun so I guess if he snags a few batteries it must make him a profit, although he is kind of tight lipped about the numbers. A very nice find on this NY by the way.

Just bought a battery for the 52 Chrysler 3 months ago at an AutoZone and it was just over $100 with taxes, state disposal fees etc. I just checked NAPA and their BAT 7204 is $99.99. About 6 months ago I bought an 84 month battery for my Yukon at Walmart for less than $90. Sounds like the wholesalers in your area are taking advantage.

You do know that most automotive batteries sold in North America, including OEM brands, are made by Exide. So there should not be any big difference in price among labels for batteries of the same size and CCA rating. Also, Ray-O-Vac is an Exide company and is the #2 producer of dry cell batteries producing most of the private label batteries.

Just had to buy two batteries for my Ford 7.3. $300 installed. I guess the diesel needs the expensive batteries. All of my street rods get Optimas. The best deal on those is thru Summit at $169. delivered. My tire shop will match that but needs cores. The cores are bringing a few bucks these days. You might be right about getting gouged by the wholesalers out here, but those 100 dollar batteries don't seem to weigh much which probably translates to not much power and I would expect that old Hemi could use some oomph. Especially as it will have to be a 6 volt battery.

I am obviously not a battery expert here, just an observation.

For starter's, the car came home Sunday, not Saturday. There some unforeseen issues, as to be expected. I tried playing with the cam adjustments, that didn't seem to help and I busted one of the cams off. I sprayed, removed the shoe nuts from the back of the drum, banged away with a rubber mallet and she finally gave way. I now have 4 moving wheels. In the next week or two I'll get it washed, cleaned, remove all the spider webs, then begin cleaning up the fuel system. I'm excited, like a kid at Christmas.

EDIT:

Just re-read my post and I shouldn't post after midnight. The missing parts that you could possibly summize are that one of the wheels was siezed. It wouldn't budge. That's when I played with drum cam bolts and snapped one. Some banging and loosing of the shoe bolts at the bottom of the drum did the trick. I was able to use some leverage and get the wheel to spin. I has so excitetd.

Now the fun begins. As you said, Its like Christmas.