davenc Posted May 31, 2012 Share Posted May 31, 2012 Just bought a '54 Century from a dry climate, no rust. Purchased it from the original owner's family, making me the 3rd owner. Odometer shows 22K miles. Based on the family's history of the car, that may be actual miles. My question is what would be tell-tale signs on the car that this is really 122K miles? I'm thinking maybe the condition of the front end like king pins, ball joints, etc. Opinions? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jscheib Posted May 31, 2012 Share Posted May 31, 2012 Unless the previous owners were extremely neat, or the reverse, extremely "trashy" (for lack of a better word at this time) the interior wear should even give a few clues. Pedal wear, and wear of the floor covering at the right foot, would not show hard wear at 22K, but I would look for more clues also, such as what you indicated.John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest my3buicks Posted May 31, 2012 Share Posted May 31, 2012 The interior thing is not dead on, I have seen very low mileage cars with very worn interiors, older people can be hard on interiors the way they have to slide in and out, and back then women with heels destroyed carpets and mats. It is a good starting point, but not full proof.On the other hand, meticulous care goes a long way in preserving an interior so it looks new decades later.Does the picture of my 67's interior look like an interior with over 100K miles on it, I have people argue with me that the car only has the approx 32K on the odometer - even though I was driving it when it flipped?If you can find service records that might help lead you in the right direction. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 54fins Posted May 31, 2012 Share Posted May 31, 2012 122K miles is what 50K miles was back in the fifties. 22K miles isn't unussal for a 50's car. Now the bad news- it did alot of sitting. Water condenses in the motor and tranny- even in a dessert and forms acid. Unless it was stored in a climate controlled building, low miles won't mean much. Assume the motor is full of sludge. It may start right up and sound good, which is ussually followed by a catastrophic failure. 322 nailheads like to stick a valve. You need to pull the oil pan and the heads and completely de-gunk the motor. I personally use diesel and ATF and you have to be sure every oil path is clear- it's quite a process.The body work is the hardest part, so if it is rust free you have a gem. the sun will rot all the soft stuff and it may be very difficult to validate 22K miles. 122K miles is probably better, as the car was driven more and alot of stuff reworked and maintained. There arn't many time capsule cars but they are very neat when they do turn up with indoor storage. But they have to be treated like digging up a mummy- assume every fluid is horible and everything very fragile. Get an Alabama title so you can keep the original title. look for scratches on bolts, rust bubbles under paint. The bolts will turn easily, if you have to lay on them they were likely overtightened during repair work. You can find old copper and lead fillers on old cars from production, but 1 speck of bondo and forget it. 1 ride on salted roads and the body is likely to have cancer. More often than not "original" cars are far from it- but you may very well have found one. Post some photos! If it is, don't restore the car without getting alot of advise from alot of different people. True originals are very rare and "restored as original" is still a completely different beast. Any car can be restored but they are only original once. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
old-tank Posted June 1, 2012 Share Posted June 1, 2012 Just bought a '54 Century from a dry climate, no rust. Purchased it from the original owner's family, making me the 3rd owner. Odometer shows 22K miles. Based on the family's history of the car, that may be actual miles. My question is what would be tell-tale signs on the car that this is really 122K miles? I'm thinking maybe the condition of the front end like king pins, ball joints, etc. Opinions?The rubber bushings on the sway bar links used to be a good indicator. If original looking rubber was present and still tight it was low miles...if sloppy is was higher miles. But with this much time even low mile original rubber may be trash. Look at the front shocks: most original ones wore out in 15,000 miles...it would take a dedicated cowboy to ride that thing for over 100,000 miles. Rear shock links may help; original spark plugs may be present...even original plug wires and distributor components.Willie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben Bruce aka First Born Posted June 1, 2012 Share Posted June 1, 2012 Alright, davenc, how about some pictures? Ben Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrEarl Posted June 2, 2012 Share Posted June 2, 2012 Alright, davenc, how about some pictures? Bentook the words right out of my mouth Ben.Going along with what Willie had to say about shocks, typically the original shock mounts were tossed upon the first shock replacement as the new shocks would have their own mounting bolts. Spark plug covers were normally tossed during the first few tune ups also. Pictures of these below. What if any service stickers are in the doors? How much wear is on the drivers seat, brake pedal and the carpet where the drivers foot heel rests? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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