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Worst basketcases


tbenvie

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Define "basketcase".

Define "restored".

 

For example, there are show winning cars considered worth millions (or more) that have been "restored"/resurrected/etc. around a proverbial VIN with nothing much else, if anything, attached to it. Do they qualify for "worse" ?

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I am in the same position as you are trying to make a Basket Case into a drivable car.

I can see why more experienced car owners looked over this car for years.

I have replaced all the wood structure and everything mechanical has been restored.

I have a picture on the wall of the finished product and this gives me encouragement.

I have accumulated quite a few missing parts like horns, coach lights, etc.

I look at this way if I cannot finish it as I am getting elderly. Maybe this will make the job easier for the next person who takes on this task.

I hope this 1931 Reo Royale Victoria does not become a Hot Rod.

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s-l1600.jpg

Edited by Mark Gregory (see edit history)
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In the 1990s, I got a tip about a Studebaker in a almond orchard in Northern California.   It turned out to be a basket case 1929 Studebaker GE Dictator rumble seat cabriolet.  A very rare model Studebaker.   My brother bought the car with the intention of restoring it.   Before he could get started a friend of ours, who was between projects, found out about the car and talked my brother into selling it to him.  Our friend did a full frame up restoration on the car.  He did not have to take it apart because the entire car was in pieces, rusted out, and wood framing long gone.  When it was pulled from the almond orchard it took several pickup truck loads to haul all the pieces to my brothers place and then move it again to our friends house.    Our friend still has the Studebaker and it is as beautiful today as when he completed the restoration.  Here are pictures as found and after restoration.

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2 minutes ago, Mark Huston said:

 

The 1929 Studebaker Dictator came out of a almond orchard in Durham, CA near the town of Chico.  

Sounds like the same place. It was in Chico. Notice the destination at the lower area of the build card....

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Edited by keiser31 (see edit history)
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This '29 McLaughlin-Buick close-coupled sedan was found in a cow pasture near Ottawa, Ont. in the mid seventies.Virtually all the wood was rotten and many parts were missing or wrong. It took the late Peter Douma of St.Catherines, Ont 10 years to restore. It helped that he was a master cabinet maker !

1929 McLaughlin Buick as found.jpg

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1940 Lasalle Woodie     Ist picture 1997     2nd picture 2019     Notice the skid marks in the first picture. My neighbor had to drag it off the flatbed with his tractor. 

I am reusing as much as possible. The wood and the middle and rear floors were replaced. In general everything else will be original. 

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Edited by Tom Boehm (see edit history)
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1925 Buick touring found out in the desert in 1982. Motor, axles, wheels, radiator plus a few other parts taken for scrap many decades ago. Wood gone.

My dad made wood for it, found some of the missing parts, did some bodywork, then parked it outside in the rain for another 15 years.

I have it now and still working on it. Still missing some parts, but its coming along. 

 

25-45 as found.jpg

ready to restore again.jpg

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Bought this 1930 Cadillac 5 passenger coupe that we dragged out of a garage where the frame and body sat. The rest of the parts were in his and his mothers basement. The car was disassembled in the mid 60s Detroit  area then sold in 72 and sat in pieces again until 84 when I bought it. Sorry I do not have pictures of how it was when I first brought it home. Sold all the other cars I had over the years and but kept this one being a great all weather driver.

Yes that is my old dog Whiskey who would take your hand off if you tried to get him out of a 13 T I had back then. 

1930 cadillac.jpg

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Edited by Joe in Canada (see edit history)
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My 35 Ford phaeton as recovered 2006, I bought remains of a 35 touring sedan for parts and parts from USA, New Zealand and South Africa, the later pictures taken last year Nov 2019, need to do upholstery.1455564820_projects001.thumb.jpg.dba1619aae915fdb694ac0efdb24e878.jpg

 

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My 26 Chrysler G70 as I found it in 1983 with the diff pumpkin missing and no bodywork at all. I found a Canadian built touring body in Sydney Australia in 2014 and bought remains of a car in Md for the axle, fenders etc. We are making progress, but need pictures of the front seat frame wood, if anyone can help with pictures I would appreciate it, thanks.

 I even got lucky and recently found a previous owner of the car, who bought and owned it in 1956. He sent me pictures of it and it was an open car, but all the body from the cowl back had already gone that long ago.

 

1983

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Aussie body as recieved in pieces 2014

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Progress on body043.thumb.JPG.6a3b127170561f6145da273c3c2a448f.JPG

 

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I have the doors with enough wood left to copy.

Viv.

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How about the 1904 Napier race car Samson? It was scrapped in 1908 and the engine installed in a boat, many years later someone got hold of this engine, or what was left of it, and set about to restore or recreate the original race car. Only the crankcase, crankshaft and a few accessories are original, the rest made from scratch.

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn%3AANd9GcSNRtI3MuHwvBuVO0jcSkVQVWfPJ7L3i8zkWi8ffCd2js6GwjhD&usqp=CAU

 

The Samson story   https://www.motorsportmagazine.com/archive/article/december-1988/68/restoration-ethics

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On 6/2/2020 at 6:10 PM, Mark Huston said:

In the 1990s, I got a tip about a Studebaker in a almond orchard in Northern California.   It turned out to be a basket case 1929 Studebaker GE Dictator rumble seat cabriolet.  A very rare model Studebaker.   My brother bought the car with the intention of restoring it.   Before he could get started a friend of ours, who was between projects, found out about the car and talked my brother into selling it to him.  Our friend did a full frame up restoration on the car.  He did not have to take it apart because the entire car was in pieces, rusted out, and wood framing long gone.  When it was pulled from the almond orchard it took several pickup truck loads to haul all the pieces to my brothers place and then move it again to our friends house.    Our friend still has the Studebaker and it is as beautiful today as when he completed the restoration.  Here are pictures as found and after restoration.

scan0001 compressed.JPG

IMG_2995.JPG

Another one??

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29_Dictator_2B.jpg

29_Dictator_2A.jpg

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2 minutes ago, Mark Huston said:


The red cabriolet is a GJ Commander.  The tan cabriolet I posted is a GE Dictator.   Notice the difference in the belt line and where the top hardware mounts to the body.  

Thanks!  Is yours an 'early' '29?

 

The owner's other '29.

 

Craig

29_Dictator_1A.jpg

Edited by 8E45E (see edit history)
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29 minutes ago, 8E45E said:

Thanks!  Is yours an 'early' '29?

 

The owner's other '29.

 

Craig

29_Dictator_1A.jpg


This is another Commander.  
 

The GE Dictator I posted (not my car) was built in 1928.  However, Studebaker referred to the late 1928 built cars as 1929’s.   Some Studebaker  “experts” today refer to them as Third Series 1928 models.  

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I got you all beat, I restored this nice 56 Chevy in only 19 years.

 Some parts are not original.

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