New aquisition, 1973 T-Bird

[rustyk1]

Hey guys, new to this forum, not new to old cars. Just bought a '73 with a 460-4v automatic. Southern car with little rust, great floor pans, straight body lines. The only real rust is on the hood. It has sat since 1987 on concrete and mostly under a carport, hence the rust on the hood. Might need to section the corners. The interior is in really good shape white leather with black carpets, the dash has no cracks, the gauges look like brand new, the odometer shows 13800, but I have no was to know if it went over 100K. I am inclined to hope that it has the low miles. The tires, although destroyed, (dry rot) were Bias Ply 225-15 and all 5 matched (spare included). I might need some technical advice later in the rebuild.

 

[captrick]

Hey Rusty, Check the brake pedal rubber to see if it is worn really bad on one side and if it is the car has a lot of miles on it. Another way is to tell is to check out the steering wheel if it is worn unevenly. You can take the oil breather off and see if there is a build up of slug in the valve cover. Other then that there isn't any way to tell unless you have the history on the car.

 

[rustyk1]

Thanks for the pointers, just looked at the Brake pedal, the ridges are still there, a little more wear on the right side and the stainless steel around the rubber has some wear on the lower right corner, but overall really clean. no holes in the carpet, anywhere. I will be checking the engine soon, have to get a Yukon running first, doing the top end.