I have made some significant progress on the '59. I've now got it running, driving and stopping. The nut on the bottom of the fuel tank/tap was rotted preventing the fuel tap to seal and/or even allowing the fuel tank to hold fuel. When the previous owner parked it, he thought it had carb problems, because it spit, sputtered and would not stay running. I'm pretty sure it was out of gas due to the fuel leak. Because it now runs perfectly.
I had a hell of the time on the brakes. The brakes had no pressure, no fluid and the left rear wheel was locked up really tight from getting stuck and rusting in place. I ended up replacing all of they hydraulic parts and brake shoes. The steel and rubber hoses seemed to be in great condition. When I went to bleed the brakes I could never get much pedal pressure and the travel went nearly to the floor. the push-rod was extended as far as it could go and maybe had 3 threads before it would have been out. Having bleed many brakes before I was very frustrated to say the least. I tried gravity bleeding, pressure bleeding, vacuum bleeding, praying, cursing, etc. I finally convinced my wife to help me do the two-man pump and bleed approach. In doing this I noticed there were no bubbles much-less air in the system. Digesting that the brakes were blead but I still had tons of pedal travel and a weak pressure I decided to take a look at the pedal and the push-rod. Long story short the push-rod was some really short one and not able to fully stroke the master cylinder. I ended up swapping out the push-rod for another one that I had and problem solved. The brakes in this are the best I've ever had.
Now that I've driven this car and thoroughly scoured it, I'm pretty sure the odometer is 49K actual miles and other than an exterior re-spray and the repro bumpers the car is original. It came with a bunch of trophies from Michigan car shows for best original import and a few best in year or best in class trophies. Having a hunch at how original the car was/is I ordered the Birth Certificates from Wolfsburg. Fortunately this time they only took about three weeks to get them. I'm happy to report my engine is confirmed numbers matching and the original and the color and interior check out too.
One thing that is clearly not correct on this car is the freaking cigarette lighter in the center of the dash. Whomever did that to this car needs to be shot. However, whomever owned this car in the past was a smoker because in addition to the cigarette lighter the dash's ashtray has the original accessory insert to hold your cigar.
Photos to follow:
|
