Kirsten' '60 Customized Convertible!

[YellowRose]

Here are more pix of Kirsten's ~ ssj335 1959 paint job Indian Turquoise 1960 customized Convertible that she drove to its new home yesterday from Massachusetts! It has some interesting customization done by a PO, including: a C6 tranny instead of a COM; '59 grill, '60 tail lights; electric door locks and over rides; a state of the art Bluetooth monitor where the radio should be; a state of the art radio in the glove box, I think she said, both with all the bells and whistles; nose Tbird, gun sights, rear fender chrome pieces removed, but she wants to have them put back on; 1959 Convertible top mechanism instead of the space age '60 one; all white interior; air Suspension; after market oil and tem gauges; under dash button to put the top up; It looks like it might have had a powered drivers seat at one time; and probably more that I missed. Here are some more pix.

[jopizz]

That home made package tray leaves a lot to be desired. That's ugly with a capital U.

John

[ssj335]

Do you mean the cup holders? I have the replacement speaker cover ready to replace this with. Is it difficult to remove that piece? Does it just pry out with a screwdriver? I don't want to mess anything up by trying.

[jopizz]

The package tray is the frame that the convertible top mounts to. This is what it's supposed to look like underneath. The picture of yours doesn't look anything like it. Most likely it rusted out and someone tried to repair it.

John

[ssj335]

Yeah the one you shared looks really nice. I had never seen one before to know what was normal.

[ssj335]

Update

Hey All,

Had the car checked out by a mechanic/body guy last night. Overall the car is solid - the body appears to be rust free and has had the usual rust areas replaced in the past. He says the work that was done in those areas was excellent and it was done with metal and done right. Mechanically sound too. Couple of things I would like to address and wonder if anyone might advise me. The mechanic says he would be happy to work on the car for me and I would just need to get the necessary parts first.

1. The parking brake is not functioning. The handle pulls out with zero resistance. And pushes back in without the needs to twist the handle. When looking into the engine bay we could see that the cable running to the front brakes is loosely hanging. The cable is securely tied so as not to fall and drag so that's not a problem. But he PO must not have prioritized setting up the e-brake. We did not get the car on a lift so this is the only information I have right now. The mechanic said I should look at getting a parking brake assembly kit if they make those. Now, I don't want to start buying parts for no reason so maybe this just needs to be connected properly and all the parts are there. Anyone have experience with this?

2. The horn is not functioning off the silver steering wheel ring as it normally would. The PO set up a button (awkwardly) under the dash which works. The mechanic says that probably something is not working inside the steering column and the PO didn't bother fixing that and instead re-routed the horn button DIY style. He suggests getting a horn kit that would have the internal parts needed to get the horn working off the silver ring. Has anyone ever dealt with this? What part would I need you think? I have a spare emblem and housing unit but I think it's probably a wire or some internal component I need. We did not open it up to look.

3. Battery tie down - need to find one because it's just held in place by plastic tie currently. I'm going to look this up shortly.

4. Shifter is sloppy. Lots of play in it kinda wobbly. Hard to determine which gear I am shifting into. The car still shifts ok but this could be fine tuned. Mechanic says I could look for a shifter assembly for the steering column. I already plan to replace the shifter itself b/c the one on the car is beat up and ugly. But maybe require more than that to shift tighter.

5. There is a little exhaust leak in the engine bay - he says that it seems like the exhaust manifold could have a crack in it. Possibly could replace that on the passenger side. He said that nothing bad will happen without replacing it just sounds a little loud when you hit the accelerator. It is not noticeable from inside the car but with the hood open you could tell.

Aside from that there seems to be a small oil leak and maybe small tranny fluid leak. He said they are minor but we could pinpoint that later on when he is doing the other work on the car. And that's the scoop!!