What is the Worst car you`ve brought back to life?

Most of us look for a car we can afford or that car we`ve always wanted. Sometimes we just happen to find one by accident, and sometimes we find something we just have to rescue. Here are a couple we did, (or are in progress)http://mccainautomotive.com/Studebaker.htm
http://mccainautomotive.com/1953CorvetteSerial77.htm

Show us yours.

 

sorry no pictures but it was a '58 cadillac convertable that was a frame off that had been started by a guy 12 years prior then moved to a body shop for 2 years then the owners house for a year. in the mean time all the hardware had been thrown out, some of the chrome was at one of the three chrome shops he sent them to. there was more pieces missing than i had including a door and all the interior. the car needed both quarters and floors. two parts cars later [both '57 hard tops ] and lots of searching resulted 4 years later in a completed car!

 

No pics here either but my 55 chevy had been literally torched apart in the mid to late 80s somewhere in NJ and left for dead. I got my hands on it 5 years ago and thought then I was outta my mind. It needed new floors, inner and outer rockers, trunk floor, all new body mounts and braces, a rear end, engine and trans, new full lower half quarters, glass, front end put back together plus interior,electrical system, brake and fuel system, steering, well, you get the idea. A friend and I put it together in 1 year so I could drive it. It still isn't done but it's 1 color and a boatload of fun to drive and gets plenty of attention with the tunnelram stickin through the hood. I might be crazy but I love that damn car and keep waiting for the day that it's finished

 

A 95 neon! LOL, I had to get back and forth from work somehow.

 

Oh man...junk follows me home like a magnet. I have posted these pics lots before, so pretend you haven't seen them.

Before


After.


The 39.


39 done.


Started this one in September.


Pretty much one piece now.


Check out Jim Sibley for some truely unbelievable saves..

-Abone.

 

I have not brought this one back to life yet and not sure if anything can be done with it. Needs it all and more. I need inspiration and ideas.

 

I remember the feature in american rodder on that Vette. Very cool. I really liked the fact that it was kept as a custom rather than restored to stock.

 

How about a T

 

Working on this one right now

 

probably not HAMB friendly but here is one we just finished.

 

Wow, I can only imagine the time you spent searching for parts for those. Well worth it, they're beatiful!

 

The skylark I just drug home.

 

More pictures and the story please!!! I missed out on this one a couple of years ago. Was too slow on the draw.

 

Found a '67 sunroof bug in the woods behind a friend's house and probably should have left it there. Just a body shell on the pan, it wasn't rusty but had been used as a donor to build a sand rail.

Learned a lot from that project, mostly about how NOT to build a car.

Guy I know lives near ATL, he built a '48(?) Buick Roadmaster starting with a body so bad they cut it in half at the door jambs - with an ax - so they could load it into a pickup. IIRC the finished car was in R&C back in the mid 90's.

 

Before:


After:

 

Yeah I remember that car. It was a great deal that someone lucked out on. That reminds me of the quote "luck is simply the collision that occurs when preparation and opprotunity run into each other". Mabey I will "luck" out next time

 

This one 8000 invested bringing her back ,That was in parts alone ............It was wrecked in 82 and I got basically 3/4 of the car From the doors back ,A newer subframe and 2 fenders and the crashed subframe and parts of the radiator header panel and no radiator , I did good Only 7 years .............+ Another dumb thing I did I threw away all the windsheild and rear window trim ,I was cleaning out my chevelle stuff at that time ,,,,Who new that those parts were gonna get hard to get .I know see decklids for chevelles going for a hundred ,I trashed so many of them ,Im sorry ..........And right now its getting snowed on ,Happy Thanksgiving ..................

 

When I was in my early 20s 64 Impalas were everywhere. I picked up one with a blown engine traded in at the chevy dealer I worked in 1985. Ridiculously cheap even then. That car was the absolute worst (hamb-friendly) car I ever had. I have owned an equal number of older cars (70 back) as I have newer but that car was an absolute piece of crap! Its funny how some rides can be a butt-load of work but still be a thrill to drive (my 33 5 wdo) and others are low maintenance and boring to drive (70 torino GT). My experience anyway. peace

 

Not nearly as complicated or nice as previous post,but it's all I got

 

A Chevy Vega.....WAGON w/Woodgrain!

 

One of the worst we've done in my family is this 1946 Ford Glass Top Bus.






And here it is now!



We also did a 1982 Mercury LN7 that you could see through it was so bad.

 

This is my worst car I started with,it was a old drag car...Reddy

 

My daughter's Ford "Exploder"..

 

'35 coupe. I did some of the work but can't take credit for all of it.

 

I can't find the pictures of the '19 dodge roadster...but it was basicly a cowl, little bit of sub floor and part of a door, This is my currently "Worst ever" project....only thing holding the body together is the bondo that someone used to cover the chicken fence that is covering the ENTIRE floor. It was cheap and should be a fun tow rig for the HA/GR project in the garage.

 

Very impressive work by everyone

 

This one for sure!!!

Then now

 

WOW! What a find! One question though, the beltline -dip and the rear wheel arch sure look like a ´53 Skylark, but the w/s -frame looks more like an Olds Fiesta..., so what is it?

 

Wow, not only is this a magnificent "save" on Your part, looks to me You also managed to put the most eye-pleasing flow into that roofline!

 

Got to be the 60 olds I am redoing now I sold the car 18 years ago and found it setting in a field and bought back I like pain and rust,Lol picks in my album dont know how to move here from there. Caution rust may creep to your laptop. Lol