Goodbye to an old friend

[Collinster742002]

The 76 Polaris will soon meet it's fate. Finishing the parting out this summer. It's sad to see what rust does to a car. This car had so many stories and memories... Took my grandfather that I never had a chance to meet tossing around corners and flying down hills... Took my mom through high school, college, and down here to Durham where she met my dad in '86 and married.

6 years later, the rust became too much. the car was stripped and put into a 74 malaga shell. Since then, I was born and am now 16. I'm painstakingly ripping it apart, it's like killing an old friend.

[williamggruff]

Sweet mother of peas and carrots--that's not a rusty shell, that's a 24 Hours of Lemons starter kit.

Seriously, our 24 Hours of Lemons tii shell makes your front end look like a Pebble Beach concourse garage queen. Don't toss it in the trash unless nobody within a few hours will take it off your hands for free.

[Collinster742002]

LOL. It doesn't appear rusty, and the floor pans are beautiful, but nearly everything else is shot. The nose was cut up to fix the malaga's, the passenger fender fell off the other day from rust and the area that secures it behind the door is gone pretty much, the doors both are really rusty, the rockers are shot...quarter panels mostly okay.

I hope to give it to someone looking for body parts, I can't send this thing to the crusher. Too much history. It'll be essentially a naked shell, though. I hoped to restore it someday but I think it's too far gone.

Here's some more shots of him:

[jscaptura1]

Are those original 2002 bottle cap alloy wheels?

[pip]

cut or drill out and keep some of the tags or plates?/ vin??

[eugene_'02]

IMO, it's more work to restore it likely than its worth considering you have a nicer '02 now. That said, hold onto it until someone can pick it up for LeMons. That would be a perfect M42 or M20 lemons candidate. Definitely not terminal rust. I sent a rusty one to the crusher, I was trying to save it as a LeMons car, but didn't have the space at the time. I regret doing that, but I did remove literally every usable part, I even cut the trunk off to re-purpose as a bench seat. When I dropped it off there was so little left three people could have picked it up and carried it off the trailer.

[SteveJ]

Yes, but as a donor, it will live on through other cars building even more memories.

[autobon7]

Thats some really nice family photos. Too bad you can't just "park it out back".

[Collinster742002]

Are those original 2002 bottle cap alloy wheels?

Yes they are. They came on the Malaga from the factory, were removed in favor of the Polaris' steelies, and are now back on there due to the steelies being rusty.

New lug nuts and hubcaps are on order as I type this.

[Collinster742002]

IMO, it's more work to restore it likely than its worth considering you have a nicer '02 now. That said, hold onto it until someone can pick it up for LeMons. That would be a perfect M42 or M20 lemons candidate. Definitely not terminal rust. I sent a rusty one to the crusher, I was trying to save it as a LeMons car, but didn't have the space at the time. I regret doing that, but I did remove literally every usable part, I even cut the trunk off to re-purpose as a bench seat. When I dropped it off there was so little left three people could have picked it up and carried it off the trailer.

Well, trouble with that is I plan to strip it of all usable parts. I started to remove the wiring harness, but will reinstall it if anyone wants the car. It's no good to me as I have a 74 with a new harness.

Hood and trunk lid are a bit banged up but very usable.

I'd love to see this car back on the road in some form or another. Today I've been stealing all of it's window seals and transferring them to the 74. It's amazing how well rubber holds up when it's diligently armor-alled throughout life.

The diff is also taken out, I put it in the 74, but I guess the 74's can go back in if someone wants it.

I just want to know it goes to a good home and is used and not chopped up and destroyed.

I was also gonna pull the subframes, but again, why bother?

[Collinster742002]

Yes, but as a donor, it will live on through other cars building even more memories.

though many of it's parts live on... (wing windows, seatbelts are rolling around in someone's 02), the interior lives on in the malaga, though it will soon be taken out... the seat frames have since degraded into an unusable condition.

The transmission is also in that, but again it will be replaced with another as it's dying.

Sad to see this car coming apart. Today I pulled all the window seals.

[Kpeters]

It's always hard to part a car even more if it has so much history with you I hate it. I usually end up selling the car complete or just leaving it to rot instead haha. Just can't do it!

[jscaptura1]

Nice! I have 1 that came as a spare with my brothers 73 2002 (now my parts car) but have not been able to find any more. They look great!

[jscaptura1]

Nice! I have 1 that came as a spare with my brothers 73 2002 (now my parts car) but have not been able to find any more. They look great!

[Collinster742002]

Nice! what happened to the other 3?

I don't recall if it had an alloy spare, but there's a steelie in the trunk with steel lugs. Anyone know anything about if they included an alloy spare with cars that came with factory alloys?