After my newly purchased Fairmont spent the winter outside with tarp over it - I went outside one spring morning and sat down on the operators seat. My foot promptly went through the floor board on the operators side. It was time for a tear down. I've been told that it is possible to change out the floor boards on one of these cars without disassembling it - but with almost every piece of wood on the car showing some sort of rot or other deterioration - I made the call to completely disassemble the car and restore it. The previous owner had been in the midst of a replacement of some bolts anyway so knowing what was tight and what was loose would require some work. I knew early on that if I was going to operate this car, I would need to add lighting to it in order to pass NARCOA safety regulations. All things were pointing towards a complete tear down, including finding some aluminum frame pieces corroded to the point of almost non existence.
The date was April 17th, 2005:
This is how she sat over the winter - pretty much the way I bought it.
Not much has disappeared yet in this shot.
There we go - the reliable Craftsman toolbox standing guard over various parts that have been removed.
This is the operator's side 'Box' covering the lift handles
These are the remains of the crank side 'Box' covering the handle - and the handle itself. As you can see, there are some seriously deteriorated spots.
Here is the part that started the whole tear down - a floor that wouldn't hold up anymore.
Penetrating oil and parts boxes became the order of the day.
The teardown continues in the next post! -Joey
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