All,

 

I looked at a late 1970 production car yesterday.  Other than being in 905 red the car looked great and for an East Coast car was remarkably in good shape.  it was very original, and even still had the 'D' hubcaps.  However, there is something that gives me pause:  the frame rails.  At first glance they looked nice and solid  (even when hit with a screwdriver and hammer).  Even the battery tray area was solid.  However, on both sides near the shock tower there were small holes in the rail along the inner fender. It almost looked like a weld that was not completed.  My question is does this send up alarm bells?  Is this a sign of serious corrosion from the inside out? If so, what are the potential fixes and cost?  The rest of the car looked solid.  The only other are of concern were the floor pans.  They were still there, but the underneath supports will have to be replaced.  I am not as concerned about that as I am the frame rails.  The price ($6k) is low enough to be a great deal, but not if I need to put a bunch more money into it.  Thanks for the advice!

If you can drive it and it not feel like the front ends gonna twist off I'd buy it. Those early ones are scarce as hen's teeth.

Part it out at the worst.

Those holes may be a bargaining point. $5,000 !!!

Mine was built 11/70, HLS30-13158.  What's yours?  Mine was an East Tennessee car all its life, and it had a lot of rust, none of it structural or in the rails though.  Floor pans, spare tire well, rear quarters, but I can't say I had something like what you're seeing. Matching engine still?  I'm all for you getting this and restoring it, but that's for my benefit as much as yours!  I've never heard of a problem with the weld between the frame rails and the inner structures, at least not one that rules it out as a resto candidate.  What is the overall condition?

The car is matching numbers (14,000 range, 4 speed).  Overall it looks really nice and complete.  As I said, I am just worried about the frame rails.  I know it sounds petty, but if this car were British Racing Green or Safari Gold, I would have picked it up already!

Your pictures might be huge.  I can't open them and they lock up the window I'm in when I try.

 

The typical response to "is it worth it?" is "what are your plans and what are your skills?"  Looks like an easy fix and it doesn't appear that there's been any flexing.  Could just be poor welds.

Someone has to fix it properly, it might as well be you.

If the car is complete, runs, drives, stops, and handles decently, buy it.  Series-1 cars are indeed getting hard to find.  The pictures you posted could be a repair from many years ago but it is hard to say exactly what they are.  With no other pictures to show us, if it is all there and runs, at $6K you could buy it, clean it up, take some good pictures of it, and probably turn a decent profit. There are basket case cars with asking prices of $5K.  The market is definitely moving with the Series-1 cars being the fastest.  Buy it before someone else does.

Edited June 8, 20159 yr by Hardway

Thanks to everyone for responding.  I appreciate the advice.

Sounds better than mine did when I got it. Mine's a same matching numbers late 70 build.

I got it in May of 2013 for $3300.

I have both floor pans that were replaced a long time ago using rivets and some sort of filler, both rear doglegs/fender lips need replacing, side swipe dent on the right door/dogleg, heavy corossion everywhere. But it runs and drives and I have done lots to it.

Definitely buy it! They are only going up in price.

I thank everyone for the replies.  I understand that some cannot open the photos.  I have tried to make them smaller. Lets see if this works.
 
Loudoun

It looks like the frame rails rusted out at the top seam. That is a hard repair unless you have good metal skills.

Patcon,

 

I have zero metal skills.  I would have to pay for the fix.  Would it be cheaper just to replace the entire frame rail?  Any idea what amount of time would be required by a competant chassis guy?