Hi guys and gals... Found this site yesterday and I really like it :mrgreen:

I'm currently on my second El Camino that I found way in the back of some farm property near home. It's a 1971 plain Jane 350/350 equiped El Camino. Grass was grown up over the bed rails with the usual flat tires, and the body was turned into a condo for blackwidow spiders.

The Elky was parked in 1996 and it hadn't moved since then. My son and I put a freash battery in the car, topped off the oil, added a few gallons of gas, primed the carb......... Cough :-( Sputter :yell: and off it ran :thumbsup: Yeeeehaaaa.... it did nothing but spit out crud and junk from the exhaust. Smoke! my gosh, smoke came out the tail pipes from under the hood and every place else you could imagine :mrgreen:

We aired up the tires topped off the radiator sprayed the interior with insecticide and headed off down the mountain to home. By the time we got home the water pump started pumping water out the weep hole. The fuel pump was leaking and the power brake booster gave out.

Yeeehaw, what a drive. $500.00 bucks lighter in the wallet owners pink slip in my pocket with the bill of sale stating "PURCHASED AS IS" of course :cool:

The following week my son and I tuned her up. We replaced the water pump and fuel pump. We also replaced the front and rear brakes, replcaed the brake booster. Ggutted the interior and bagged the car and set off some insect spray bombs. Now she is a daily driver while we decide what to do with her.

The only bad part about the whole deal was we had to pay over $500 in order to get the car registered as there were penalties from no registration renewals for over the past 8 years. Fortunatly in California DMV can only go back and nick you for three years of past due license renewals. Oh well, what the hell the car is smog exempt. I have a spare 700R4 in the garage with a four bolt 350 out of a camper special begging to be gone through.

This car will be no clone. It will be clean, functional, and fun. This car will be a driver not a straight line runner we want it to handle.

We can't wait to contribute to the forums as I have worked in the automotive industry for over thirty years as a mechanic, parts house manager, service writter and I am ASE certified. Currently we also have a 1974 stepside Chevy C10 project and my son and I have our eye on a 1970 dodge Challenger.

Bottom line! SO MANY CARS, SO LITTLE TIME...

Welcome Shorty, great find on the Elky. Ain't it amazing how you were able to fire it up and drive it home 8O
Sounds like you bring a lot of experience to the site, this is always a good thing.
There's a bunch of experience here, and everyone is very helpful.

Lee (Caveman49)

Great find and welcome
i am looking forward to hearing mor on how your project is coming together
I just signed up as well with a 72 project :D

WOW,a 71 Cali Elky for $500 that didn't take much to get running. That's a great score. :thumbsup: Just goes to show that the older cars are still out there waiting to be found! Welcome to the site.

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Welcome to ECC/NECOA!

That's a great resurrection story. I'm surprised it would start after sitting for eight years. You'll like the folks here. We're all Elky nuts.

WELCOME to the NECOA!! And congrats on your find!

EXCELLENT Story!!!! Thanks for sharing! Looking forward to hearing stories of plans and progress! http://www.corvetteforum.net/c4/alchemist/thumb.gif

Welcome to ECC / NECOA Shorty

You know the find and or Restification stories are all part of the big picture with most of us owners. Its always good to make a score like that and with a Muscle Car era, model its especially good. People that know what they have usually want too much.

I was talking with a co-worker this past week about "hauling off", for his FIL, a Model "A" and a "T" bucket from his barn in East Texas. He says they are in bad shape and the Rag Top on the Bucket is trash but it just the cost of driving over there with a couple of trailers and then back again.

Its not a done deal just yet but I am hoping, so you just never know what you'll come across. We had been discussing one of my Elkys when the subject came up.

Good score! Congratulations!

Congrats on the start to a fine car. Welcome to a great site.

Hay elkypete, go for the T's I'm also a member of the H.A.M.B. as well as Chevy talk. These two boards are super. I must admit I may have had next to the best buy I ever have had (excluding a 57 210 chevy I bought. Later on I'll tell that story if anyone is interested?).

When the Elky first fired up no main or rod bearing noise :mrgreen: It purrred like a kitten after all the funk came out of the exhaust and engine cylinders. In order to give this car credit for a good runner let me explain.

My son and I tore the front clip off the car and tore down the front suspension to the last nut and bolt. We were starting on a minor mechanical rebuild in preparation for the new 350 and 700R4 trans.

My daily driver at the time was my, on going, 1974 Chevy C10 stepside project truck with modified 250 6cyl engine and Saginaw 4 speed. My commute to work and back encompasses 100 miles a day. On my way to work one day I lost number 6 cylinder due to a screw that dropped off the carb and it resulted in a cracked block from the screw wedging itself between the pistion and cylinder wall.

Needless to say I needed transportation to work and back, ASAP. My only alternative was to get the El Camino back on the road as soon as possible.

So.... in my snow covered driveway my son and I slammed the El Camino back together in 48 hours and I have been driving it ever since for the past 2 months until I get my new engine for the truck. As glamourous as the Elky is, it has no heater and I drive it with a 4 inch squeege for the window fog coupled with a beenie cap gloves and NO RADIO.

Maybe I'm into self punishment and my wife has even offered to let me drive her new 4 runner but NOOOOOO! El Caminos rule and I love every waking moment working on and driving the car..................

Please be patient with me guys, as I work 10 hours a day coupled with my drive time it is 12 hours. I will repond to you maybe not today but maybe tomorrow.......

By the way, As you can read I do get a little long winded on my posts but what the Hell! We are story tellers correct?

Nice find. Sounds like a few of the finds I find and people get jealous over. It's way to fun. :) Only mine take more to get running. Welcome to the site.