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Ever wonder about the history of your car? It seems likely that it has experienced a lot, but documenting it and putting it all in order can make that inevitable situation suddenly appear very real. My TD came with a lot of old documentation, receipts for parts, service, and insurance purchases, as well as a couple old registration cards. I organized these today and put it all into a spreadsheet. Most of this is hard documentation, from those documents, but there are also a few handwritten notes from previous owners. Here's what I found.
1951 or 1952: The car was first sold in Texas.
1960: Purchased by the second owner, who lived in Annapolis, MD.
1972: Engine was rebuilt. 14 receipts for parts this year, so quite a bit of work was done.
1973: Owner moved to the San Diego area.
1976: Dropped a valve into the cylinder and damaged the engine. The car sat unrepaired until 1978.
1978: Sold to the third owner, a lady in Concord, CA, for $3200. She had it towed and repaired there. Second engine rebuild.
1980: Sold to the fourth owner, in Huntington park, CA., for $1500. He ordered a new short block even before completing the sale of the car. The '78 rebuild must not have been very well done.
1980: Owner moved to Pasadena, CA.
1980: Installed the new short block (third engine rebuild) but had the old one rebuilt, too. I wonder why--maybe as a spare?
1980: Replaced the clutch and rebuilt the transmission, separate service operations 3 months apart. Strange.
2005: Replace the engine. Fourth rebuild.
2008: Last document from the fourth owner. He owned it at least 28 years!
2012: Sixth owner, Pasadena, CA. He intended to rebuild the car, but realized it was more work than he could undertake. The fifth owner (unknown) had run the car without oil pressure and wrecked the engine bottom end. I wish I had more information about the fifth owner, as he obviously did a lot of work on the car. It's clear that the transmission has been recently rebuilt and the clutch is nearly new, for example.
2012: My purchase. I'm the seventh owner and I'm doing (at least) the fifth replacement/rebuild of the engine.
The fourth owner apparently didn't do any of his own work, as he left quite a pile of service documents. Over the years, he spent a stunning amount of money on the car.
Of course, this collection of documents is almost certainly incomplete. It's especially hard to believe that the engine wasn't rebuilt for the first 20 years of its life, and, indeed, the parts order for the first rebuild shows a significant (0.030") regrind. It might well have been rebuilt once during that period. But whatever its completeness, taken together, it tells an engaging story. I'm fascinated by it.
1951 or 1952: The car was first sold in Texas.
1960: Purchased by the second owner, who lived in Annapolis, MD.
1972: Engine was rebuilt. 14 receipts for parts this year, so quite a bit of work was done.
1973: Owner moved to the San Diego area.
1976: Dropped a valve into the cylinder and damaged the engine. The car sat unrepaired until 1978.
1978: Sold to the third owner, a lady in Concord, CA, for $3200. She had it towed and repaired there. Second engine rebuild.
1980: Sold to the fourth owner, in Huntington park, CA., for $1500. He ordered a new short block even before completing the sale of the car. The '78 rebuild must not have been very well done.
1980: Owner moved to Pasadena, CA.
1980: Installed the new short block (third engine rebuild) but had the old one rebuilt, too. I wonder why--maybe as a spare?
1980: Replaced the clutch and rebuilt the transmission, separate service operations 3 months apart. Strange.
2005: Replace the engine. Fourth rebuild.
2008: Last document from the fourth owner. He owned it at least 28 years!
2012: Sixth owner, Pasadena, CA. He intended to rebuild the car, but realized it was more work than he could undertake. The fifth owner (unknown) had run the car without oil pressure and wrecked the engine bottom end. I wish I had more information about the fifth owner, as he obviously did a lot of work on the car. It's clear that the transmission has been recently rebuilt and the clutch is nearly new, for example.
2012: My purchase. I'm the seventh owner and I'm doing (at least) the fifth replacement/rebuild of the engine.
The fourth owner apparently didn't do any of his own work, as he left quite a pile of service documents. Over the years, he spent a stunning amount of money on the car.
Of course, this collection of documents is almost certainly incomplete. It's especially hard to believe that the engine wasn't rebuilt for the first 20 years of its life, and, indeed, the parts order for the first rebuild shows a significant (0.030") regrind. It might well have been rebuilt once during that period. But whatever its completeness, taken together, it tells an engaging story. I'm fascinated by it.