This is no doubt a fair call, the C20 is a good example of having loftier ambitions than time and inclination perhaps justifies. Still, I'd rather aim high and fall a little short than aim low and achieve low. So when serendipity brought the Baron Von Schwarz into my life, I took a long hard look at what would realistically happen with it. To be honest, I was 50/50 between wrecking it out (mostly so I could get the manual pedals and column for the '63) and keeping it as a project. Well, more accurately, when I first considered buying it, I was 100% for wrecking it out, but that changed to about 70% when I went back for my second look, and by the time it was on the trailer, the idea of wrecking it out was a distant second to the much better idea of turning it into a down-n-dirty road zombie.
Now that it's gotten comfortably nestled in the garage, stuff leaning up against it and the interior full of parts for the Red Lady, I've come to realise how, far from detracting time and focus from the Red Lady, it's been remarkably conductive to progress.
First came the pedals. I had been wondering for a long-ish time how the pedal setup for a manual Chevy would work, how it differs to the automatic cars. As it turns out, not very much at all. A longer pivot pin and a third pedal. That's about it. So I swapped the pedals from the '62 into the '63, and that was one problem solved. I bought a clutch pedal from a '61 on ebay and so now with the auto pedal from the '63 and this new clutch pedal, I have the makings of another manual pedal setup to go back into the '62, which I plan to use a T5 in.
Next was the column. A few years back, in a fit of 'Umgunnagetthiscardoneonceandforall', I pulled out the steering column and pulled it to bits. All the bits went into a basket and for the next 5 years got moved around, spread out and partially lost. Time stealthily thieved the blueprints from my mind and when the time came that I was prepared and motivated to rebuilt it, I had no idea where to start. I had thought to buy another column from somewhere, use it as a model to rebuild my own, and possibly sell to recoup the money. With the complete column from the '62 to look at though, this wasn't necessary and I managed to locate all the bits of the original column and see how it should look all put together. I also bought some new bearings and indicator switch. Now it's back in the car (along with the pedals) hooked up and completely functional. So for these two things alone, the '62 was worth what I paid for it in terms of negating stumbling blocks.
Now a third positive outcome has made itself known. The '62 has no engine and gearbox, but most of the connections TO the engine and box are still there, including the original accelerator pedal and linkages. I didn't want to remove these from the wagon, partly because they've been chromed in ugly aftermarket chrome (which is acceptable in the "with character" '62 but not in the beautiful and perfect '63) and partly because I didn't really consider using a factory linkage setup in the '63 anyway. The old iteration of the Red Lady involved a floor mounted pedal on a pivot and a cable which seemed to have been lifted from a Kingswood or Torana or something else '70s vintage. I was going to find something similar, but better.
The '62 four door hardtop parts car I recently acquired (very rusty, no front panels, no motor or box) had a complete factory accelerator pedal and linkage setup, also. I figured, what the hell, and pulled it, to test fit in the Red Lady to investigate whether it would work on her. It all fits, of course, the mounting points and linkage are the same on the '63, but as it turns out, I think the parts car was originally a 6 cylinder. There was a 6 cylinder air filter assembly on the front seat (under a pile of mouldy carpet and pillows that had been home to some mice for a while), and the linkage seems to suggest it was a six, as well. The lever that connects the intermediate linkage to the carb linkage is offset to the left, compared to the lever on the hearse (which I know had a 283). So, in short, I have a 6 cylinder linkage that I want to use in my V8 car, and a V8 linkage in the car I'm going to put a six into. See the serendipity there?
So in conclusion, I reiterate my wisdom in purchasing another project.
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