A sad end for old friend (ZB Fairlane)

OzJavelin · 06-11-2005, 07:48 PM

Went to a clearing auction of an "old" car wrecker on Saturday. I was actually looking at a couple of old Ramblers there .. but walked past an old ZB also for sale. I've always liked ZA-ZB 'Lanes after my wife had a really nice one we sold about 3years ago. So I had a quick squiz. The Windsor was still in it, although only just as someone had pulled the auto so the motor was all over the place in the engine bay. The rocker-covers on the engine looked familiar? They were old-style alloy covers .... like the ones on my wifes old ZB. Hmm ..

I started having a closer look. This car was white with red interior, big twins, towbar, airhorn, remenants of a auto floor shifter, etc. Could have been the same car? Then I checked the dashboard, where some of the wood decal always peeled of in summer. Yep same car. I was sure of it.

What a sad ending for a nice old car. Other than the usual rust spots there was no damage to the thing. It was still straight and relatively shiny. They had pulled the auto, the wire-spoke wheels (not hubcaps), rear bumper, interior venitian blind, steering wheel, floor console and shifter, front buckets and centre armrest. Very sad.

What really threw me about all this was that the guy who we sold the car to said he loved it and "would never sell". And here is was in a wrecking yard, not wrecked, but stripped. I never thought I was really "emotional" about cars (despite enjoying a LOT of them), but this did upset me a bit.

A wrecker in Geelong ended up buying it (he was outbidding most people there for most stuff), so I suppose whatever is left will be wrecked too. I would have loved to buy it again, but I didn't want to get into a bidding war and I've got nowhere to put it.

Moral of the story is .. if you've got an old car you like keep it. You never know what their new owners will do with them ..

Rod.

LUXO_8 · 06-11-2005, 07:50 PM

wouldnt happen to know the name of the geelong wrecker would you?.
beck motor spares ring a bell??

Bucknaked · 06-11-2005, 07:51 PM

I had a car once that I wish I had never sold. Still looking for that car. Hoping one day to find it again and see if the owner will sell it. If I ever find it, I hope its not like yours. Bad news when it happens.

OzJavelin · 06-11-2005, 07:53 PM

Blue Oval something? Early Ford specialist. He picked up a few "reasonable" coupe/ute doors and whatnot too.

LUXO_8 · 06-11-2005, 07:55 PM

ah yep, blue oval wreckers, havent had a chance to go there yet - havent needed anything for an old falc.. lol....

Feathers · 06-11-2005, 08:01 PM

It's almost worse when your pride and joy gets sold to a "family friend". My old XD was sold to a friend of my father, who basically killed his last car.

No maintenance like oil, water, he ripped the interior out, warped the rotors, and just drove the car into the ground.

My father promised he would never let my old car into his hands, but came home the other night to tell me who had bought it.

I dislike the guy anyway, but now I HATE him. AND I now have the pleasure of seeing him destroy what was a really good car. Especially when I put so much work into it.

galaxy xr8 · 06-11-2005, 08:38 PM

Damn, I missed that auction, I even had it on my calender.

MrSparkle · 06-11-2005, 08:40 PM

Wonder what they'd offer me on my ZH...

**Peuty** · 06-11-2005, 11:24 PM

My last pride and joy was driven into a bunch of trees by the new owner. I try not to look into where my cars go these days.

Gammaboy · 06-11-2005, 11:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Peuty

My last pride and joy was driven into a bunch of trees by the new owner. I try not to look into where my cars go these days.

I went hunting my old Alfa about a month ago, found out it'd nailed a traffic light and was a write off :(

Lukeyson · 07-11-2005, 10:33 AM

yeah that would be not cool to find out your old pride and joy ended up that way.
I traded in my 1st car i loved 3 years ago, it was an ED futura, and i did the works to it, mags, konis, exhaust, all that jazz, and i traded it in on my AU sedan and got a measly $3000, looking back i wished i had of just kept it, it was only $3000

:
the wholesaler at Ford in Campbelltown said he was gonna give it to his son, so no doubt, it was violated in many places.

Gubas · 07-11-2005, 12:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MADNC_8

ah yep, blue oval wreckers, havent had a chance to go there yet - havent needed anything for an old falc.. lol....

Yeah. Blue Oval Ford wreckers. They specialise in 1960 to 1990 Fords. I sold him a 1977 LTD with no diff. Got an excelent price for it to. They are getting a new web page up too, soon. Will keep a look out.

Sorry, back on the topic. I had a 1977 LTD, (yes, another one) that I drove around before my EB. I really wanted to keep it, but my old man insisted that he wanted his shed back. So it was sold to a bloke who came down from NSW. Lovely old car. It was actually Sir Rupert Hamers (1979 Victorian Premier.) limosine that he was chauffeured in during some his politcal career.
BIGGEST REGRET OF MY LIFE PEOPLE.
Hang on...........
Just looked at a picture of her again, while wiping a tear away.

:

Hold onto these cars. Dont end up like me.

Gubas

Pinkbits · 07-11-2005, 03:45 PM

What a shame!, I know the feeling. Back in 1990 I sold an XA Superbird to a P plater, came back 3 months later and wanted me to go halfs in the motor he had just blown, asked him was it from drag racing (as I had been told already, and burnt orange cars do stand out!!) anyway a few months down the track it was sitting in a yard in Moorrabbin just about written off. I'm happy to say now a young fellow in my own suburb beieve it or not bought it about 2 years ago and rebuilt it. It is now a GT copy in red pepper with a potent 351 in it. I see it from time to time and tell the kids," see that coupe over there.................."

Pinkbits · 07-11-2005, 04:03 PM

Also had a ZB that we restored, everything except headlining, sold in 1990 as well (things we sacrifice to buy a home!). A young fellow from Reservoir bought it on the spot. Saw it a few years later, only difference was it had a head lining, a floor mounted shifter and personal plates, It still looked as good as the day we sold it! By the way, we are actually looking far a ZA/B to restore. Would your former car be able to be restored?, we have late model running gear on hand.
Cheers Mark.

OzJavelin · 07-11-2005, 06:05 PM

Well .. anything can be restored. But at what cost? This is the last photo I had of the car when we owned it:

Like I said, it's missing a lot of neat parts .. seats, floor shifter, auto, etc. It's had rust in at least two doors, and at the wrecking yard I noticed a "chunk" of filler missing out of the RHS rear quarter (which I never noticed before). Not rust, just smoothing out stuff or something. I'd say a good restorer, but a lot of work.

MAFIA · 08-11-2005, 04:16 AM

I own three cars and can't seem to sell any of them cause i'm afraid what going to happen to them if i sell any of them and i'll always regret it. I'm still living at home with my folks!!!