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At A Crossroads

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L8Apex

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Discussion starter · #1 ·
Hello All,

I've been a member here for years, lurking in the forums to stay educated on our hobby. But I've come to a crossroads in my life with my 1969 Chevelle.

I live in Colorado, and two weeks ago we had cold weather (same system that affected Texas). Monday of last week I went out to my shop and discovered a puddle of water under my car and immediately realized that back in September while working on the cooling system, I never went back to replace the water with antifreeze/coolant. We were awaiting evacuation orders back in October due to the large fire in Colorado and while dealing with that, I never went back to the Chevelle, and it has been sitting Anyways, my engine block is cracked on both sides now and is totally junk. Being in my mid sixties now, I don't have energy or funds right now to deal with the car. I was really hopeful that I could finally spend the cruising season just enjoying the car, but that thought has been derailed.

So I guess I just really want to share my situation or just vent, I don't know. Right now, one side of me says to just hang onto the car and see what the future holds, and the other side says to just cut my losses and move on into my retirement years.

Thanks for lending an ear and I look forward to your thoughts and input.

706165
 
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#2 ·
Mid 60's - you are still too young to hang it up! Are Colorado schools back open? Is there a high school near you that has a maintenance shop looking to overhaul an engine for a student project - free labor just cost of parts.
 
#7 ·
L8Apex said:
Hello All,

I've been a member here for years, lurking in the forums to stay educated on our hobby. But I've come to a crossroads in my life with my 1969 Chevelle.

I live in Colorado, and two weeks ago we had cold weather (same system that affected Texas). Monday of last week I went out to my shop and discovered a puddle of water under my car and immediately realized that back in September while working on the cooling system, I never went back to replace the water with antifreeze/coolant. We were awaiting evacuation orders back in October due to the large fire in Colorado and while dealing with that, I never went back to the Chevelle, and it has been sitting Anyways, my engine block is cracked on both sides now and is totally junk. Being in my mid sixties now, I don't have energy or funds right now to deal with the car. I was really hopeful that I could finally spend the cruising season just enjoying the car, but that thought has been derailed.

So I guess I just really want to share my situation or just vent, I don't know. Right now, one side of me says to just hang onto the car and see what the future holds, and the other side says to just cut my losses and move on into my retirement years.

Thanks for lending an ear and I look forward to your thoughts and input.

View attachment 706165
Click to expand...
Nice car !
Sounds to me like youd rather do the former than the latter but perhaps need a nudge out of hesitancy .
If your gonna do somthin that ya may regret then I'd say dont do it .
I can remember pondering about sellin one and I just knew deep down that I'd regret it if I did.
Well I did and I did .
It's a tipping of the scale ya might say .
If you feel it in your gut then hang on to it and
You'll find a way !
.good luck fellow !
 
#9 ·
Hang in there it is worth fixing when the weather breaks, SBC's are all over here for sale on CL as said. Once the weather gets better you will feel better and it won't seem such a task. I did almost same thing when first moved here had antifreeze in the car but it was not strong enough for the colder months here, I got lucky and only lost the freeze plugs, not so lucky on my 302 in the boat, I been putting it off but need to pull the engine outof it and drop in a new one.
 
#10 ·
Don't do something you know deep down that you will regret. Its a beautiful car and a piece of history. Pop in a crate engine and call it done.
 
#11 ·
L8Apex said:
Hello All,

I've been a member here for years, lurking in the forums to stay educated on our hobby. But I've come to a crossroads in my life with my 1969 Chevelle.

I live in Colorado, and two weeks ago we had cold weather (same system that affected Texas). Monday of last week I went out to my shop and discovered a puddle of water under my car and immediately realized that back in September while working on the cooling system, I never went back to replace the water with antifreeze/coolant. We were awaiting evacuation orders back in October due to the large fire in Colorado and while dealing with that, I never went back to the Chevelle, and it has been sitting Anyways, my engine block is cracked on both sides now and is totally junk. Being in my mid sixties now, I don't have energy or funds right now to deal with the car. I was really hopeful that I could finally spend the cruising season just enjoying the car, but that thought has been derailed.

So I guess I just really want to share my situation or just vent, I don't know. Right now, one side of me says to just hang onto the car and see what the future holds, and the other side says to just cut my losses and move on into my retirement years.

Thanks for lending an ear and I look forward to your thoughts and input.

View attachment 706165
Click to expand...
Even though my situation with my Chevelle is different than yours in some ways, I can relate in a certain way to your plight. I'm hoping to retire in a couple years myself. My Chevelle project was uprooted a number of years ago due to the aftermath from a type of fall out I had with a family member which effected the whole project and much of my plans for the car. Long story short, I got to a point where the whole thing was nothing but problems, and it was always all work and no play.

So I began losing interest n it, and I had to walk away from it for a few years. I've had a couple offers for the car, and I considering selling it, but fr me here's the thing: If/when I do retire in a couple years, I don't want to become one of the many retired people who go to the food store 2 to 3 times every day, and drive 25 MPH in a 45 MPH zone merely because they're so bored to death that they look to kill time with every little mundane thing that they do every day.

In my opinion, during your retirement is when you want to retain as many hobbies as you can, because that's when you're going to more time for them than you ever had before, and that's when you'll need your hobbies more than ever instead of sitting around watching the news three times a day. So in light of what I'm saying, I guess it boils down to how much you can afford to do financially. If there's a way to keep the car, I'd say keep it. As long as you can still afford it.
 
#12 ·
I'd hang on to it for now, you never know what tomorrow brings. Making a hasty decision is something you might regret later. Mid 60's is still young. While the funds may not be there right now, the cost to fix it is not that much (doing the work yourself, or from a technical school) just leaving the cost of parts. Consider keeping it and fixing it. It'll be worth more being fixed than its current condition and should you need monies down the road in retirement, you could sell it for added income.
 
#13 ·
Well if you decide to sell you may not be able to get what the car is worth due to it having an engine problem.
Being car guys we all want you to fix it. I believe you have a well known engine builder in your state. Lots of guys on this site use him. So I have a different idea for you. Many people using this engine builders services are receiving new engines and I’ll bet many of them suddenly have an old engine that is still serviceable. Maybe he would be willing to help another TC member out and place him with someone that is looking to sell their old engine or most of it as much of your engine is still serviceable.
 
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#16 ·
I agree that you should not sell the car, but i'm going to go against the grain here with the used engine search on craigslist. What I would do is reach out to a few mechanic's or local shops that you may have dealt with, see if they have any good small block's laying around. I know here that a lot of shops that I grew up with, usually kept a old clunker looking pile out back with a really good running engine, or even better yet, reach out to local machine shops, to see if they have any good blocks that they'd be willing to sell. You may be surprised to find what's out there. There's decent odds that your heads survived, along with most of your internal engine components, so it shouldn't be a horribly expensive ordeal. I wish you the best of luck!!!
 
#17 ·
I'm not quite in the same boat as you but I'm nearing retirement also. I would think it through. I have a chevelle that I'm debating whether to blow it apart and redo it or do I just drive as is or sell it? I have time to at least think of my options. I would advise the same - then you can gauge if you have the motivation/energy and enthusiasim to do it. I don't have any other hobbies so this is my "jam" as kids say. So I might just need my chevelle to keep sanity lol. But maybe if you get a small block and if you have any friends who can help this would go a long way to enjoying the hobby again :)
Dean
 
#18 ·
I would agree with some of the comments above on value. Let's just say car is worth $25K in running shape but with cracked block how much do people ding you and give you - the what else is wrong with car price of say $15-$17K. Now if you can get it running for say $2K-3K with a new short block you might even squeak out $26K because it now has a new bottom end. So you are out some money but not as much as a cracked block sale price ---- because they can't drive the car and they will discount heavily because of it. They are going to think well how do I know the transmission or rear are not bad etc.
 
#19 ·
What about looking for a running 454 from a truck on Craigslist or Facebook? If it passes a compression test before you buy, just reseal it and run your intake, exhaust and accessories. You may be able to reuse your oil pan, or worse case, buy one to mtach the generation of the new engine. You might even be able to find a local hot rodder to do the swap for you if yu cannot do it yourself.
 
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