Here's the first picture of my new/old car at the storage unit where the previous owner kept it.
The drive to look at the car took 3 hours, so of course the drive home was going to take just as long, if not longer. I was more than a little nervous about driving 70 mph on the highway in a 50 year old car that I didn't know much about. I was also concerned about running the engine at high rpms for the 3 hour trip home. With the 3.88 rear gear the engine turns about 3000 rpm at 65 so I tried to limit my speed on the way home. I filled up before I hit the road and by the time I neared home the gas gauge was down to about 1/8 tank (did it even work?). Since the replacement gas tank probably only held 16 gallons like the original, I was expecting around 10 mpg for the 150 mile trip. Thankfully the fill up only took 10 gallons giving me an even 15 mpg. Not bad for a Holley 700 double pumper at 3000 rpm. I guess that means my gas gauge is a little pessimistic. Better than the opposite.
Just a side note:
This car doesn't have air conditioning, few 50 year old cars do. Even in September here in Florida it still gets quite hot. It was 93 degrees for the ride home and after 3 hours that was all the heat I could take. An aftermarket A/C unit is definitely in the plans.
