Well, here we go again. I bit the bullet and bought me this.
 

 

 
It's still up at the lot right now, there will be a miniature Collection Thread embedded in this thread when I go fetch it. Hopefully if the weather's good, that'll be this weekend.
 
So, what is it?
 
As the title suggests, it's a 1951 Pontiac Chieftain.
It's got a flat-head straight eight hiding in the engine bay, 4.4 litres of it. It's bolted to a 4-speed Hydra-Matic Drive gearbox. No torque converter on this one, just a fluid coupling. 116 horses at a screaming 3700 RPM, 240lb/ft at 2000. It idles at 375 RPM. Redline just shy of 4k.
Did I mention it's quite big? Sixteen foot eight from end to end and it seats six people in comfort. Every door has a quarter-light, too. Comfort is provided by properly sized tyres and (quite surprisingly for the age of it) double independent wishbone front suspension. Steering is via worm/wheel steering box so is moderately direct and the brakes are hydraulic drums all round. Modern and scientific!
 
It's an honest example; looks to have had a "restoration" about 15-20 years back and the rust is coming through the seams and filler. The bottoms of the door skins have gone, the bottom of the A-pillars have gone (the front doors, on a single hinge a piece still open and close with one finger!) And it's got a couple holes and blebs in all the places you would expect.
Not much electrical works. It needs to be completely rewired because someone has "converted" it to 12V. Thankfully it was originally negative ground so that's a good start. Gauges and such can be driven from a 6V bucking converter.
Engine has had some work done on it- starts and runs nicely with very little greb coming out of the exhaust. It's got a few gaskets that need replacing and the tappets need some major adjustment, the gearbox engages gears correctly, the steering is okay but has a lot of slack in the center and the brakes work well, dont sink or feel spongy but need adjustment.
 
More to come. I'll post up more pictures when I get it home.
 
 
--Phil

Didn't bother to do a collection thread as was a 30min drive so fairly boring.
 
Yesterday I won this
 

 
Which is effectively going to replace the civic and the xantia.
 

 
Picked car from a bodywork guy in foreign lands (Yorkshire).
 
First thoughts are that I think it has been sitting for a while but started straight up. Apart from service bits and potentially a cambelt everything seems to be good with it. Comes pre dented.
 
Current is differently abled tax so that will need to be changed.
 
Windscreen has small crack in passenger side.
 
Runs really cold, this is after 30 miles of motorway

 
Mind you it honks. Properly honks. Not as much as the focus I got from Shadow but not far off.
 

 
List of jobs
 
Oil change
Spark plugs
Air filter
Thermostat
Rear boot struts
Front discs and pads
Cam belt plus bits
Ball joints
Drop links
Rear anti roll bar bushes
Stereo code
Windscreen crack
Swimming pool emptied from boot wheel well
Seal rear light clusters
 
And a big does of cleaning

Hi all, new to the forum.  Thought you might be interested in what I've got myself into
I'd been after my first classic car for a while.  If it's big and made in the 70s I'm interested.  Looked at few things like P6s, Zodiacs, Victors, SD1s and various other things.  Problem was I didn't want to spend a boatload of money on something that looked alright but underneath was actually a total heap.  The solution was to buy a complete heap in the first place and spend the money fixing it.
So in January I went ahead and bought this from a colleague at work who was moving away and needed to get shot of it.

It's a part finished restoration (I prefer not started) and it needs a whole load of help if it's going to stand any chance of using a road again.
Pros
It's right up my street.  Granada Coupes are quite odd and certainly stand out from the norm.
It still has the original engine, box, interior and most trim.
It came with loads of panels I need to repair it (mostly original Ford stock).
It came with so many spares I could probably build a few Granadas and still have stuff left over.
It was cheap.
Cons
Most of the front end has been cut off.
Most of the body structure is quite rotten.
It's going to take me ages.
I work at a restoration company and my boss kindly allows me to keep the car there.  So I've got access to all the gear I need to restore it.  I've been busy on the car for a while now so will post more pics over the coming days.
Cheers