- sedan 41,000
- Galena, IL
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- ebay.com
- sedan 41,000 red automatic
Once upon a time there was a car dealership named jack schwirtz chevrolet / oldsmobile in elizabeth and galena illinois... This car was purchased new june 6, 1958 by f. Schwirtz, jack's father. Died of a heart attack. The car was then purchased by elmer berzins, the dealership's mechanic on april 24, 1960. The last time the car was driven by elmer was during the bicentennial parade july 4, 1976. The bicentennial license plates bearing his initials are still in the trunk. Elmer owned the car for 53 years accumulating only 22,000 additional miles. In the glove box there was a small booklet and very short pencil... Elmer had written in it every time he put gas in it from day one. He would write the date, milage, how much fuel such as 6. 5 gallons and then an "f" if he filled it. The last entry was july 3rd 1976. The milage was only a couple of miles different when i got the car in 2013. The car was only used for vacations... So it subsequently earned the nickname the "bye-bye" car from the neighborhood children... Because when the car came out of the garage someone was going "bye bye ". Opening the trunk is like stepping back into time... It is still the way elmer left it... Filled with everything one might need on a cross country trip. There is a cleverly built wooden platform that unfolds on the backseat floor that would convert the rear seat into a bed. In the trunk there are tire chains, a fan belt, can of transmission fluid and an old ice scraper. They are other odds and ends like a travel tray for drinks, fabric waste can and a first aid kit. Besides the owners manual, there are other manuals with the car such as a body manual, a chassis manual and shop manual. There are also books pertaining to elmers training as an oldsmobile mechanic. The most interesting books are the ones that are not available for the public to take home. That is the dealership books which contain the carpet and fabric samples also there is a neat clear acetate outline of a car which overlays all the various colors to show what it would look like to have a car with a red body and black top for example. I have not polished or waxed this car for the photos. It has all the original floor mats although the driver one was not shown in the photos. When in bright light the color appears lighter... This is not a restored show car. This is original car that was cared for and gently used, but not abused. Everything looks great on this car and it gets a lot of attention wherever it goes. That being said it is not a perfect museum piece there are spots where chips happened in the past and old elmer just touched up the paint the best he knew how. There are little bits of surface rust staining starting around the wheel arches inner edges and along the bottom of the car. None of these are distracting from the beauty of the car. None of these are rusted through. Everything could be touched up in a more professional matter so i am including a pint of perfectly matched lacquer paint. I didn't want to touch anything up and hide anything i wanted the car to be the way it was when i got it. The interior is wonderful with no tears or stains. The headliner is perfect. When the car sits for a long period of time i dump a little fuel down the carb to get going... This car has a "cold" light on the dash... I always let it warm up until that light goes off before driving it. Everything works in the car including the power anttenna and the original tube radio. It still sounds great... Even the speakers are original. As for flaws the clock isn't working now... It was not working when i bought the car i took it apart and lubed it and it worked for quite a while, but has since stopped again. It never bothered me, i just gas it up before i go somewhere... I've only used premium. The only other thing i can think of is a tiny chip in the windshield and recently when driving i'm getting a chirping noise which i believe is just a dry universal joint. It does not do it all the time and it has just started recently... It has not been a big enough issue to get it fixed yet. I have taken this to cars shows with 300 cars attending... I seldom see any other original paint cars... It simply has been too long... After 60 yrs most cars have been repainted by now. Check my feedback and bid with confidence!
Galena, ILGalena, IL at ebay.com