News:
I am also hoping to pull the front wheels on the car tomorrow as I found that the front brake drums are possibly the original ones to the car. Date coding of H 16 8 which turns out to be Aug. 16, 1968 right in line with the rest of the stuff on the car date wise. Now, with everything else that was original and on the car, I am really wondering if that 110,000 miles isn't only 10,000 miles as the car only has enough numbers for xx,xxx and people assumed it had rolled over 100,000 miles due to the age of the car. My personal feeling would be that these drums would have been worn way past their min. thickness sometime during the mileage if the car indeed does have 110,000 miles. Now it would be more likely to have 10,000 miles since they are still on there. I guess I will know more tomorrow when I get to pull the wheels off the car and hopefully pull the brake drums off. Really, really hoping that there are penta stars on the brake shoes!
Makes you feel old doesn't it? I still do a double take ever time I say that my oldest daughter is 7 already. However, if the car does have only 10,000 miles, chances are the date coding on the shoes would coincide with around when the drums were made. Again, this is all hypothetical but there is a lot of strong evidence which has me leaning in that direction. Just way too many original parts that more than likely would have been replaced at 100,000 miles. Ball joints and tie rods along with the rubber bushings would be long gone yet are still the originals.
I agree. Even if the drums are the original ones, the shoes would have had to been replaced with that many miles. This is why I am hoping that I find the penta star on the shoes which would also be another indication that the shoes are original. Silly question but where would I find a date code on the cores of the shoes?
Thanks for the reply. No build sheet yet but I do know there is one out there somewhere! I was able to talk to the third owner of the vehicle the other day and he said that he found it when he pulled the carpeting out and it went with the car to the new owner which was some where in NC and then up to Mass.
The next bit of paperwork seems to go from Chrysler Motors Corp in Or. to a dealership which looks to be Barker Motors Inc. on 4/25/69. So far we have a paper trail up till 2002 at least for Oregon! Seems like this car was sold new in the area of Roseburg or Grants Pass, Oregon. I gotta say, tracing the history of this vehicle is just like being a detective and it is exciting as all can be!
