thanks for the warm welcome everyone
I'll have more pics after the trip in a couple more weeks. I plan on taking a LOT of pics. I have a partial of the fender tag, but I need to get to it myself and pull the decode, the person helping on the other end took 2 weeks just to get a partial, so I'll just wait and do it myself.
the info I do have right now is: E24 (225 cyl) BH23 (hmmmm....) 820 (build date) M21 (roof drip rail moldings) R11 (music master radio AM)
I'm pretty sure that isn't body side molding, I think it's paint. either my dad, or the prior owner, painted twin white racing stripes on it (faded now, you might see a faint outline on the hood) and I think I remember that being painted, not molding. I'll know soon enough
my dad was the 2nd owner, bought it for driving back and forth across WA St. during training in the 70s, parked it @86ish and it hasn't moved since. kinda funny, I was messing around in it several years back and was playing with the stick shift and got it stuck, I thought for sure I broke it ..... until this last year, and a little research tells me it's probably the tranny security lock, lol. i'm hoping that's the case.