The Starting Point

The car had been sitting for over a decade without having been driven or started. The body and interior was in good shape...

I checked the oil and fuel levels, put in a new battery, and turned the key, but it didn't start.

Time for some diagnosing... The engine turned over so it wasn't seized; that's good. I popped off the distributor cap and discovered the first problem. The wires from the pickup in the distributor were dry rotted; the insulation was brittle and had broken away, exposing the bare wires. Getting it started would take some work.

Besides needing to get it running, I'm going to have to make sure everything is good... antifreeze, power steering, brake fluid, timing belt, etc. And there were other things that needed attention - both fuze box covers in the engine bay are cracked and need replacing, the tires are flat and probably leak air, the turn signal stalk is broken, to name a few.

The car was housed nearly two hours from my home, making it hard to work on. So it had to be moved back home.