69 SRL/2000. 'The Presidents Car'
Posted: Sun Jul 07, 2019 3:34 pm
Last month I acquired a 1969 SRL / 2000 Roadster out here in the East Valley. It seemed like a risky endeavour as the last tag on the car was from CAL/1999 and has sat unmoved in the same garage since 2005.
Pretty much everything will need to be gone through but the more dust I wiped away something told me there were some good bones to this car. I spent the first couple of weeks just detailing and was pretty pleased with the way it cleaned up. Back in the day, someone was taking good care of this car. Another bonus is it really looks like the U20 engine has been recently rebuilt. Extremely clean inside and out. In fact, I have my doubts as to whether it has ever been fired.
The engine/trans was bolted in but pretty much everything else was just 'sat' in their perspective place and not mounted. Intake manifold, radiator, carbs, airbox, exhaust manifold, etc..
The bad: I am finding more and more missing bits. Half the lug nuts were missing and in the process of replacing those I looked underneath to see the driveshaft gone. Radiator supports, hood prop, hoses, horns, the pricey oil pressure gauge hose, etc... So the internet scour ensues and I am just trying to collect everything needed to make the car complete and ready for a test fire.
I got rid of the emissions gear so it appears a recurving of the dizzy is needed according to experienced roadster owners online. Water flowed well through the stock radiator with no rust or cloudiness so I may keep that for now, however, the 3 row aluminum ones are rather cheap on Ebay these days. Just not sure if they are indeed 30% better than stock as claimed.
An interesting back story to the car, it was owned by the former President (CEO) of Nissan, Bob Thomas and his wife Avis. In fact, their registration from 1998 was still in the glove box. My hopes are to have it back on the road this fall if everything goes well.
Photo is how the car looked the day we got it home. Lots of dust, with mouse droppings inside the engine bay and cat claw scratches on the hood.
Pretty much everything will need to be gone through but the more dust I wiped away something told me there were some good bones to this car. I spent the first couple of weeks just detailing and was pretty pleased with the way it cleaned up. Back in the day, someone was taking good care of this car. Another bonus is it really looks like the U20 engine has been recently rebuilt. Extremely clean inside and out. In fact, I have my doubts as to whether it has ever been fired.
The engine/trans was bolted in but pretty much everything else was just 'sat' in their perspective place and not mounted. Intake manifold, radiator, carbs, airbox, exhaust manifold, etc..
The bad: I am finding more and more missing bits. Half the lug nuts were missing and in the process of replacing those I looked underneath to see the driveshaft gone. Radiator supports, hood prop, hoses, horns, the pricey oil pressure gauge hose, etc... So the internet scour ensues and I am just trying to collect everything needed to make the car complete and ready for a test fire.
I got rid of the emissions gear so it appears a recurving of the dizzy is needed according to experienced roadster owners online. Water flowed well through the stock radiator with no rust or cloudiness so I may keep that for now, however, the 3 row aluminum ones are rather cheap on Ebay these days. Just not sure if they are indeed 30% better than stock as claimed.
An interesting back story to the car, it was owned by the former President (CEO) of Nissan, Bob Thomas and his wife Avis. In fact, their registration from 1998 was still in the glove box. My hopes are to have it back on the road this fall if everything goes well.
Photo is how the car looked the day we got it home. Lots of dust, with mouse droppings inside the engine bay and cat claw scratches on the hood.