"Well we're movin' on up!" 1983 Chevy Caprice! This is the story of Mr. George Jefferson, the latest addition to the StillRuns.com family of vintage Chevrolet automobiles... Mr. Jefferson is being used while Gloria's motor gets swapped out for enhanced performance. George was a free car. Of course, as with anything that's free, there's a catch. The brakes were toast. After replacing the rotors, bearings, pads and calipers, the brakes would still bind up. So then I find that someone put oil or tranny fluid in the master cylinder, ruining the brake system. I replaced the master cylinder and flushed out the system. The brakes work! Then I needed to address the cooling system. The engine would get hot, but the radiator would stay cool. Sounded like a stuck thermostat. When I pulled the upper radiator hose, I could see that the entire thermostat housing was clogged with junk. I think it was some kind of crystallized anti-freeze substance. Thankfully, the entire engine and radiator were not also affected with this condition. They must've been made out of tungsten carbide. Flushed out the motor and radiator just in case, and voila...a great running car with brakes AND a cooling system, all for about $200-$300 in parts (and a bazillion hours of labor). Mr. Jefferson had 187,000 original miles when we got him. This is the first V6 in the family. We'll see if it's as durable as a V8! Update: Mr. Jefferson Injured In Battle!
Cracked paint
Missing stuff
Dusty motor that sat for a year!
Cobwebs!
Clogged thermostat housing
Before brake job
After brake job
This is how dirty my hands were after doing the brakes!
This is the master cylinder reservoir gasket. Look how much the old one expanded due to the wrong fluid entered into the system!
More cracked paint
Cracked tail light
Even more cracked stuff!
When I washed the car, the Caprice part of the emblem fell off. I guess it's just a classic now!!
After washing!
I was trying to open a used tube of weatherstripping adhesive to stick one of George's side moldings on the car. I thought I had the nozzle cleared, but when I squeezed the tube, it exploded, oozing all the adhesive all over my shoe. Here's my shoe stuck to a brick! Update: Mr. Jefferson didn't want to pass the emission test,
so I sold his sorry butt for $450 in June of 2007.

[Home] - [Site Map] - [Donate] - [Car Shows] - [Multimedia] - [Photos] - [Links] - [Contact]
Copyright© 2003 StillRuns.com