1969 Wildcat Custom

Long read.

New to me Wildcat in April of 2017. An elderly lady whose house I take care of had a car under cover. I never asked her about it until one day she said her and her sister were tight on money. I did all of the work for free on their house and had materials donated when we could. If not, I bought them and lied to here about getting them for free.

Anyways, When she mentioned money, I asked about the covered car. She said it was their mothers and then her sister drove it. It was parked in 1992 when something was wrong with it. They did not know what the issue was. It sat under a patio cover that fell on it one board at a time. Had 12 car covers and tarps on it. New one every couple of years added. Was sitting in dirt with the tires flat when I pulled the covers back. The car is whiskey dented on every corner, back bumper and both doors. Paint is warn off on top of the fenders from the covers blowing in the wind.

Found 2 rust holes at the base of the rear window the size of a quarter. Vinyl top is roached out there. I assumed that since it has been sitting in the dirt for 25 years, the floors and rockers were gone. So I looked around the interwebs and come up with a too high offer of $1200 for it. They were happy with that. I cleared the title in my name and it sat there for another 3 months. The weather finally warmed up enough to make a go at pulling it out. The rest of the patio cover came down. Had to move a dune buggy to get to it.

I was bummed to see that it was locked. Asked if she had keys. No. So I drilled the drivers door lock. Then realized it was a locking steering column. Asked here if I could look in the garage for keys. It is a mess in there. She handed me her keys and I look at them. Square and oval GM keys on it. Asked what those were for. "Do not know" was her response. Yep, those were the keys. Had been on her key ring of 5 keys for 25 years.

Aired the tires up and pulled it out with a tractor. Everything rolled, no brakes except parking brake. As we winched it onto the trailer I looked under it real quick. NO RUST?????

Parked it next to my building and covered back up. Sat until 2 weeks ago. Finally had time to work on my own stuff. I have retired 3 times and I am still too busy to do what I want.

My intention was to pull the engine and transmission to stuff an 8.1l and 700r4 in it. This is going to be the tow rig fro my 1968 Stevens flatbottom ski boat I am restoring. I assumed that after sitting outside for 25 years with no spark plugs, it was locked up. The starter was also sitting under the hood. So I assumed something was drastically wrong. I figured since I enjoy getting old stuff running, what the heck. Seafoam was added to the cylinders over night. Pulled the fan and clutch and put a socket and breaker bar on the balancer bolt. It moved with very little effort. I was excited and bummed at the same time. Now I needed to see if it will turn all of the way over. Yep. No clunks or stops.

Put the starter in it. Would not engage. Messed with it and my spares to make one good one. No dice. Put the starter from my boat on it and it spun over and blew the cob webs out of the cylinders. Doing all of this with a remote start switch. Put plugs in it and cranked it some more. Blew crap out of the exhaust. So it has compression. Oil pressure came up. No spark. New coil and points later and I had spark.

I could smell 1992 gas at the carburetor. Accelerator pump is not working.

Squirted good gas down the carb to see if it would fire. Cranked it for 10 seconds or so and let off of the button. It was running. Just could not hear it. It dies. Another squirt of gas and cranked it too long again. It was running and idling, on 1992 gas. I could not believe it. Carb rebuild and fuel tank cleaning done next.

Fires and idles a little rough. That got better the longer it ran. New fluids added and the transmission is dripping bad. The output seal was already changed before the transmission fill as those always go bad after sitting so long and the getting the drive shaft spun. Transmission leak was the pan. Realized while I cleaned the pan to remove it that only 3 bolts were holding it on and no gasket. Pulled the pan and found the other bolts in it. Cleaned the cob webs out and changed the filter. Now it holds fluid. Wheels spun sitting on the lift.

Now onto stopping it. Master cylinder was dry and rusty. New one ordered along with wheel cylinders. Shoes were at 50%. New soft lines were added and hard lines flushed. Breaks bled and adjusted and the wheels quit spinning when applied.

Removed and cleaned the neutral safety switch to be able to start it with the key.

Out driving the car now and I am $2100 all in with purchase and parts.

If you read this whole thing, you will notice that I was going to hot rod this. That is what I do for other people. No longer with this thing. As I went through the glove box, I found the Bill Of Sale for new purchase in Georgia, they oil change and inspection before being driven to Colorado in 1990 and all maintenance records. Last one was an oil change in 1992 at 28,390 miles. You read that right. When I bought it, it had 28,420 miles on it. The interior is a 4.8 out of 5. Head liner is pristine, dash is not cracked or faded. Driver area of the seat is just starting to show cracking. Interior cleaned up nice.

Did I mention that while it was on the lift, i inspected the underneath for rust. There is not any, zero, zilch. The undercoating looks show room new.

This car will not be hot rodded. Can not do it to a nice low mile car like this.

Working on the heater controls now.

Thanks for reading.

A 69 Cat would have a 430. That is a good strong engine already. Pictures are always appreciated!

Welcome - Steve

The cowl tag is the only thing on this car that is rusted beyond recognition. Yes it is a 430. Runs strong. I was going to build a car that had all modern drive train in it. This was going to be used to haul the boat to Lake Havasu Arizona and to Tennessee. So long drives on open road. The altitude change is driving the want for fuel injection.

As for pictures, I may be new new to the site. Or do I need to be a paying member?

Scroll down below where you post when responding and you should be able to click "Manage Attachments" in the Attachment section. Amy picture in your computer should be fair game from there.

bravo! good job bringing her back.

did you check the water pump? the front cover is aluminum and sometimes there is electrolysis that eats up the pump housing.

i assume you know already that most Buick 455 parts will work on the 430 or can be adapted?


www.TAPerformance.com is the major specialty supply house.

These pictures are from pick up date. Had to take down remaining patio cover. Notice the odometer.