BigPontiac

Still sitting in the warehouse in MI. It "may" get to me for the weekend, but he couldn't quote specific plans. Though this is also the same guy who said it "may" arrive on Wed. Not a positive experience with Reliable thus far.

Yeah, I had heard good things so I'm a bit surprised all this. I booked the order on Tue 9/1 and paid the extra premium ($275) for the 2 week service (standard is 4 weeks and I didn't feel like waiting) and was given a 9/15 delivery date. So the seller calls me on that Thu saying all the money has cleared and he'll be going away for the Labor Day weekend holiday. Neither of us have heard from Reliable at this point about when pick-up will happen. On Friday, Reliable calls his house trying to get the car and he's not there. So Reliable calls me on Fri and says car won't get picked up and has to be rescheduled. I call Reliable in Tue 9/8 to ask if they've made connections with the seller to pick-up, they say yes we're all set. I ask if given the delay in pick-up will that impact the 9/15 delivery date and they say they will still meet the 9/15 delivery date. (each time I talk to the same person) Seller e-mails me on Fri 9/11 saying the car was picked up on Thu and provides pictures. No notification from Reliable that the car had been picked up (said they'd call when picked up). I call Reliable on Mon 9/14 inquiring about the status of the car and am told GPS says the truck carrying it is in Michigan and am given the driver's cell number since that's all they can tell me. I ask about the 9/15 date and now get a different story of "the car wasn't available for pick-up, so we get more time". I call the driver who tells me they just dropped the car at the Reliable warehouse in Michigan and gives me the number of the Michigan office to call. I call Michigan and the dispatcher tells me car just arrived, in the warehouse, delivery date unknown, call back later in the day and he should have more information. I call back again later in the day and he says car should leave warehouse Tue 9/15 and I may have it by the end of the week -- when I remind him car was supposed to be delivered on 9/15 and get a similar "car wasn't available for pick-up" story, but he says probably should arrive on 9/16 but they'll call with an update closer to delivery. Haven't heard anything from them today and when I called their office no one picked up the phone....so no idea what the status is at the moment. While I understand logistical issues can occur, I am pretty annoyed that I asked them to re-confirm the date *before* they picked-up the car after the false start. If they were going to miss the date, they had their opportunity to deliver that message in advance. Also, when they claim they'll notify me with a status and then don't follow through it's not reassuring.

The wagon has been unloaded to a transfer warehouse in Canton, MI. Tomorrow it's supposed to be reloaded onto another truck headed for the East Coast. Sounds like Wed delivery best case. So much for hitting their delivery date...this is taking forever!

Some "before" shots to show just how much work when into building this car...

Novamad is what I've been calling it ever since I saw the auction listing...not sure I have a better name for it. All the paperwork arrived today, so once the delivery truck arrives with the car, I'll be ready to hit DMV and see how painful the registration process is going to be Never owned a Chevy before, but my mom did have a 1963 Chevy II 2dr hardtop as her first new car, so my dad is pretty interested in it.

Wagon's been picked up. Now sing to yourself: Eastbound and down, loaded up and truckin'...

Here's a video from when he took the car on the 2009 Hot Rod Power Tour (before he painted it). Video

Payment handled and enclosed shipping arranged. Should hit my driveway by 9/15.

Thanks. I kind of like how clean it looks without the mirrors, but if I have to put one on it's a pretty easy fix. The back-up lights info is also useful. I may just buy a brochure on e-bay and bring it with me to inspection in the event they challenge me.

Or this one:

I posted the CT regs earlier on in this thread. I was all gung-ho until I saw that "composite" category and the 8/1/08 drivetrain/emissions change. The inspector I talked told me it would have to meet code for 1962 and matter of factly stated a 62 had to have a side mirror when I specifically asked. I'd like to validate that somehow... "The plan" assuming no snags occur to derail the purchase process, is to walk in and run it through inspection as a '62 Wagon and see what happens. I've also lined up borrowing my friend's car trailer in the event this plan fails and I need to tweak things to pass inspection. It's pretty stock looking, so I'm hoping to get lucky...

I rolled the dice and likely will be adopting the Nova-mad. More to come...

It also appears outside rear view mirrors were optional in '62...I need a brochure to validate...but that would help as well.

The phatom part isn't really my concern. The TCI front and rear independent suspension set-up, Wilwood 4-wheel disc brakes and the LS1 motor could kick it into "street rod" territory. Standard inspection for an antique is includes brakes, etc (their fav fail point is cracked front brake hoses). During that process, they could decided a more in-depth inspection is necessary.

I'm looking for major show stoppers in a worst case scenario. I'd hate to buy an expensive paperweight I couldn't drive...

Exhaust appears to be Spiral Turbos which might squeak by the sound test. Window tint is supposedly legal in WA state and their regs match CT. More digging needed...

I went to DMV today and I'm still unclear if this could pass inspection. All I got from the inspector was "I'd have to see the car"...they may consider it a '62 Nova or they could consider it a "composite," which is much worse. There's also a new regulation about drivetrain that went into effect 8/1/08 where the emissions counts for the year of the motor (purchased pre-8/1/08 is grandfathered...and only matters if composite). I'm trying to verify with the seller when the motor was purchased, what percentage tint the windows are and how loud the exhaust is. Not so promising so far... Std Regs Composite Regs Anyone wanna guess at the tint percentage from the pics? Also, any ideas on what kind/brand of muffler this is?

I change my vote, speedo started at the bottom, tach did not in 1994. However, an 1989 Firebird/Trans Am had both the tach and speedo start at the bottom, with yellow pointers. I'll assume it's more than just '89s that had those gauges.

My 1994 GMC Sonoma had a speedometer and tach that both started at the bottom of the cluster like that...GM changed it in 1995 when they eliminated the "old style" steering column. The yellow pointers say "Sonoma/S10" to me...whereas the gauges in the center have white pointers...mix and match cluster.

Our a FAMOUS El Camino! Link

I like how he retained the hardtop during the conversion. I looked at a '62 Grand Prix wagon phantom and the lack of hardtop is what really ruined it for me.

There is a whole image gallery link in the auction that shows how the car was built. http://s160.photobucket.com/albums/t170/no...r%20ht%20wagon/

Auction Listing

Look for a set of take-offs or used set from a wrecked car on ebay.

Turn signal stalk