My mother-in-law gave us her '68 coupe (289, AT, A/C, power steer, power drum, original light beige, repainted Wimbledon White, black vinyl int) It's got 46K original miles. I think 44K+ were put on prior to 1989. Kept in a garage for all except one year when my goofball brother-in-law kept it outside in Utah in the snow. I have two questions about things that look minor but could of course turn huge.

First, the interior was completely redone in the '80s. All is pristine, except for missing rear belts and a small split in the stiched seam on driver's seat shoulder. Can this be re-stitched, or must the seat be completely recovered?

Second, there is rust in two places on the car: both drip rails, and the underside of the exposed edge of the trunk (where it hangs over the rear end). I assume all of this was caused by the combo of water and dirt, since there was a whole lot of dust under the trunk edge when I opened it the first time. Trunk is not scary... worst case replace the trunk lid. Drip rails scare me a bit. The paint has lifted off of the metal to form a lip all along the top front of the rail. How major is this? Is this something that can be fixed by blasting and painting, or is there cutting and welding involved? What does a drip rail replacement cost?

In any event, it's a pretty sweet gift.

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yeah either way its free so repairs are better feeling when u didnt just shell out thousands for the car....but anyways....drip rails could be shaved, but thats expensive/hard....they could also be patched up, a lot of times with lead...or you could do what i will prob have done and get this special drip rail clear goo stuff put in the drip rail...my body shop suggested it...dono much about it besides the fact it works.....

 

Your mother-in-law, Does she have any other cars she wants to get rid of? How about any other kids that need married off? I could kill two birds with one stone. LOL

 

I did the same as shifty what i did different was spray a rust preventer in the cracks first, after making sure it was dry, added a boat clear silicon sealer. This works well for me and hopefully i got enough rust preventer in there!!! Be sure to make sure it's dry when you do it

 

That looks like a very easy fix on those drip rails. It wouldn't cost much at a body shop to have them fix and spray them again if the rest of the paint is in pretty good shape.

 

that clear sealer stuff that is put in is, either duramix self leveling seam sealer, or 3m sells the same tyep if stuff that duramix does. go to your local paint store and ask what they have, i would sand down the rails and apply that

 

if you call that screwed....you have a better deffinition than I do...

 

True, I'm a definite newbie to the forum. I posted before I read the other posts with stories of tens of thousands spent... When I was posting I was having a vision of a beautiful car that when touched shatters into a ball of rust.

Thanks for the tips. So when I prep for the sealer, I need to flake off everything loose, then sand and seal?