Queensland P76 Owners Club Inc. 2007

Blue Deluxe

Macleay Island

Sept 2007


Richard here
Just thought I'd do everyone a favour and went over to Macleay Island to have a look at the Corinthian Blue Deluxe 6 for sale on Ebay.
http://cgi.ebay. com.au/ws/ eBayISAPI. dll?ViewItem& rd=1&item= 150157289969& ssPageName= STRK:MEWA: IT&ih=005
Well, it's probably the most original, unrestored P76 I have seen in a long while.
Thats a good thing - the bad is that it has been neglected for some years.

BODY:

There is rust but not as bad as I thought it would be.
The worst is in the front valance and would need replacing.
It looks like the radiator has been leaking from day 1 and never been fixed.
There is rust in the front frame rails as well and in a few spots on the roof (5c coin size or smaller).
The other bad rust area was under the floor mats in the front, the worst being the passengers side.
The heater pipes have been disconnected and the holes left open, so all the water has been running inside.
The front floor where the rust was felt weak and would have to be cut out and replaced. The rear quarters were rustfree apart from a few spots where the paint had flaked off.
The boot likewise and the original bootmat was in place and in good condition, along with the original jack.
The body is very straight apart from the rear bumper where someone has backed into something.
With a good cut and polish it would probably come up looking good.

INTERIOR:

Quite good condition, though dirty.
The seats have no real damage or cracks and are still firm to sit in.
The dashboard is very clean and the dash top has survived well.
The hoodlining needs a good clean. The armrests are not the best and the drivers is broken.
The woodgrain on the instruments is peeling as usual.
Someone has lifted up the heater control facia and forced the levers under the lower edge so they can't be used.

ENGINE/DRIVELINE:

Very original, however the leads and distributor cap have been relaced at some time.
Pity they didn't do the rest of the service and change the fuel filter and oil!
The fuel filter is old and the oil filter has surface rust on it so I would say it hasn't been replaced in a while. There was plenty of old oil on the block and the carb was leaking a bit but with a jump-start it fired up easily.
The exhaust has broken off from the manifold and is really noisy.
The rest of the exhaust system looked original, including the tailpipe.
I couldn't take it for a drive, however the gearbox changed into reverse and drive quickly.

OVERALL:

It's not really my cup of tea being a 6, but it would be a shame to see this car go to a wreckers or something.
I don't think it would take much other than some rust repairs and a little TLC to return it to very good condition.
It was apparently a one-owner car from Victoria (Ringwood).
The owner of the car yard says he can vividly remember it being in the dealer for sale when he used to live near there.
He says he didn't know the original owner of the car though at the time.
It is a very early build car as can be seen on the compliance plate 5/73 - 1201. The best thing about the car is it is reasonably priced and it is still registered (in QLD) until Jan 2008.
By law if being sold with rego it has to have a roadworthy cert, so they may even fix the exhaust.
Best of luck whoever gets it, seeing now everyone knows about the car, someone come to an agreement and buy the car for the asking price of $500 - don't go getting into a bidding war with another club member and bump the price up and it could be a good buy.

Further information

There was also rust underneath the battery and in the chassis rail, for some reason the pictures didn't turn out though.
The car is sandwiched in the middle of others with barely enough room to open a door hence the lack of pictures from the outside.
There was no rust around the fuel filler, just a bit along the edge where the paint had worn off.
Macleay island is an island, Mick but the car has only been there for a short time.
It was purchased by the car yard owner on the mainland, possibly from an auction but I didn't ask.
Yes, they have a car yard on the island....go figure.

Photos from Richard












































Last updated
Sept, 2007
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