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  1. #1

    Default Part 4 - My Car 40 Years Later

    Later Saturday afternoon the dealership called and said they would now paint the top white for free as originally written on the order.

    Wednesday March 22nd it was raining in Kent, the dealership called and said the car was ready to be picked up. I told them I already
    came there to pickup the car on Saturday when they said it was ready and was not, and I was not coming there again. Deliver me the car.
    About an hour later Brad, the owners son and salesman I ordered the car from brought it to me. He threw the keys at me and said
    "Here's your f@kin car. Got into his girlfriends car and left. I parked the car and went up to my apartment.

    Man I was excited now. New car smell!! After a few minutes, decided to go for a drive. Got in the car and adjusted everything.
    Since it was raining, I needed the wipers but could not figure out how they worked. After looking in the book that was in the bag in the
    glove box I figured it out. The control is on the column! It was time for the first drive. Went down Summit Street, never much traffic on there.
    Drove for a few miles then back home where I parked it for the night. Not much fun when you don't have a radio.

    The next day I found several things wrong with the car. Besides the cosmetic things, door carpet 2 different shades of red, trim ring missing
    on vent control knob, rust around the trunk lock and on the rear quarter by the gas tank door. There were probably some other things that
    after 40 years I cannot remember. But the biggest thing (to me they were all big) was the fact that you could not get the car out of park
    without lifting your rear off the seat. And when it did shift the lever went al the way down and then from there you could select reverse or drive.

    Took the car back to the dealer. The lady that was in charge of the service area, got in the car, Tried to shift, I watched her whole body rise in
    the air as she pulled the shift lever down. She gets out and says that it works fine. I said Bulls**t I saw your @ss lift up off the seat. she said
    they were not fixing any of what I said were problems, they do not exist.

    Friday I went to State Merchandise and bought a Audiovox AM/FM 8-track and a pair of 5x7 3-way speakers. Got a good deal. My girlfriend's cousin
    worked there and we used her discount and she did not charge me for the speakers. I feel bad about that now. The total was less than $90. I took
    it out for a few years in the 90's early 00's and put in a JVC cassette deck. The 8-track is back in and works as good as it did 40 years ago.
    I have a recorder and make my own tapes.

    Saturday went back to the dealer and complained some more. They said to get lost.

    The next week, I called and wrote to the Ford Regional Office in The area. I also went to the dealership in the evening and chased away customers
    who were looking at cars. I did this for several nights. They threatened to call the police on me and I told them to go ahead. They were all drunk
    every night and the wastepaper baskets were full of beer bottles.

    The regional office made them fix all the issues I had. But this place was so bad, where they fixed the rust issue, it was a completely different shade
    of red. They said this was due to the paint fading. Yeah, sure that happens in less than a month. Well I lived with that until I restored the car in 2006.
    Bothered me though every time I washed it.

    Tomorrow...The Epilogue

    Trim Problems (recreated)

    Paint Problem (25 years later)

    What it looked like on its 25th before restoration
    Lots of FREE F/Z info on my site.
    http://myzephyrs.com

  2. #2
    FEP Power Member 4-barrel Mike's Avatar
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    Mike

  3. #3
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    this story is a riot! also,this was a brand new car?what happened to the door panel carpet that they had to find another piece to patch it?the pic of the carpet fix is the funniest part

  4. #4
    FEP Senior Member Tigger's Avatar
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    Seems like quality and attention to detail in the smaller dealerships back then was not JOB 1. In the late 70's we lived in a small town in Idaho. In ~February of 79, my dad ordered his Pinto Wagon. He ordered like he wanted it. He scheduled a family vacation around the delivery date. We would get the car and a day or two later hit the road. My grandma came from out of town for the vacation. He went to go pick the car up when I was in school and apparently it did not have air conditioning. Salesman said he didn't order AC. My dad said yes he did and he showed him the paperwork that he paid for it. Salesman said they could order him another car and it would take 4-6 weeks or they could install the dealer AC. Because of the vacation he opted for the dealer AC. It was nothing but problems with that dealer AC. It never worked right. The rest of the car, on the other hand, was fine. We still have the car. Someday I would like to install factory AC to make the car as it should have been ordered.
    Last edited by Tigger; 03-21-2018 at 05:49 PM.
    67 Mustang Coupe
    96 Tangerine GT
    86 Saleen #179

  5. #5

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    Quote Originally Posted by Tigger View Post
    Seems like quality and attention to detail in the smaller dealerships back then was not JOB 1. In the late 70's we lived in a small town in Idaho. In ~February of 79, my dad ordered his Pinto Wagon. He ordered like he wanted it. He scheduled a family vacation around the delivery date. We would get the car and a day or two later hit the road. My grandma came from out of town for the vacation. He went to go pick the car up when I was in school and apparently it did not have air conditioning. Salesman said he didn't order AC. My dad said yes he did and he showed him the paperwork that he paid for it. Salesman said they could order him another car and it would take 4-6 weeks or they could install the dealer AC. Because of the vacation he opted for the dealer AC. It was nothing but problems with that dealer AC. It never worked right. The rest of the car, on the other hand, was fine. We still have the car. Someday I would like to install factory AC to make the car as it should have been ordered.
    I bet our stories are probably true of all factory ordered cars of the time. If you buy one off the lot, the factory imperfections will have already been fixed.
    My dealer did not even want to order my car because of the lack of options I chose.
    Lots of FREE F/Z info on my site.
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  6. #6

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    Man, that would be so frustrating! Especially how they treated you! And rust on a brand new car is unbelievable!

    I have to order my cars fairly often too because someone somewhere decided nobody likes combinations that I like.
    Brad

    '79 Mercury Zephyr ES 5.0L GT40 EFI, T-5
    '17 Ford Focus ST
    '14 Ford Fusion SE Manual

  7. #7
    FEP Senior Member Tigger's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by RED 78' View Post
    I bet our stories are probably true of all factory ordered cars of the time. If you buy one off the lot, the factory imperfections will have already been fixed.
    My dealer did not even want to order my car because of the lack of options I chose.
    My dad didn’t check off a lot of options either. I wanted him to get the sport steering wheel and slotted mags but he said they were too expensive. He ordered the sport mirrors, intermittent wiper, am/fm stereo, heated rear glass, roof rack, and the deluxe bright trim. And I am very thankful he ordered the color I wanted. Orange. Other than that it is just a 4cyl 4spd car with black standard interior with cloth inserts and dealer AC. Unfortunately when my parents got divorced my mom threw all the original papers away. I’m not happy about that. I wish I had that stuff. In the early 90’s I started driving the car to college because I was worried that my 67 Mustang was going to get stolen or damaged in the parking structure. It was in those years that I added the sport steering wheel and the factory mags. Other than that the car is pretty much the same as dad ordered. Here is an older pic

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    Last edited by Tigger; 03-23-2018 at 02:14 AM.

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