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
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