Sue The Ke55 Hardtop Se - Now Virtually Rust Free!!

[ke30dude]

Hey guys, bought this little fella from a colleague today for $800.

 

The lady whoe owned it has had it for the last 28 years, it is in pretty good shape for the amount of work it has done, if it needed repairing she had it fixed. I have been asking for years if she wants to sell it and then the other day I got a phone call saying she "upgraded" to a commodore.

 

 

Specs:

 

Engine: original 4k, has been re ringed once 14 years ago

Gearbox: K40 4sp

Factory air con - Still blows ice cold!

Almost overrated dash - She somehow got a NOS dashpad In the 90's, unfortunately it has a small crack.

Stock wheels with chrome trims

Chrome gutter strips.

Original phillips AM radio and cassette - works perfect too.

 

With 374000km on it it drives extremely well, almost better than my zze122r corolla. When I put new bushes in the back end soon it should handle even better.

 

 

 

No major rust to be found, few small dings, lots of stone chips on the front I will repair soon.

 

Plans: Keep it stock as possible and just improve on whats there, I don't want to modify it much if any at all.

 

Comments are wqelcome, just going to update this as I go.

Edited April 16, 2010 by ke30dude

[JiP]

Nice find dude. Wow those stickers rock :)

[Toy-Yoda[RL]]

Words can't really express the happy I felt when I read that you want to keep it stock, full credit, enjoy it!

[jader]

nice looking hardtop there. love the cat steps, pin stripe and chrome gutter trim :)

[JiP]

Hey just a question... Was that an Auto previously?

[ke30dude]

It has always been a manual while the lady I bought it off had it, from 83-now can't account for the first 2 years of its life.

 

Cheers got the comments guys, looking to get some paint mixed up to fix up that front apron this week. :)

[JiP]

ahh okay. I was just under the impression that the auto's had that thin stripe up the top while the manuals had the thick one in the centre of the doors.

[ke30dude]

Waiting for the coca cola rep to come into work tomorrow, he used to be a spraypainter by trade, getting his advice on some things to do with the bodywork.

 

Going to start polishing up the chrome parts this weekend, we will see how that pans out. :P

[ke30dude]

Not really any progress happening yet (only got in on sunday lol) took the old girl for a drive today to "get some mower fuel"

 

Ended up spending most of the afternoon just cruising, was just driving like a granny with a big stupid grin on my face. can't wait to get her fixed up for NSW reg.

 

can't drive it to work as somone tried breaking into it when the old owner had it and the door locks don't work at the moment (putting in new locks this weekend)

[ke30dude]

really excited, tomorrow I'm taking her to work for the day, replaced the door locks today so she can be all secure.

 

alsoo bought a poressure washer off ebay and cleaned the motor up looks new now, pics soon

:yes:

[ke30dude]

On my way home today, decided to pull into a body shop.

 

In two weeks all the rust is getting cut out, plated and painted is going to be $500, thats for 5 pretty big spots though.

[ke30dude]

So I gave sue a wash today, she was a dirty little biatch after the flooding we copped here, I also had some helping little hands, Lexi is 5 months old she is always happy to see everyone.

 

Going in for rust repairs tomorrow hopefully.

 

Youtube vid coming soon.

[ke30dude]

Just drove past th bodywork place, work is progressing very well, picking up sue tomorrow or monday, she is looking really hot now! :(

[ke30dude]

Got her home today, the fella doing the bodywork passed me a big cupfull of dirt that was removed from in behind the guards and inside the sills. Among the dirt was a dead mouse that had been there so long it was one dried out hollow casing with fur...

 

Vic rego is cancelled, I need to build a carport to put her under. I need to replace the rear bushes next :jamie:

[ke30dude]

Well not a lot has been happening with this lately, unfortunately i can't justify registering a 3rd car so its been sitting in the carport for a while. I start it every couple of weeks and run the air con, etc up for a good half hour or so..

 

I got invited to join a local car club which then I would be able to get club rego on it but we will see how that goes, would be nice to go on their cruise once a month....