easy restoration running & driving project car, rare convertible Muscle Car

1970 Ford Torino GT Convertible

351 Cleveland 4bbl w/ C4 automatic center console shift.

Restored in the early 90’s, by Larry Rhodes.

Larry was very proud of this restoration as he put his name on a plaque that says “Restored by Larry Rhodes” in 2 places on the car. He kept a complete w/ a book of receipts covering all expenses from the front end rebuild to the oil filter. I would assume the car looked very good 20 years ago

Larry sold it in the late 90’s and that guy used as a daily driver. The engine & transmission were rebuilt in 2002 and only have about 3,600 miles on it since. I have the receipts for the engine work but not the transmission. In 2004 the car was taken off the road & parked in a barn where it sat for 12 years.

I drug it out of the barn & got it back to my shop, then removed the dirt dobbers, wasp nest, pigeon poop & rats nest and cleaned it up a little bit. I cleaned out the fuel line & the carburetor, and set up a marine style fuel tank in the trunk to get some clean gas to it. I installed a new master cylinder & brake calipers to ensure the car would stop before I tried to test drive it. I put on 4 used tires to get it rolling again, did some other little things to get all the lights, wipers & stuff working. I replaced the starter & the solenoid; put in a battery cleaned the points & fired her up and took it for a test drive. The engine runs strong without any knock, rattle, smoke or unusual stuff that might indicate something horribly wrong. The transmission shifts good & w/ the exception of a minor leak I think it’s in great shape. The carburetor needs a rebuild as I can’t get the engine to idle at low RPM’s and the crappy old carburetor doesn’t allow the engine to run as good as it could. So mechanically it’s in pretty decent shape, although I don’t think it’s quite fine-tuned enough to be your daily driver but w/ a little TLC, it could be.

The convertible top is in perfect condition as far as the fabric goes but I’ve made no attempt to lower it.

The interior is in fair condition & could be used as is for a driver quality car.

The body is in decent condition with some rust but nothing too extreme. The worst areas on it is the passenger side door & the passenger side quarter panel between the door jamb & the wheel well, you can see where some 20 year old patch work is falling apart. I can tell that the rear lower quarters have been replaced but I think they did a good job of it & I don’t think they need a do-over You can see areas of cracking that suggest heavy doses of Bondo were used in some areas. All of this will need to be redone.

The Floor pans & trunk pans are in surprisingly good condition.

The Frame… it’s a uni-body, so there is no real frame, but from what I know, Torino’s of this year had Sub-Frames integrated into the Uni-Body… The main rear Sub-Frame appears to be clean & solid, however there is another section of the sub frame that runs under & behind the rocker panel, that ties in the rear sub-frame with the front and adds strength to the convertible body… these are shot. I’ve taken as many photos as I can to express rust issues within these areas. A good fabricator can easily remove and replace these, or possibly just patch & repair the existing ones. It’s not as challenging as it looks, I know, I’ve done it myself on a Plymouth Cuda & I’m not even a good mechanic. This is the only part of this car that is really severe and makes the whole car look much worse than it is… however, it is the only major issue on the car & that’s why I’m calling so much attention to it.

Check out the photos & videos for more details. I think I’ve covered it all as thoroughly as I possibly can.

The car has a low reserve & will be sold to the highest bidder. Please do not ask about a buy-it-now price as I would prefer to let the market decide the value of this rare find. I have a 100% feedback score & have been on eBay for over a decade, I’m a straight shooter, too honest for my own good, I’ve represented every detail to the best of my knowledge, so bid with confidence, as you will get exactly what is advertised.

If you have zero or bad feedback or are new to eBay, please call me prior to bidding.

If you are overseas that’s fine too, but the car does not leave my possession until the funds have cleared. If you don’t speak very good English please have an interpreter because I have a really hard time hearing through foreign accents.

No foreign or personal checks. Cash in person preferred, but I will also take a US bank to bank wire transfer.

The car stays in my possession until the funds clear & what I mean by clear is when my bank says the funds are available for me to cash out.

This car is brought to you by... Dixie Trading Co. 6592 Caratoke Hwy, Grandy NC 27939 NC Dlr # 0075857

Check out these YouTube clips for the video tour...

Part 1 https://youtu.be/61hmwFdGfRw

Part 2 https://youtu.be/rJyAXetjmJU

Part 3 https://youtu.be/pjaW4lHqH4c