hey guys,
ok been into cars since I was about 10 but this will be my first american muscle build. Ive been doing imports and small trucks (and vintage bikes) in the past but have ALWAYS wanted an american V8. Well my chance came along when my neighbor up the street (the sort of guys who has more projects then he has space or time) offered to sell me his 78 RS for very very short money.

This car def has needs. She was a runner when she was parked . . . 10 years ago . . . on dirt . . . in the bushes . . . in New England . . . DOH! But everything is there, shes in reasonable shape in the body, and she had some work done on her in her day. However 10 years in those conditions have taken there toll, she was actually growing moss on the shaded side of the car ( thus The Mossmaro )

The Good : 350 v8 which has had some work done, headers, cam, intake, ignotion, blue printing ( i originally thought it was a 383 stroker motor but i have since learned it isnt, just a worked on 350 ), 14" cragar wheels, rear traction bars, rear sway bar, rear air shocks.

The Bad : very nicely sized hole in the passenger footwell, probably needs all new brakes, motor in unknown running condition at the moment, needs paint, needs the ENTIRE interior (its there but its baaaaad)

So with all that said lets get to what you really want - Pictures

Where she sat since about 2000 -








Her first day out of "the bush" please note the light green moss on the car!


And then her first bath in about a decade !














And i picked up a 2" fiberglass cowl induction hood today from a friend . . . so it begins.

 

welcome!
man i thought i was up against a wall with my 74 wich just came out of long term storage garage with a leaky roof i didn't know about!
as long as the frame rails are good you should have a good platform to work with. almost i would think about everything you would need to do the job is available. but it's gonna be a long tedious process just like mine. do you know why it was parked? also you may wanna try pulling the plugs putting some oil in the cylinders let it sit over night and see if the motor turns by hand just to see if it's usable if it spins change the oil go over the motor and see if it fires.
others may have different thoughts about firing it up but if it were mine i would think nothing to lose in trying.
Dave

 

It was parked bc the owner had about 6 other cars and lost interest in this one Ok ill give pulling the plugs and oiling the cylinders a shot.

 

If it doesn't need anything more than floor work, then that's good. The interior can be spendy to make it all stock, but if you don't mind making it a bit trick, it's actually cheaper, and looks better to me. Some modern buckets, a new headliner, and door panels, some custom dash insert and gauges. Should make a nice muscle car!

 

Im going to be selling my two motorcycles to free up money for this build. anyone want to buy a bike ?

 

looks like a nice start, my 78 was in the same shape pretty much. welcome aboard, GL and don't give up (i had my 80 for 11 yrs and still never drove it lol). Keep the pics comming.

Joe

 

if things go according to plan (fingers crossed), and i sell the bikes (fingers crossed), and we dont find anything huge wrong (fingers REALLY crossed) I hope to have it running by the end of summer

 

Minor update : Sold one of the bikes so the project can begin. Picked up a set of Torque Thrust 14" wheels and tires to replace the dry rotted, rusted wheels on there. The car will be put on a trailer and taken to the garage tomorrow to see if we cant make her run. Then the real work starts . . . making her a driver.

 

Keep the faith. I stay on here to keep me motivated.

 

Good luck. it will be worth it in the end