I'm writing this as many have individually asked me to give an update of the new car I bought yesterday, a 1976 Australian delivered one owner manual white 504 Ti, from country Victoria. Indicated klms are 56,750klms, which the vendor Greg suggested meant the car has traveled 156,000klms.
My Son and I arrived in Melbourne at 8am to be met by the owner who had trailered the car to the airport. Stopping in nearby Essendon, we unloaded the car and initial impressions were good, the car is tidy albeit has been repainted at some point. We took off at 840am on the 870klm trip home, conscious that this car has driven little to no kms in five years from when Greg acquired it from the original owner, who is now nearing her 100th Birthday.
Headed to the Hume Freeway, the noticeable feature I immediately picked up was that off the lights this car was not at zippy as my 1980 GL, but then the higher diff ratio came to mind. In top gear on the Fwy, the higher diff was evident, as was the entire new OEM suspension setup that Greg had installed. The car drove flawlessly, without the slightest issue. We sat at 120-130kpm for the entire trip, and aside from higher RPM's than I'm used to with modern cars, everything seemed to be perfect. The ride is sublime, and road imperfections and undulations were almost undetectable, at any speed.
Stopping at Gundagai proved that all was in fact not well, and we had lost most of the car's oil (2mm left of dipstick). After refilling with both fuel and oil (almost in equal measure!) and talking to Greg, we determined that the oil leak was most almost certainly from the failure of the oil pressure switch, a common fault i'm told. Temperature was fine, and the car still ran flawlessly. I added 46 litres of 98 fuel, with the odo reading about 450klms, suggesting there was still ~14 litres left in the tank.
With several oil level checks along the way, we arrived home at 630 pm relieved and tired, but very happy to see a 504 in the shed. Today was no different, the car looks great in the shed, alongside the other toys (71 911T and 205GTi)
I've called my 504 specialist friend today who intends to take the car this week with a view to going over everything. From mine and greg's description, he shared the view that 'the oil leak should not be anything major, and should be fixed in under 30minutes'. Some parts I will be looking to acquire initially include; 1) indicator mechanism, 2) wire mesh for oil filler, 3) oil pressure switch, and 4) new interior rear view mirror (as I just snapped the original attempting to clean the inner mirror).
I'll keep you all posted.
Regards,
Adam
My Son and I arrived in Melbourne at 8am to be met by the owner who had trailered the car to the airport. Stopping in nearby Essendon, we unloaded the car and initial impressions were good, the car is tidy albeit has been repainted at some point. We took off at 840am on the 870klm trip home, conscious that this car has driven little to no kms in five years from when Greg acquired it from the original owner, who is now nearing her 100th Birthday.
Headed to the Hume Freeway, the noticeable feature I immediately picked up was that off the lights this car was not at zippy as my 1980 GL, but then the higher diff ratio came to mind. In top gear on the Fwy, the higher diff was evident, as was the entire new OEM suspension setup that Greg had installed. The car drove flawlessly, without the slightest issue. We sat at 120-130kpm for the entire trip, and aside from higher RPM's than I'm used to with modern cars, everything seemed to be perfect. The ride is sublime, and road imperfections and undulations were almost undetectable, at any speed.
Stopping at Gundagai proved that all was in fact not well, and we had lost most of the car's oil (2mm left of dipstick). After refilling with both fuel and oil (almost in equal measure!) and talking to Greg, we determined that the oil leak was most almost certainly from the failure of the oil pressure switch, a common fault i'm told. Temperature was fine, and the car still ran flawlessly. I added 46 litres of 98 fuel, with the odo reading about 450klms, suggesting there was still ~14 litres left in the tank.
With several oil level checks along the way, we arrived home at 630 pm relieved and tired, but very happy to see a 504 in the shed. Today was no different, the car looks great in the shed, alongside the other toys (71 911T and 205GTi)
I've called my 504 specialist friend today who intends to take the car this week with a view to going over everything. From mine and greg's description, he shared the view that 'the oil leak should not be anything major, and should be fixed in under 30minutes'. Some parts I will be looking to acquire initially include; 1) indicator mechanism, 2) wire mesh for oil filler, 3) oil pressure switch, and 4) new interior rear view mirror (as I just snapped the original attempting to clean the inner mirror).
I'll keep you all posted.
Regards,
Adam
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