I sold my 50 Stars and 13 stripes all for $8,000 in 2004. See the complete sales description at the bottom. The car has changed hands again but I have lost track of it. Let me know if you are the current owner of this car. I'd like to continue to record its progress here. Read the story of its discovery and creation here. |
I have had this car for 7 years and most of my effort has been to make it mechanically sound, ignoring cosmetics for the most part. The car is a 1970 and only has 53,000 original miles on it which you will believe when you see the condition of the original interior which is perfect except for two cracks in the dash. Since it has white back-up lenses in the taillights a Checker purist would assume it to be a 1969 but it is a 1970. The dome light lenses succumbed to heat years before I bought the car and I have not replaced them yet. The original carpet is still there and it has no holes in it but it is tired after 30 years. Checker only carpeted the front seat area and used a matting throughout the rest of the car. I'd very much like to update the interior but can't bear to change anything original. The same goes under the hood. Everything is original except for the addition of a coolant recovery tank and an HEI distributor. I did save the original distributor. I replaced everything rubber that had a mechanical function for obvious reasons. I even removed, but saved, the original fan belts that say "Checker" on them. I have done nothing with the dual-air conditioning because I don't need it in Monterey. It may work perfectly with the addition of coolant but I doubt the rubber hoses could be free of leaks after 30 years. Everything is still intact as original however. I do all my own mechanical work. Everything except the AC is in working order on this car. The only perforated rust on the car is as shown in the photos by the back license plate. The only reason I have not replaced that strip of metal is its proximity to the fuel tank. It has not been important enough to remove the tank so I can weld back there. One of the reasons I'm selling the car is the caustic Monterey air is not good for it. The "stainless steel" grill has a dusting of rust on it which can be kept in check by regular steel brushing or steel wooling but it discourages me to have to do it and wonder what else may be happening to the car here. It's always been a California car so it is very rust free considering its age and the fact that it's a Checker. I put brand new, original roof light on a few months ago and they already have a light sprinkling of rust and that bugs me. The mirror brackets are exfoliating badly but that's just bent pipe that's easily replaced. The original mirrors are in very good shape. The paint job is merely a novelty applied by me after Sept 11 owing to the popularity of American flags after that date. I did not give any consideration to door dings and other blemishes on the body before painting it. It's not a professional paint job and the car really deserves proper painting. The only area I have not painted is the firewall and that will give you a good representation of the condition of the body. Wherever there were scratches there was minor surface rust. As far as things wrong with the car I noticed a slight slip in the transmission when making a quick takeoff from a dead stop. I adjusted the bands but I do have a spare original transmission that goes with the car if it ever needs any more than that. When accelerating hard up a hill the exhaust has a small "hiss" that I don't like. I've replace the whole exhaust system but I went with 2-1/4 pipe and I think larger pipe might let it breathe easier. That may not make any more sense to you than it does to me but I don't detect any leaks in the system that would account for the slight hiss. The windows need new channel molding, particularly the two front ones that get the most use. They rattle on a bumpy road. This winter the front passenger window got a little tight when rolling it down so I need to look into that. You've seen the taillights in the photos. I have a better set to be installed except for the lenses and I already replaced the white back-up lens so there are now two red and two white. The glass is all fine except for a 6 inch scratch on the windshield caused by a wiper some time in its past. I'm waiting to catch a stone before going to the trouble of replacing it for a perfect one. I have never seen another Aerobus as original as this one. I kind of wish I had started with a bad one so I could have updated and customized it. I can't bear to change anything that is as original as this one. |
I sold my 50 Stars and 13 stripes all for $8,000 in 2004. See the complete sales description at the bottom. The car has changed hands again but I have lost track of it. Let me know if you are the current owner of this car. I'd like to continue to record its progress here. Read the story of its discovery and creation here. |
