That is most likely the plan. Once we get the car in our possession, we will make that decision one way or the other.

this is the first chance ive had to up load some pictures. the car came last week finally!!

the grille was painted silver by the fellow we got it from. the original owner painted it black at some point apparently. i received his contact info and im planning on reaching out to him this weekend.

some of the coolest finds in the documents were the time slips from Lyons back in the day in southern CA. fastest time was a 12.46 @ 108mph!!

some other items save in the clean up were the original leaf spring tags, back plate sticker, and he save the fan shroud label that was earlier talked about in the thread.

in the few minutes ive had to spend with car and the boxed parts, ive found the following off the car but still with the car. these items were removed out of caution to get the car running and driving again:

upper and lower radiator hoses
heater hoses
heater core
pcv hose
motor mounts
spark plug wires (originals gone)
distributor cap
radiator was recored but preserved the top and bottom plates
rear end cover (original had a hole brazed)
battery
oil filter
air filter
gas tank (original one had too many pinholes)

if the car goes for vintage certification, some of these parts will be put back on the car.

Speaking of the "documents" looks like the old newspapers in post #35 were from 1983 if I make it out right. Notice the offer 0f 9.5% VA/FHA Mortgage?
Makes it seem not SO bad right now....I guess....
that would be 40 years ago. that tells a story right there...

Good investigation! The news papers are still with car. I will have to check out the dates! They were probably from when the car went to the storage unit. Last registration was 1973.

Thanks for the new pics, Mark. The car looks nicer with the grille redone in silver. I just got this pic sent to me. It was a local Santa Barbara car to me, another December '68 Van Nuys car that was still in original paint and owned by a lady who worked at the Danica House furniture store in town. Same rear stripe pattern as your car. This pic was taken about 1980.

The date on those concert tickets was also a tragic event in SoCal.

Wondering if you can see bone color of grill on areas of back side ? Congrats on car , original paint rally green looks so much better than even the nicest repaint . Could be wrong but I think if you have original parts with you if vintage certified that is almost as good as reinstalling them .

Cool picture, I can see the Washburn license frame.

wow... youre not kidding! and the story still continues to develop til this day.