Chris, my sons and I enjoy your newsletter. The recent one prompted me to write to you as ask a few questions concerning out 77 124.

1. Given I have four teenage boys around the house which tend to swell to 5 or 6 on many days. During some exploring, with the door locks on our 77 the driver side interior handle no longer moves in either direction. The only way to open the door is from the exterior handle. Any suggestions as to what may have happened to the inter workings of the interior handle?

It sounds like it has seized. You will need to take it apart and discover what is wrong and either repair it or replace the offending part.

Can I pull the works and look for signs of trouble easily?

Any suggestions as to how I should go about trouble shooting this problem would be very much appreciated.

Without personally examining it, I have no idea what exactly is wrong. Sorry. All I can suggest is that you take it apart and look, or if you do not feel qualified, take it to a professional you trust and pay them!

2. I have noticed that our oil gauge tends to read very low pressures once the car is at running temp. Do the sending units age over time and not read correctly?

Yep, the diaphragm inside the gauge sender cracks. With age, time, heat, and everything else, it will eventually read zero as the pressure bleeds thru the diaphragm and the pressure on either side of it equalizes.

I have plenty of oil . . .

Sorry, the amount of oil you read on the dipstick has nothing to do with the oil pressure. Unless of course you have none! Oil pressure is determined by the internal condition of the engine's lubrication system and the engine speed.

and as I have said the gauges reads around 50 psig until the motor get to temp then it drops to nearly 0. If I rev the motor I can see the gauge needle moving but only slightly. Would you suggest that the sending units be changed or could it be the gauge itself? Comments on this would be helpful.

Change the sender. It could be the gauge, but 99% of the time it is the sender. Of course, if you don't want to just change the sender and take your chances, you could troubleshoot the system to see exactly what is wrong before you just purchase and install parts.

Can a new (salvaged) gauge be had?

Huh? How could a new gauge be salvaged? Or, by salvaged, do you mean used? If so, how could a used gauge be new? Or, did you mean new to you? I am confused...Rest assured, if you determine that your gauge is bad, either a new or used gauge can be supplied to replace it.

We have 78K original miles of this 77 if that helps. However, it sat for about 3 years before we acquired it this pass summer.

3. Do you still have the Dark blue 75 for $400, that's in the list of cars for sale?

Yes, the cars for sale list is kept pretty current by my webmistress

How bad is the front end damage?

He hit a stopped pickup truck, so it will need some pulling and either replacement of exterior sheet metal or beating out what is there.

Any photos that can better express this damage?

I have a selection on my other computer which I will forward to you. If they do not show exactly what you hope to see, please let me know exactly what you want to see so I can shoot it.

If you still have this car I may want to come by when I am in California next and have time to take a trip over the hill to Santa Cruz.

Great! Please make an appointment first, as we don't always keep normal hours.

I live in Austin, Texas, and generally spend two weeks a month in Santa Clara. Let me know if this car is still available.

Regards,

Ron Macklin

At this moment no one has given me a deposit or payment. Until that happens, it is for sale!