What is some of the things that you have found on your car (Firebird or not) That you just shake your head and go WTF

Me

House wiring nuts used for joining wires

Bolts used that were too long and washered up

A board and bailing wire used as a battery hold down

Radiator hose that was wrong. In order to keep it from hitting the fan it was bungee corded to hold it out of the way.

Long term chemical storage in the trunk (fluids, oils). Lead to a sea of mixed stuff back there.

A 2nd sea of fluids (mostly tranny) underneath the carpet in the front passenger seat footwell.

A HUGE collection of everything in the center console cabinet. In addition to some very dirty change, I did find several hard to find small parts that I needed for the car.

Car alarm horn bolted to the inner fender and connected to nothing.

Both an electric fan and trans cooler put on the car.

Major duct tape job to hold the crumbling cardboard glove box together.

Removal of the front fender scripts and birds and the side chrome gill pieces. Holes bondo'ed over.

Aftermarket gauge cluster under the ashtray. Extra holes in the firewall to route the wires for same.

Cheap 3-tube headers crushed in due to weak front springs (along with the bottom of the oil pan and front subframe)

Strange complete replacement of the entire rear axle to 2.56 freeway gears (axle tube code matched). PHS says the car came from the factory with a 3.08 rear.

Cheap aftermarket radiator overflow bottle in place of the OEM windshield washer bottle,

Strangely melted chrome base for the interior lamp.

Package shelf cover duct taped to rear seat support.

Rear fuel filler door modified with cardboard to keep it closed (spring broken).

Sound Garden decal on rear window.

All windows tinted dark purple except windshield.

Perfect dash pad and headliner despite all other Mickey Mouse repairs and age of the car.

Cheap seat covers hiding a almost completely destroyed driver's seat.

Battery tray missing, battery suported by cheap pipe straps.

When taking my car apart to restore last year, under the carpet was all the broken glass from the passenger side window from when the car was wrecked before I got it 30 years ago.

Under the carpet? How the heck did it get under the carpet? You had to remove the broken glass and carpet to put it under it.

On a 73 big block Corvette; fiberglass and paint on a rusted through frame to hide the problem.

...a mouldy powdery bag of 4 thais sticks in the rear upholstery...

Only knew what they were because I almost inhaled once....

too far gone tho

I took the oil tank off my BSA to paint it, and found a 60 year old 8" screwdriver in there. Funny thing was, because the oil kept it from touching any water or air for all those years, it looked brand new.

I also found half of a very long dead bird between the grill and the radiator of an S-10 I bought in High School.

rear frame rails that were bondoed and painted to make them look solid, replaced them.

A square piece of aluminum flashing siliconed in place over a rust hole then painted over. Found it up inside one of the rear wheelhousings when replacing both sides of the inners and outers last year.

A 6" long piece of 2"x2" 90° angle iron bolted to the core support. It was used to hold the battery in place along with a bungy cord. Expanding foam insulation used to fill holes in the trunk. The PO of my cammer was a real bone head.

When I pulled out the carpet in my convertible, I found an unused trunk key on the passenger side floor. It was under the jut insulation.

Driver's seat stuffed full of household carpet (shag) underneath nice reproduction seat cover.

No transmission kickdown switch.

No water temp sending unit.

If the previous guy didn't f-things up what would I have to do?

that reminds me...

my 57 Studebaker, I sold 9 yrs ago..., it ran fine, temp gauge worked as it should (at least it showed...)...showed no temp when cold , crept up to 190 as I drove it...it wasnt until a year into ownership I found out that it wasnt connected!!no wire at the connector...
the weirdest thing....who knows what temp it ran ,but the non connected gauge went to 190F....

now HOW could that be?? I never figured it out, and never connected it...

Actual household plumbing fixtures for my remote oil filter (including pipe dope).

Pieced together line for the tranny cooler that were a mixture of different sizes.

lots of wires going nowhere

On one 69 I had... a little purple light installed right in the middle of the clock delete...

My ex-grilfriends underware tied to the rearview mirror (wife was cleaning out my 70 Impala (first car in HS) and found them under the seat! That was a bit weird, get in and see them tied to the mirror, knowing it was my wife who found them and tied them there... Rut Row!

I had a mid 70s Ventura with a bad alternator diode and a short in the wiring, the car had a big roach clip that you had to connect to the alternator lug after starting the car so that the battery would charge; if you left it connected after parking the battery would go dead. I fixed that the day after I forgot to unclip it, about a week after I bought it.

Roach clip....."forgot" to unhook it, hmmmmm

but it was a used car right?? previous owners problem....how could YOU be responsible??

Don't knock the foam insulation trick - I didn't have any source to weld when I was 17 and had a crappy S-10 with rust all over. To keep the doors from leaking at the bottom, I had to fiberglass the hell out of them, and the best way to even out the body to be able to apply fiberglass is that crappy foam.

Well, when you young and inexperienced and can't think quick on your feet, you quickly admit to things... LOL

you`ll learn....lol