Re: SP Budd car RDC SP-10
Author: Joe Mann
Date: 01-12-2011 - 12:21
The PLA Collections Committee discussed this. The major fact is that it sat in 8'2" of saltwater. The water came to roughly the tops of the seats. As everyone can guess, the truck assemblies and brake system would have to be completely gone through before it could be moved. But that is just a start. Remember that the engines, controls and all supporting equipment including most of the electrical were also submerged. The insulation in the walls, seat cushons and other interior surfaces were saturated. So basicly everything except the shell would have to be replaced. Reports were that the end that SP put on was also badly rusted before the flood and needed major patching. Realistically to restore it would require buying another RDC for a parts source. In the end it would be easier to move the SP specific parts to the new RDC than it would be to gut the SP-10 and swap all the parts.
So long story short, could it be restored? In theory yes. But the cost in time and money made this a project that the PLA didn't want to take on.