Folks Of Interest Veterans..Did you leave a car in someone's care when you went into service?

Did you go to WTHS? If so what class? I wanted to but my dad made me go to Carmel HS for Boys in Mundelein (Class of '70) which sucked. I lived on the north side near Victory Park. Where did you live?

Here's another weird coincidence since your user name is "Luckythirteenagogo." I've been selling old car brochures, shop manuals and old license plates full time on Ebay for the last few years and my user ID is Lucky 13 Publications. Weird, huh?

 

Yes, I left a 57 Nomad at Dad's house in 67. Sold it for $650 to get money for my wife and son to fly to Hawaii when I was stationed at FWC Pearl Harbor

 

Oldspert this is one of the best reasons to sell a hot rod. I know you enjoyed your family..

 

I had a '62 Harley Sportster XLCH when I left for boot camp in 1965. I was 21 and had a 20 year old brother that loved it almost as much as I did. My grandfather stored it for me in his shop and took away any chance my brother would get his hands on it.
The day I came home for the first time 5 months later I said hello to my mom and dad and within a 1/2 hour was riding it with my fatigues still on.

 

Mine was a 52 Ford custom, it had frenched headlights, my parents sold it after they chizzled off the frenched headlight ring to change a headlight, I forgot to tell them the headlights came out from the back side.

 

Not my story, but my dad's FYI;

Dad went to Vietnam in '68 leaving behind a Henry J with a straight axle that he said was fast as hell and scary to drive because the wheel base was so short. He also left an early Harley Davidson 45 (with a couple spare parts bikes to boot). He also had a 53 F100 that was his daily. When dad quit writing back home every month (as was his routine) his brothers assumed he died so they sold all of his stuff. I will only list his car and bikes, I'll leave out the guitars,cameras and other personal goodies for brevity.

Anyway, when he came back home for good in '72 he was excited to go let off some steam only to find he had nothing left but a worn out F100. Having 6 siblings meant that everyone pointed fingers at everyone else. He can only assume who sold what and for how much based on what they all had when he came back. We have a pretty crazy family and the good stories are almost as frightening as the bad ones...

Here is one of those crazy stories:
I won't get too far off topic but when they were kids they took an old car that they found on a chicken farm to make a drag racer out of. It was a 30's vintage Chevy of some flavor. They said the steering wheel was broken so they clamped a couple of vise-grips to the nut and the throttle linkage was broke too so they had someone lay on the front fender and run the gas while the other guy steered and stopped from the cab. They drove across town doing burn outs and raising hell. Eventually they pooled resources to put a it all together. They had set the engine back in the frame and moved everything they could towards the rear so that they could do wheelies. They called that car the "Chicken Coupe". it was not fast but it was quite a bit of fun.

~Broman

 

Left my 59 Ford with my Dad ,in 64 he had a 57 that was worth keeping but he traded them both in on a new 65 Belvedere /6. I miss the 57 more.(312-4bbl/FX tranny auto and really hauled)

When I got out married we moved in a house at the end of a dirt road and there was a 57 chev ragtop in the bushes. I think the bushes grew up around it. Story was the owner was in the service and in VN. The car was down in the dirt and the top none existent, Really trashed looking. One day in 71 the car was not there. A week later I saw it running and driving(still no top) evidently the guy came home and got it up and running. I was amazed !

 

A little different story. I had a friend who purchased a 30 thousand mile little old lady driven 50 ford coupe that was black with no flaws. He worked 2 summers to pay for that old ford. He went off to military school. all the males for several generations had attended this school. His mother thought a great Christmas present would be to take the old Ford in for a paint job, She chose red. It was a cheap job and they did a shit job on the jambs. Boy was he pissed. He went back to school His mom who was a real control person sold the 50. his dad was P whipped She said you are under 21 and I can do what I want to do.. He then quit school and went to parts unknown . I was told Robert did not talk to his family for a very long time. many many years..

 

In 1968 I left for Vietnam and left me 1956 Chevy Belair with my parents it was royal blue with white pleat-n-roll interior 327 with 3 deuces. We lived out in the country and one day my dads car wouldn't start so he drove my 56 to work on the way there the fuel pump went out so he left it on the side of the road till he and a friend could go back and fix it during his lunch hour. We they went back the car was gone never to be seen again! it was my first car but not my last!

 

Got drafted in January 1968, left '65 GTO, 421 4 speed with credit union, as I didn't want to sell it until my last day as a civilian. Car was paid for, but the credit union offered the service of selling the car to guys who were drafted. Few months later, received notice from credit union that it had been sold with $1,600 credited to my account. Received a few other statements, but assumed that due to changing posts and going to VN, others didn't get to me. Planned to use the money to get re-established when I got discharged. Long story short, the director and others at the credit union were changing the accounts of those who they assumed were killed in VN. When I went to the credit union, they had changed the amount received for the GTO to $160. When the director and others were arrested, they had done this to many.....the director committed suicide. Even though my money was supposed to be insured, I ended up getting just over $200 compensation. Tried for years to get my money......no luck. Hindsight is 20/20, really regretted not making more of an effort to find a place to store the GTO.

 

Left my 1956 oval window with my dad. 5 years later pulled it from.behind the garage, drained the gallon of water from it and added fresh oil. Fired up and drive it home. Was shocked it started.

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I built my brother a nice 1968 Plymouth Fury 3 and it was a 2 door. I spent thousands, not to mention my time invested. He drove it for a year, then sold it for $400. I told him that if he didn't get the car back, I would be very upset with him. After knocking on the guys door who "stole" the car, the guy laughed in his face and told my brother that he was an idiot for letting a car that nice go for that cheap. Needless to say, the buyer of the car was a man of higher intelligence. He kept the car knowing what he had.

I didn't talk to my brother for 2 years, but I finally let it go and moved on...

My brother maybe an idiot, but yours is a jerk! I am sorry that you had that happen to you twice.

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Hahahaha that put a smile on my face. Good story. Who doesn't like to see a nice looking lady driving a nice looking car.

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Bought my 65 Wildcat in late 96 for $600. I traded some engine work on a 429 Ford for body work. Had it nosed, decked, shaved, trim removed, painted black with red pearl and blue pearl ghost flames with factory 65 Rivera wheels in 97. Parked it at my dad's place in WA when I went in the navy in 98. Came back for it 99 and brought it back to CA. The stock 401 nailhead let go one weekend during liberty. Rebuilt it in my buddy's San Fernando Valley driveway 4 days before I shipped out to Okinawa Japan for a year. Of course adding my AFB carb and reworked 401 heads that I had. [emoji3] Had to ship out and I left the wildcat at some neighbor who said he'd store it for me. When I got home a year later the car had been relocated 45 miles north to Frazier park CA to some guys place I didn't even know lol. My buddies and I dusted out the cob webs, washed it and away we went. Fast fwd a few years and I sold it to another sailor so I could buy my 57 Chevy. A week later he shipped out to the middle East and left the car with me. So I still got to drive the car! When he returned he was shipped back to WA (where I originally bought the car). The wildcat was then sold to another sailor who sold it to a Kiwi. Last I heard one of the guys at Squeak' s said he personally transported it to back to CA so as to be shipped to New Zealand. Man, that car got around. I'd love to see what all the new owner has done my old Wildcat!

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My brother totaled it at Lakewood shopping center , close to Lakewood and south st

 

Indeed I did and it was sold from under me.

 

Drafted in December 1968. Left the car with the wife. When finally got to a permanent post where my wife could join me, she left the car with my Dad. Dad took his car out of the garage, and put mine into his garage. He started it weekly and let it run to operating temperature.

We corresponded by sending mag tapes back and forth. Approximately 3 months prior to ETS, got a tape that started with the wonderful sounds coming out of the tailpipe, and the comment "bet you are looking forward to hearing this in person".

This thread somewhat depressing with all of the horror stories. Hope my story helped. Dad's been gone a few years now. This thread brought back good memories.

Jon.

 

On Jan 5th 1960 I left for the Army, I left behind my 1953 Olds 98 Holiday hardtop. While in the Army in Germany I drove a 1954 Olds Super 88 hardtop. When I returned to the states I sold my 88, as for my 98 Holiday hard top back home, my dad sold it so I bought a 1956 Olds Super 88.

 

Not my car, not my deployment.. good family laugh, sad tho. Great-grandfather Carter; helluva salesman, bon vivant, ha-ated to downshift. Famous for waiting until the motor was nearly stopped turning over and then he would execute an angry violent downshift.
My grandfather (his son) joined the Navy in '44. Left a burgundy '37 Lincoln Zephyr with a Columbia rearend with his dad. In short order, while granddad was dodging kamikaze pilots and torpedo attacks, great granddad's ruined that smooth V12 with his lazy shifting habits. While in the local friendly garage for a rebuild, the owner offers to help great grandpa Bill by putting a "factory" rear axle in the car while the motor's getting rebuilt. Grampa John came home in '46 and found his hotrod Lincoln wasn't nearly as fast without that Columbia, so he sold it. I heard that story often as a teenager, part of granddad teaching proper shifting techniques so that one doesn't "lug the motor" too much.

 

In January of 66 I left for the Marines leaving my 65 GTO behind at home. I expected my folks would sell the car but that being difficult they made the payments until I was discharged. I was only home about a week when they gave me the choice to buy it back or it would be traded in for a new Buick wagon. The next day I got a job at Gateway Trucking so I could keep my car.
My sisters had driven it some so it had some road rash etc. but the car didn't feel the same after awhile I'd lost my emotional attachment and ordered a new Chevelle.
It's funny but in Vietnam the memories of our cars back home gave you something to look forward to if you were fortunate enough get through your tour.
Bob Nichols , if you're out there somewhere I'll never forget how we shared our love of cars and the hours we spent talking of home , you in California and me from the Chicago area.
We never did get to run your 65Chevelle against my Goat, I hope you had a good life and I hope you won some races buddy. Semper Fi

 

When I joined the Army in the fall of 1960 I was in the middle of an AV8 project. Sold it all to another kid with a father in the muffler business. They turned it into a very nice machine.

Army sent me to Germany and when I got back I had orders to Ft Benning. My mother gave me the family's 52 Chevy 4 door. I had it painted red at Earl Shibes in San Gabriel and put in a floor shifter from Honest Charley's. When we were deployed to Vietnam in 1965 I sold it to another Sergeant and he gave it to his wife to drive while we were gone. She traded it for a poodle dog.

Since then I owned a succession of good cars, a 1964 El Camino, a 68 Porsche 912, 72 big block Corvette, etc. but it was not until I retired that I got a chance to build my second hot rod and this one has been around for 15 years.

My friend Dick Valenzuela bought his 1932 out of a back Whittier back yard when he was 15. Did his Army time in Alaska and when he got home the coupe was waiting for him. He 78 and still has it. Do the math.

 

Bumping for more stories from you veterans. Grew up on my dad's pictures and stories. (USArmy, Chu Lai, Đa Năng 1966-1968). Still love the lobuck hotrod look of his cars from the 60s and 70s when I was a kid.

 

I worked at a gas station and bought a customers car for $200. '67 Camaro. Faded paint and a little rust. Interior needed some TLC. Straight 6 and she ran. Came back home from Navy A school and my mom had sold it to a junk guy for $25.

I caught a flight back to Orlando the next day.

 

Had this nice 50 chev vert with a bored 270 jimmy out of the race car that had twin 97s,Lincoln intake valves & special sodium exhaust valves,clark headers nicson intake,nosed & decked. Night before I left ,1954,I had my brother remove the truck mufflers & put some straight pipes on it as I was going to terrorize the town. I never made it Put a valve thru the head. When I returned home 1956 the jimmy was nowhere to be found & nobody new anything. All my fishing gear & guns were confiscated also. [

 

I got drafted Thanksgiving evening 1967. Had a one month old O/T pickup brand new. Made payments on it all the time I was in the Army. When I came home from Vietnam in 1969 it was still there. My dad had driven it a bit but was never sure he was unhappy I came home because of the pickup or in his mind, he would of been a bigger man if his son had been killed in Vietnam.

 

I got drafted Thanksgiving evening 1967. Had a one month old O/T pickup brand new. Made payments on it all the time I was in the Army. When I came home from Vietnam in 1969 it was still there. My dad had driven it a bit but was never sure he was unhappy I came home because of the pickup or in his mind, he would of been a bigger man if his son had been killed in Vietnam.

Man, ...that is sad.

Welcome home, ... dude!!!

...this reply isn't intended to start an argument, ...it's just my opinion.

 

When I got drafted in 67 I had a 55 Chevy hardtop with a 301 SB duel quads and a 4 speed. At the time it was my pride and joy and I didn't want to get rid of it but had no place to store it so my father and I ended up putting it up on blocks in the back yard with a canvas tent over it. Dad would keep the battery charged up and start it a couple of times a month to keep things in good order. As I posted in another thread while in Vietnam someone sent me a hot rod magazine that featured and early Vette that someone had install one of GM's new, at the time big blocks. That got me excited and I knew that I had to have one. When I finally got home I got the 55 back on the road and as luck would have it a friend of mine who had a tired 61 Vette wanted a 55 Belair and I ended up trading the 55 for the Vette plus a couple of bucks. I soon had a 61 Vette with a 427 but I must admit I did miss the good old 55.

 

These are great stories, some glad some sad.

 

I went to the Army in March 1968 . I had a 1966 Chevy Impala convertible that was red with a white top and red interior, 283 P/G. It had about 45,000 miles on it and my Father sold it for me . Never saw it again.