Projects Resurrection of a Family Heirloom….

Well I’m finally getting to being able to work on a car that has a special back history for me after dealing with the headaches of losing my family to Covid a couple years ago. This car has been sitting under a car cover for the last 12 years or so and need of some love.

The car was bought brand new by my great grandfather and was handed down through the family until I got it. My great uncle drove it, my grandfather, my dad, along with my mom and as I’m writing this I can’t remember being behind the wheel other than to help dad bleed the brakes and stuff like that. It was a daily driver until the mid 70’s when it came home with us and dad used it on the weekends while he was restoring it back to factory original. It has seen the show circuit and has been to several national events with the AACA and the V8 Club of America but whenever dad acquired the woody it has been put on the back burner only driven every once in a while. Before mom passed he was wanting to start driving it again regularly and was planning on doing that after he finished our convertible.

But like I said it hasn’t moved from the same spot in at least 12 years so I have a lot to take care of before I get it on the road. Now I’m not the one to keep things factory but since it’s been in the family for so long it’s been hard to figure out what direction I want to take it. But thanks to zzrodney and his ‘37 Packard build I think I found my way…… Pro Traditional

First thing I needed to do was to get it running. My dad and granddaddy built the motor in the 1980’s with me helping them of course (I welded the couple of cracks in the block, which is a whole nuther story ) and since it doesn’t have many miles on her I changed the carburetor, fuel pump, plugs, cleaned the points and distributor cap and a new battery later I had it running!

 

I’d drive it

 

Nice.

 

Very nice, and a long family history, sorry to hear the impact of covid took some family members. HRP

 

Now I know after the 12 years of sitting it needed new tires so I made a call to Coker and ordered a new set of 670/15’s and since they were on back order it took a little bit before I could install them. Since dad and I have dang near everything it takes to build a car around here I could mount and balance the tires myself. So here are the pics from that day and let me tell you it felt really good to be using all of dad’s stuff and using the knowledge that he passed to me through the years. I know he is watching me and probably praying that I won’t cut it up and build on hell of a custom out of it

 

Very cool! I will be following along. Great that it has been in the family so long.

 

Congrats on your "New" project. the '51 front-end is beautiful. any pics of your Dad, and others, with it?

 

I’m going to look for some and post them in a bit. I’m trying to get more pics up of the tire machine and balancer and the tires on the car but the files are too big?!?

 

I’ll see if I can resize them but the tires I took off were brand new and never rolled over once since pop put them on there in 2012. They still have all the flashing and tits on the tread. So basically I had to toss a brand new set of tires that were dry rotted from sitting around under the carport

 

Dad wouldn’t mind dual carbs and dual exhaust, would he?

 

Oh…….. that is the next thing I’m going to be doing along with disc brakes and new GM style master cylinder.

 

I can't believe how nice the Korean-era chrome is! Always love shuboxes and had prolly 5-6 of them.

 

Oh all of it has been rechromed eons ago and dad used a lot of NOS parts when he did it. But we had some of the grill stuff that was bought though the years with the shellac that Ford put on them and was a buggar to get off

 

Here it is with the new shoes!! I really like it without skirts and kinda dig the trim ring only look but obviously I need to repaint them along with the car since the paint is past saving and was shot 35 years ago by my dad and I in the garage. Single stage without hardner and was the first car we ever painted

 

And the disc brake setup that will be installed when it’s a tad warmer outside…….. Oh yeah the new front springs (2” drop) are under the calipers

 

Dual exhaust for sure but not sure on the multiple carb thing. Every hot rod I have ever had has always had multiple carburetors so with the other updates I’m going to do I think a single carb is the way to go

 

Given it's condition and history, I'd keep it close to original.

 

My dad and I knew a guy that inherited his family’s 32 Phaeton that was bought new and built a gorgeous street rod out of it keeping with the restorod theme. I think that’s the way I’m gonna go keeping the same color, almost all the chrome (I love the grille and trunk guards) get it a bit lower with a rake, and leave the interior alone (LeBarron Bonney). Do a 12volt conversion add A/C and drive the hell out of it.

 

Looks like it did when your dad had it on the outside except for stance with upgrade mechanical safety and comfort pieces (Brakes and AC) keeps the extended family happy and gives something that you can drive further than the DQ and enjoy the trip.

 

X2. Blocks in the back
Drop springs in front.

 

Awesome car and great story

 

Great story, glad you are able to keep the car in the family!

 

Both. Just more drop in the rear

 

Lol

 

Definitely not a bad heirloom. Coolest thing I ever inherited was a vintage rc cola cooler from my stepmom.....and that was cool itself it doesn't compare to a clean shoebox with personal history

 

I’m putting the Aerostar springs on the front and I want to get a set of new rear springs with probably a 2” drop so it will be lower but still have a hot rod stance. My last ‘51 I built I dropped it 5” in the back and 3” in the front and it drove and handled great but was a bear to adjust the rear shoes and I can still hear my dad saying that there’s no way he would ever do that Plus I had to drive it up on boards to get my floor jack under it.

 

Now that is a cool thing to inherit! If I ever can find a Pepsi cooler that isn’t all rusted up I’m all over it.

 

I offer this up for consideration. I know the tires are bought. Pretty popular car locally. I think the wheels are kosher.