The other day I was visiting my older sister and found out she had a couple of very old family photo albums that I didn't even know existed and in one of them it had a couple of photos that really Jarred my memory . When I was in my late teens I got really interested in hot rods and used to buy every magazine I could find that covered some really cool cars. I got hooked to the point where I was able to convince my father to let me have one of the bays in our two car garage to play around with some old cars. I had a 50 Chevy Fleetline and after that a 39 Chevy coupe that I put a Dodge Hemi in and I could go on but let me get to the heart of my story. In 1969 I got drafted and went to Vietnam and spent a couple of years away from home but I often received the latest hot rod magazines sent from home. I vowed that when I got home I would try to find a 30s five widow ford coupe to play around with as they were the trendy thing in my area to turn into a hot rod. A couple of years after I got home from my tour of duty I had gotten a good job at a local speed shop I decided it was time to find a new project . After a lot of searching around I saw a really nice conditioned 32 Chevy 5 coupe while driving through a neighboring town late one evening parked in a gas station. I went in and talked to the owner and ended up buying the car on the spot with owner of the gas station agreeing use his dealer plate to following me home with it as long as I would give him a ride back to the station. I knew that my father probably wouldn't be too happy having another car sitting in the driveway but I just couldn't pass it up. By the time I got the car home it was late at night and my parents were already in bed so I had to break the news to my father the following morning when I told my father to follow me out to the front of the garage because I wanted to show him something. I figured that when he saw the 32 parked in the driveway he wouldn't be too happy but to my surprise he started smiling from ear to ear. He said wow I had a car just like that. That's all I knew about the car until I found the two photos in the above mentioned album. They were taken in 1935 when my older sister was 3 month old and my parents took the 32 Chevy to my father's old home in Canada to show their new daughter to her grandparents. I'd love to hear any stories that you guys might have about you family history of cars back in the day. The first to pictures are of my parents with my sister when they made the trip to Canada to visit my fathers parents. The second picture is of me and my wife with my stock 32 that I had owned for a few years and enjoyed driving around the local area at the time and the third picture is after I made a number of changes to make the car more able to deal with modern traffic conditions and that I still enjoy driving to this day. I've owned this car longer than any other from 1972 until present time.
What a cool story! Thanks for sharing! I can imagine the shock you had when your dad responded the way he did.
When I came home with a different car I usually got a fist upside my head. Those Chevys are beautiful cars!
Thanks for the complements guys. Turn out that I'm only the second owner of my 32. The car was purchased new by the grandfather of the guy who was selling it. He said he took shop class in school and decided that he wanted to become a body man and his grandfather was no longer able to drive so the car was put away in a barn. It was in great shape except for a few dings and needing a complete paint job. The grandson told his grandfather that he wanted to practice body work and painting and that when it was done he would try to sell it for him and he agreed. What you see in the early photo of the car in black is the result of his work. After doing some research using the body plate I found out that the original color was what you see on it now in the last picture which is Bordeaux maroon and black in the exact color combo that it's painted now. The original factory paint even had pinstriping and looked great to the point where it earned the name "Baby Cadillac" when it was introduced back in the day so I figured I'd try to stay with the stock color combo from back in the day but everything else is updated to make it a real fun car to drive.
Wow, great story and cool ride! You should take one of your photos over to the photoshop thread and ask what it would like with a nasty chop and flames.
Hey Moose, Your story is one of admiration. Great memory. So, as one that was called on for proper paragraphs and punctuation from the time of English Classes in high school and here on the HAMB, I have learned to correct my own stuff many times prior to posting or sending it to someone. I have made your story as clear as possible. Now, everyone reading can see the facts as related to your family and hot rod. Hope you do not mind. The presentation deserves a clarity, so we can all enjoy your story. You do so much for everyone here on the HAMB. Thank you, Jnaki NICE...
Thanks for posting this. I've often thought about asking if there was an old photo thread. I found a bunch of my Mom's family pics with their cars. Most are wooden spoked touring cars. One is of a Rodeo in a flat at the bottom of a cliff. The whole top of the cliff is lined with mostly wooden spoke cars. Then I have a good one of her with her drop top D odge. I'm thinking it was a 41, but haven't looked at the pic in years. is it OK to add them to this thread?
Hey @themoose That is indeed a great story and an incredible piece of history, of your very cool 32 Chevy 5 window coupe! Thanks for sharing.
Moose, thanks for sharing your story. A good one. I can relate to Dad not real happy when the son drags home another old car as I've also done that.
A guy I knew growing up (actually a relative somewhere in my wife's family) has owned a 32 Chevy coupe painted the same way. He still has the car to the best of my knowledge. Curiously, he's owned the car for about the same amount of time.
I spend a lot of time on the good old Photoshop thread and I have the tools on my computer to make the mods you suggested and of course I did give it a try but I guess I've owned it for so long I like best as is.
Great looking car, even better now that we know some of the back history. Great way to start off the new year! I had a small box inside a shoebox that was filled with family photos and a few from WWII. Here is Dad working on the attached garage on the house he was building. The 1941 Plymouth he bought new is in the garage, it would be my very first ride in December of 1950. The garage would go on to house every car and project I ever owned up till 1978. Note: Just noticed the wood curl on the plane, boy does that bring great memories of watching Dad do carpentry work.
Since you asked about pics in our own families as well... After I bought my 56, my dad sent me this picture of my grandma standing behind her 55. I thought is was pretty cool to be driving basically the same car that my grandparents were driving in 57.
@guthriesmith That's a great picture and Grandma looks pretty happy with her 55 which if I'm figuring right is only 2 years old.
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