History Searching 4 clues, '33 Ford coupe, USMC, El Toro, CA, Chicago...

Update: The 1st and 2nd pictures above are from the Hot Rod Revolution in Austin, TX, 2010. The 3rd and 4th pictures are from 1952-53 on the base at US Marine Corps Air Station, El Toro, CA, and was recently contributed in a post here by the daughters of the former owner, Cpl. Richard Boudnek. They remember playing in the car as kids and found this post thanks to a distant cousin of theirs who was searching the internet for information on her own grandfather. At first their cousin, Angela, thought this car was her own grandfather's car, who is also named Richard Boudnek and was also a car guy, but after correspondence and research she discovered he had a cousin of the same name. She made a connection with her distant cousin, Leslie, who knew the car and who has now led me to Carol and Nancy, the daughters of the right Richard Boudnek that was the previous owner of this '33. Carol has posted and shared a few pictures and some memories and Nancy has just contacted me and provided me with some additional pictures. The story is continuing to unfold here on the h.a.m.b..

This '33 5W is in the condition it has been in since 1953 or earlier. It is not a radical hot rod, but was treated to common upgrades of the period with a '40 flathead, '40 brakes and wheels, and a '36 trans. A 1953 or so Ford pedal assy. and master cylinder were attached to the firewall and steering column. The master cylinder was bolted to the pedal bracket with the firewall sandwiched in between so it still thought it was in a '53 Ford. The '53 swinging clutch pedal had a rod that went through the wood floorboard and connected to the top of the cut-off stock '33 clutch pedal underneath which still pivots on the '33 bracket and operates the '36 throwout fork as normal.

The thing that interests me about it is that it holds so many clues to someone's life, as they all do, I guess. If they could only talk! As a guy who appreciates our military, those who have served, and our military history, I'm captivated by the fact that this particular someone was a US Marine serving at Marine Corps Air Station, El Toro, CA, at least around 1953-54.





A couple of documents came with the car, including the 1953 California pink slip title and the 1953 and '54 registration receipts. It has 1951 California plates with a little white 1953 corner tab over the year for the 1953 registration, which also has a number on it that is printed on the title as "tab number".

Also included were two envelopes that fit the registration receipts. They were both mailed from the CA DMV in Sacramento, posted DEC 26, 1953, 3 cents postage stamp. One of them is stamped on the back as received DEC 28, 1953, "CO SOS-1, U.S.M.C.A.S. El Toro, CA". The other one is stamped on the back as received DEC 28, 1953, "Santa Ana, CA, MARINE CORPS AIR STA." and it has another stamp next to it "U.S. NAVY, DEC 29, P.M., 1953, UNIT 1" and one other stamp with only the date DEC 30, 1953. On the front of this one is a separate printing of "SOS-1 CRASH CREW" which is circled in pencil and a written date of 12-28-53 along with the initials D.S., and then just below in hand print "MABS15", "MAG15", 12-28-53, and initials that appear to be CNP.

Update: Here's a picture of the owner, Cpl. Richard Boudnek, in front of SOS-1. This picture was contributed by his daughter, Carol.



The address on the title and registration is printed as "SOS-1 Crash Crew, El Toro". The California title and registration show the car as first sold in March of 1933. I'm surprised it would have that info, unless maybe the car was originally sold in California? I've heard they have good title records. According to the serial number it was produced in February of 1933, so it didn't sit in the dealer's showroom very long.

I did a google search on the previous owner's name and found him in his squadron picture at El Toro in 1953. He's listed in the picture as Corporal Richard Boudnek. I learned there that SOS stands for Station Operations Squadron. I'm guessing that Crash Crew means he may have been in a crew that responded to aviation crashes?





The car has a neat old USMC sticker in the rear window along with a 1953 NASCAR sticker and a Farragut High School sticker. It has a Balboa, CA sticker in one quarter window and a Newport CA sticker with a character named "The Skipper" in the other quarter window. Farragut was a naval hero of the Civil War and the first Naval officer to rise to the rank of Admiral in the US Navy. The original Farragut School was a primary school which opened in Chicago in 1894. It evolved over the years into a junior high school and then finally to a senior high school in, coincidentally, 1933.





The Farragut sticker contains the image of some kind of sailing vessel, the Balboa sticker contains the image of a sailboat, and the Newport sticker has "The Skipper". I guess the guy was into sailing, that's cool. Under the seat there's a big pile of sand and there's a small hitch bolted to the rear bumper, like maybe the guy pulled a small sailboat down on the beach (back when you could drive on them) on his days off and went sailing.





The 1953 NASCAR sticker is really cool so we know he was a car guy! It's got an old Philco radio bolted into a precise-fitting hole in the dash and there's an old antenna bolted to the driver's side cowl.





The odometer reads around 81,000 miles. There's an old Veedol sticker in the door jamb that shows an oil change at around 67,487 miles on Sept. 4, 1952, at Bill Gasper Associated Service in Long Beach, CA. The address is on there, I've attached a picture of it. The sticker is on top of the green paint, so I know it was painted prior to that.





The car also came with an old leather folding key pouch. An original key to the car is in it, a key to the locking gas cap, an old skeleton key and, the coolest part, a P-38 military-issue can opener that is dated 1951.





The car itself is in really good, well-used condition. It has one repaint of green over the original black underneath that shows in places. There's one fender break that's been welded and covered in a military green paint that leads me to believe it was done on the base. The stock headliner and kick panels are in the car but the door panels, front seat and rumble seat have all been covered over in red oxblood vinyl, I guess, plain and smooth, no pleats, but a little off-white piping. The top insert has been filled with a piece of sheetmetal that was leaded in after the green paint job as it is in primer.





I've tried to research the previous owner but haven't found much. I found a death notice in the Chicago Tribune in 2009 for someone of the same name, aged 84, from Berwyn, IL, but it doesn't mention anything about military service. I found a home listed as owned by someone of the same name in Marquette Park, IL, in 1996.

Anyway, that's what I've found about him so far. If anyone has any other info that relates to this car, the Long Beach service station, any of the stickers or this marine who owned it, I'd certainly appreciate hearing it.

Since I've become the current caretaker, I have just gone through the mechanicals to get it running again. My first time to show it off was at the Revolution, here in Austin a few weeks back. I put a set of 3.54s in the rearend when I rebuilt it so it's highway ready. It's running good, got my TXTAG on it today, and it seems ready to hit the road once again.

 

WOW.....what an interesting story, love this car and the decals are AWESOME! I live only a few miles from Long Beach Ca, I'll try to find more info on the gas station. Where did you find the car? HAVE FUN!.

 

Thanks. I got the car from a '33-'34 guy in Wisconsin. I'll try to take a picture of the Veedol sticker and post the address of the station. It's been a blast so far!

 

I have to second that WOW....to imagine that the glass hasnt been touched in all that time is in itself insane..cool that you got the old docs to work with too...good luck on your search...

 

Randy,
that car is sure bitchin! I talked to you with your 3W in Austin last year, sure wish I could have seen this coupe as well...I love 33/34 Fords

 

Thanks Chris,

I just got this car this past summer, so didn't have it when you were here. I like your 33/34 Fords as well! Love the shots of your truck in the snow! Randy

 

That car is friggin' awsome !

 

awesome hot rod with really cool history

 

incredible car and story,doesnt get much better.

 

Sweet Jesus thats one nice car.

 

Now that's what is called provenance. Amazing....

 

Awesome find, congrats!

Farragut HS is still operating, west side of Chicago, just east of Cicero city limits. I don't know if they would have student records going back that far, but by the obituary Richard Boudnek would have graduated from there either class of '43 or class of '44. Back then the west side of Chicago would have been largely Polish / Czech / German which would be consistent with a name like Boudnek.

 

By the way, the Farragut High sticker refers to the school nickname, the Admirals.

 

I got goosebumps

 

killer...

 

I Have a Marine friend with an excellent memory that was at El Toro during that time frame. I was later, 1969-70. back soon....

 

Man, that is a cool piece of history. Talk about a car that needs to be preserved as is! I hope you are able to track down a relative of the owner, that would be very cool

It's so refreshing to see a thread like this, instead of the hundreds arguing over what is or isn't traditional, How much is my crap worth, why do people say stupid things about my car, or I hate such and such vendor. This thread is what the HAMB should be all about!

 

Please keep digging and posting. Great car and story, Thanks

 

amen x 10.

 

all i can say is wow! as said before what a piece of history! did the guy from wisc. have any info where he got it from? what a find you have. i tracked down the owner on a sedan delivery i owned a few years back and we had a good relationship back and forth on the phone back until he passed. should would be kool to get all the history. let us know please if you find out more.

 

Wow! Neat car and neat history.

My dad grew up in Long Beach in the 40's/50's...can you post the address of the station? I can see what he knows.

Neal

 

Great post....awesome story....killer car!

 

^ This

The car is pretty incredible, but I'm sure you know that by now.

 

Thanks, I'd appreciate anything you can find out. I've attached a picture of the sticker. The first number on the address is hard to make out and I'm not sure it's "100", but it's something like: "Bill Gasper Associated Service, 100 E. 10th St. & Olive Ave., Long Beach 13, CA, Phone: LB 70-9236"

 

Thanks for the info Mike. I may write them to see what kind of records they have.

 

I bought a MCAS El Toro 1953 Yearbook online and just got it in the mail today. It's got a picture of the previous owner with his squadron, the same picture that I found online. He was definitely on a fire response squadron as the picture is taken in front of some serious fire trucks.

There's lots of old cars in the background of some of the pics, but didn't see the '33, wishful thinking! There were some F4U Corsairs there, which is cool to see.

There is one picture showing maneuvers that has a picture of a fire response crew putting out a fire. The caption reads:

"Asbestos-clad Leathernecks close in on the source of a fire during a "dummy" run at the Marine Corps Air Station. Practices are held weekly under actual conditions. A strip-down fuselage of an obsolete aircraft is saturated with high octane gasoline, ignited and the crash crew combats the flames."

Keyword being "Asbestos-clad". Geesh, makes you think!

This Yearbook is also for MCAF-Santa Ana and I know some of the postal correspondence with the car was stamped Santa Ana. I haven't looked at a map yet, but I guess Santa Ana is right there? Is that the same Santa Ana as in the dragstrip? I was reading Ryan's post about the Santa Ana Drags opening in 1950. I'd love to find a picture of this '33 in the background somewhere of the drags. You know this guy would have been there!

 

Pretty amazing story.

 

Great car and history. Enjoyed seeing it at the Revolution. As said in by hotroddon, this is what the HAMB should be all about!

 

Opened in 1942 MCAS Santa Ana, was originally NAS Santa Ana and decommissioned in 1949. Renamed MCAS-Santa Ana, it reopened in 51. Later it was renamed again, MCAS Tustin.
It is the world famous Blimp Hangar base, closed in 1999. In 1993, the blimp hangars were designated National Civil Engineering Landmarks by the American Society of Civil Engineers. There have been talks regarding making one of the blimps a military museum. it is also the area of great controversy over the development of The Great Park. The area is used of a lot of TV commercials (and the Ken Block Subaru rally video) as well as regular Autocross races.
It is not the area where the infamous Santa Ana Drags were, that 's about 5 miles south where John Wayne Airport now is.

El Toro was a seperate base a couple of miles East of Santa Ana/Tustin

 

Thanks for sharing this great story. Thanks for appreciating the history of this car and its owner enough to keep digging. Finding a relative (or even the owner himself) would be just amazing adjunct to the provenance you already have. How amazing that so much of what was part of his life is still intact - key fob with OEM keys, stickers, etc.

Keep us posted - this is a REAL story.

dj