Projects 1948 F1 rattle can rebuild

me too; except phillips 66 and around 1966...

 

Sorry for my 'build thread' turning into 'my life' thread. I'll get going on car stuff in a month or so. It was 50 degrees here today but pouring buckets. I see some daffodils starting to poke out of the dirt though.

zot, I 'picked' my house yesterday. Making room for Mom's china cabinets. Took out a Maple carpenter's bench I bought at a garage sale 30 years ago for $10 or $20.



It had a glass top on it and we used it for a catch-all / mail / phone desk. Under the glass was our concert tickets from over the years. It was fun looking at 'em and remembering the times....


Anyways, bench had a brass tag reading "The Christiansen Co. Chicago Ill"

I poke around the 'net and find it's from about 1920. Surprise, first similar one I find sold for $675. Found them from $300 poor conditon to $2500 with designer approved patina.

Pre-internet, it looked like a 100 dollar bench to me.


I added the lower shelf but it's just sitting in there.

Also on a good note...
Got 3 china cabinets moved out of the garage and into the house. Gave away Mom's nice ol' Sony 250 pound console TV. Had to throw in a DVD player to sweeten the deal. Tree hugger, granola eating, dreadlock guy that picked it up says "Yea man, the old ones don't give off radiation like the new ones"

I tell him... "OK"...."Hope you ate your trail mix, cuz we gotta' lift this sucker into your Subaru now"


I've got almost 1/2 a garage back!

 

Cool! Time for more canned ham work!

 

Life certainly throws us "curve balls", now and then. Sounds as though you are dealing
with this one as well as one can. (Your b-i-l will get his just reward in the end....)

Have to say, your "rattle can rebuild" is hot rodding ingenuity at its finest. Case-in-point is your interior make-over; well done! With low budget builds, necessity is the mother of invention...

Thanks, again, for all the vintage photos you have contributed. Always enjoy going through them.

 

Hope to see some progress soon.

 

Some of the most enjoyable build threads digress into a lot of different areas and subjects, this one is no exception. I always look forward to posts on this thread because it is so much fun to follow along.

You have done right by the MIL, and your theiving BIL will get his. From the sounds of it he can't keep his life afloat anyway, so once the well runs dry on this latest scam of his he will be living under a bridge somewhere.

Keep up the good work and something will break for you in the employment area soon. Good things do happen to good people.

Don

 

Lowkat, nothin wrong with a guy who gets married in a el camino. Goes to show, cool is something you're born with. Hope you get better. From the looks of it, you could give american restoration a run for his money too.

 

Yea, yea, yea... you guys are slave drivers....

I was out in the hamb can today looking at stuff to do. Nothing exciting, reinstall the ice box but I've been hoping (and looking) to find a blue, red, yellow or not brown stove so I could paint the ice box to match. Need to paint the mirror frame and put it back on the closet door. Rehang the towel bars and paper towel rack. Wiring is on the list but I need drier weather.

I'm lucky Mrs. Lowkat still thinks so too....

Before marriage we were "dragging Broadway" in the El Camino. Racing a Super Bee, powershifted 2nd gear and pulled the T-handle off the shifter. Hit Lisa in the chest so hard with my elbow it knocked the wind out of her.

Well, on that note......
Stopped at my grouchy old friend Dave's a while back but he wasn't home.

This guy is a hardcore gearhead, biker, kustomizer, drag racer, engine builder from way back. You never know what will be at his shop. He has a customer's VERY COOL '38 COE coming in for paint soon, hoping to catch it there.

Next time, I'll snap some pictures of his project stuff since he's one that would never "show off". Dave turns out show quality work from a pretty messy ol' garage. You can see over the back of my F1 is his Navy gray 1958 GMC 1 ton shop truck, w/multi-carb Jimmy big 6 and Hydro.

Behind that is a '48 Ford F4.
Won't tell me his plan yet but showed me a completely chromed axle, backing plates and drums he has stashed.



Had a DeSoto hemi'd 1928 closed cab p/u in the works but sold before completion.

He used to paint many cars but burned out and instead has been building old school looking engines to sell. I sold him some smooth SBC fueler heads he put on a nasty 406 roller motor that looks 283. Also sold him a 4cyl Mercruiser (Chevy Nova) engine but I haven't seen it yet. I think he's modifing the marine intake to a sidedraft. He has a couple souped up 235 Chevies in inventory and a few other flavors in the works.

Also working on his 40's Harley that looks "track style". Simple but way cool.

Last time there I spotted these old San Diego Prowlers photos in his shop.

 

A sad sight the other day, I saw a 48-50 F series truck in scrap hauler on I-5 in Portland. I can understand why someone scrapped it. It looked like it could have been in fairly good shape before it was loaded but I could tell what F series it was.
There were a couple of "newer, almost HAMB friendly" trucks underneath it.
I can't understand why people do this.

 

Scrap is $250+ a ton right now, so a complete old truck would bring nearly 500 bucks in scrap. Old farmers and such don't realize the 'rod potential' but do understand tonnage. If you really want to be sad, go sit down by R.S. Davis in Clackamas for a while and watch what goes in.

Some people don't care about old stuff, my MIL for example. She's always asking me "why do you keep that old thing?" pointing at 1/2 the items in and around my house. I'll say "I like it" and she'll reply "then why don't you make it look like new" (because I like stuff 'as found')

 

Had a search on the The Christiansen Co bench. Nice piece. Noted add in 1907 Popular Mechanics $8.00. A lot of money then. Also saw the bench that went for $2,300 recently. If they are like yours, the guys on that woodworking forum would be jump'n all over it.
Suggest Some signage on the rattle can express 'Junkers & pickers' save some of that old tin from turning into some form of generic chinese disposable mode of transport.
Cheers Zot

 

Wow thats taking it to a whole nother level......... I could not treat my mom that way and could not let anyone else do it..... your a good guy....

 

Looks like things are doing better for ya. Hope all is well. Neat table by the way. Don't know anything about'em but they look cool. Sorta funny about the TV. My aunt has an old GE her and my uncle got from the power company many moons ago. She made payments on it and beleive it or not that old floor model is still kicking out the channels. That thing is or has to be 30 years old or so. Maybe older. Still going. It's her only TV. Thank God it has wheels.

 

My opinion? NEVER apologize for voicing your problems to friends. Yeah, ok so we've never met each other, so what. I like to think we're like a bunch of guys that live in houses spread all over a single neighborhood. We see each other's projects when our garage doors are open, we stop by to say hi or compliment one another or offer a hand. We rag on each other for being fat or bald , a damn Republican or a damn Democrat, but we're still friendly acquaintances. I kept coming to your garage (thread) to see your F1 and your canned ham. The rest just goes with the territory.

 

Yeah, I agree with Dan! We're all in the neighborhood.

 

Yep Dan, well put. That's why the HAMB is what it is and always will be.

 

Jeeez, more bad news. A few posts back I mentioned my friend Grouchy Dave and all of his cool projects. Heard from his daughter a couple days later that Dave had a massive heart attack.

He was in ICU for a few days and is not doing well.


On a better note.....

I was on YouTube looking at 1960's drag races and early Corvette stuff.
Over the years I owned a couple older Corvettes so I like historical Vette stuff.
Found a great video of the 1957 Corvette SS being built.


<EMBED height=360 type=application/x-shockwave-flash width=640 src= allowScriptAccess="always" allowfullscreen="true">

So I notice another video of the 241st Corvette built.
That peaks my interest.........

It's a sales video for a restored Bloomington Gold 1954 Corvette serial
#241. I bought that car in 1982 and sold it in 1989. The sales pitch says
it was restored in 1990. I trace the video to a classic car lot and discover
the car had been sold.

I email them that I have information to pass along to the new owner and
get a reply that they don't have any contact information for the new
owner who lives out of the country but I could send it to them and they'd
pass it along if they found the contact info.... I didn't give them anything
as they probably wouldn't want the owner to know the truth.

You don't need to watch the video but thought I'd include it.

<EMBED height=360 type=application/x-shockwave-flash width=640 src= allowfullscreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always">


Here's a picture of E54S001241 as last sold.



I bought it as a rolling chassis with a stripped body shell that was lightly
wrecked on the driver's fender. Then bought a wrecked parts car and
many other parts over the next few years and started putting it back
together. My plan was not restoration and involved a BBC and a Muncie.

Anyways life got in the way and I sold it in 1989 before moving back to Oregon.

This car's frame was originally stamped serial #239 then must have been
pulled off the assembly line. The #E54S001239 was XXX'd out by hand then
factory restamped with #E54S001241.

My pre-asshole B-I-L from earlier in this thread owned '54 Vette serial
#240 a few years before I bought #241 but we didn't have them during
the same time period.

Kinda funny, my car was before AND after his on the assembly line.

Here's a 1982 pic in Palm Springs of some parts used to to put #241 back together.
The El Camino next to my Jimmy was full too.



On a sad note, I sold the the rear clip in the Jimmy at Pomona a couple
months later and it ended up as a couch in an upscale Hollywood furniture store.
I ended up selling the same guy a dozen classic rear clips over the next few months but
that's back when 4 door cars were parts cars.

Oh and some good news, I may have a turquoise stove lined up for the camper.
We'll see how that pans out.....

Also sold an extra dining room table and chairs set.
That's one more step closer to me having my garage back.

 

good news on making more room in the garage. Sorry about your buddy, hope things turn around for him.

 

Got some great job news.

Looks like I have an interview next week at a well known, reputable classic parts retailer. I'm not exactly sure about the job description yet. It would be cool to have an enjoyable job and make some money too. I'm excited!


A few days ago, I sold my Model A.

It went to the Seattle area and the kid was really stoked. I told him the HAMB was a great school and he'll probably be here since this is his first old car. He is hoping to have it driving by September for his wedding but wasn't sure what his plan is yet.




Got more 'house' things out of the garage and I'll probably have my space back in a couple weeks.

Told my M-I-L as soon as my truck is back in the garage, she can park her car in the DRY carport. That put a little fire under her.

 

Good luck with the job interview Mark! Glad you're getting your garage back too.

 

Good luck Mark.

 

Talking about a hippie kid.. we both know I saw that Arlo Guthrie Ticket on top of that ticket pile... or maybe it was that letter underneath that pile of garbage?

Love the truck and your a good man.

 

Good luck Mark!
Hope all goes well at the interview!

 

lOW kAT---YOU--Are one of the reasons I absolutely LOVE the HAMB. REAL people, that I share so many interests with. REAL honesty about the day to day crap, and day to day good things in our lives. I just wish I lived some where near OREEGONE, some of the stuff you have for sale interests me. I'm sure your job situation will turn around soon, and I'm looking forward to the follow ups on the F1 and the canned HAMB. BILL RINALDI

 

just found this thread and what a great and fun build. keep it up!

 

Thanks for the good wishes guys.
I have a good feeling about this job interview.

That Arlo Guthrie concert was the best. Arlo and his guitar with nobody else. It was about 1973, before he had gray hair. Was at the Paramount Theater in Portland. We were third or fourth row seats. I think tickets were $3.50 or $4.50

Yea' I was kind of a hippie dude back in the 70's but never had a VW van. My van was an early 60's Econoline with a 302 V8 and a 4 speed. Jacked up with 14X10 Cragars out back and skinnies up front. The hippie part was a mural of Robert Crumb's "Keep On Truckin" guys on the side.

If anybody has a yellow windowless '61 Econoline with a V8 and a 4 speed on the column from Oregon, contact me, I have history for you.

Never took a picture of that rig........

 

Good luck with the interview, hope you get it!

 

Another good luck wish for ya. I've been without a job for 2 years now- I wish I could get an interview...

 

sold my extra F1 last night