Folks Of Interest I bought Clarence 40 years ago (another update; 52 years)

"ok; here's the reader's digest version:"
Some of us need the big print version!

 

After paying the bills for the work that's being done in him this year I just might be homeless. Many of you folks have spent a LOT more than me, but many of you folks have a LOT more available.

I've slept in a lot worse places, although not in the last 40 years or so.

Yeah, me too

 

For anyone who's interested here's an update 3 years later.

You'll note that I said "After paying the bills for the work that's being done in him this year I just might be homeless" above. That was in 2018. That summer Ryan (Ryno on here) did quite a bit of work on Clarence. A lot of that work was necessitated by the Bonneville trips that rotted away a lot of the underpinnings/floor. When he was done Clarence was carted off to a body man/painter who was to repair the dings and paint it. It stayed there a year and a half with very little work being performed. That body man will remain unnamed; some of you may know him and while I'm not happy with him I won't bad mouth him by name. I retrieved Clarence in February 2020 before Covid hit. I then made arrangements for another body man/painter to start working on it to start in August 2020. Month by month he kept getting behind and I finally took it to him on August 5 of this year (2021). I've seen the results of this man's work and it's exquisite. I'm willing to wait. So if you're doing the math in your head you'll realize that it's been 3 years since Ryno finished his part and it's just now getting body/paint. That's 3 years of frustrated waiting. However, I'm hoping to be driving him next spring or summer. When the body/paint work is done he'll go back to Ryno for additional work. Ryno had modified the dash, doors, and other areas for (and installed) new S-W round gauges, Vintage Air, door latches, and some other items. All of this was removed before being sent to paint. After paint all of that stuff gets put back in. Then it's off to glass and upholstery. Yahoo.

If we have Clarence back next year be looking for us 'cause we'll be driving the wheels off of it for a long while. We have a number of long trips planned in our heads that we've been putting off 'til we can use Clarence for them. From New England to Key West to the Pacific Ocean and all points in between. Hopefully there will be a hamb drags next year and if there is we'll be there in Clarence if we have it back by then. If you see a 1948 Ford panel truck with a 5" chop wearing Washington Blue paint wave or pull us over to chat. And, oh yeah, if we can find the right one we'll be pulling a vintage canned ham trailer.

 

I've been wondering what was going on with Clarence. I saw it at Ryno's place when he had it. I was hopping it was finished by now. Unfortunately this stuff happens a lot. The cars just sit in a shop for whatever reason (sometimes it's not the shops fault). Hope to see you next year.

 

Yeah; I'm responding to a 3 year old post.

Danny, I have spent quite a few nights in Clarence. Some of them at "the bend in the road", some camping with friends (usually in conjunction with canoe trips), and some at car shows.

As for pix:

Bonneville 1998 (with BenD)


Bonneville 2003 (in the 1st pic that's me in the pith helmet and BenD in the sandals; 2nd pic is Big Olds and Clarence)


2003 H.A.M.B Drags (just a few days after the Bonneville pix above; 1st pic is my avatar and 2nd is hrlc smokin' me)



2006 SK-500


There's something wonky about the pixels in the avatar pic that make the grill bars look crooked. In all the other pix you can see that they really are perfectly straight.

You'll notice that in '98 he was black (basecoat with no clearcoat) and in '03 he's white. Some time in between I was sitting at Sonic with Johnny/Nancy and T.L./Candy on a warm Friday evening. The next day Johnny and T.L and I were going to go to the new drag strip at Gateway International (St. Louis) to watch the "gasser reunion". The weather forecast was for "hot and sunny." Someone wondered out loud if there was something we could do that wasn't so hot as sitting on brand new aluminum bleachers in the heat/sun. At which one of the guys said "let's paint Clarence white so it won't be so miserably hot riding in it." Johnny said "I know where Bill and Sue (names changed) keep a key to their body shop and they are in KC this weekend with their children doing the soapbox derby thing. We can use their paint booth and they will never know we were there." Early the next morning we 3 met at the aforementioned body shop. We had to roll a car out of the paint booth. While Johnny and T.L. did a 15 minute scuff and tape job I went downtown to a parts store that sold paint and bought the cheapest gallon of white enamel that they had. $99 iirc. When I got back we started filling the paint gun and Johnny (because he was the best painter of us all) started going around and around Clarence until the gallon was gone. The next day I drove 20 miles (+/-) to a nearby town to their annual car show. You could smell the new paint for blocks away. And that's how Clarence went from quite miserably hot to merely quite hot when driving in the summertime.

Once when Clarence was still black I was at one of the R&C Americruises (I went to the first 11 of them) in Lincoln, Nebraska. As usual they had tour busses taking folks out to Speedy Bill's museum. As time to meet the bus was nearing the sky looked like it might rain while I was gone so I rolled the windows up and locked the doors. We hadn't cleared the fairgrounds when the sun came out and shined very brightly the whole several hours I was gone. Upon returning I opened the back doors to let the heat out. This was back in the days before "stick" chairs so I had one of those aluminum folding chairs with woven plastic webbing in the back of Clarence. It was set up and there was a 1/2" wrench laying in the seat. I was going to move the wrench and get the chair out. The wrench burned my hand. I don't know how hot that had to be but I can tell you that it was pretty danged hot inside Clarence. That's why one of my friends, who had ridden with me to the Americruise in Peoria, Illinois, called Clarence the "easy bake oven."

I think that the 2006 pic was the now famous (infamous???) hazardous spill episode. With the rubber rake and the actual slope of the parking space Clarence was pointing downhill. That day (I swear that it hadn't happened before) the 1948 steel fuel like between the tank and engine developed a small split. You couldn't even see it dripping, but during the several hours it was parked there quite a stream of gasoline had leaked and run down the street. It wasn't noticeable parked at the hotel or driving to or from Dewey. Apparently it only happened when the front was quite a bit lower than the back. This became obvious when I got home and jacked up the rear to check something and gas started running down the driveway. Micky (@straykatkustoms on here) told me later that after I left the fire department came to the scene and did a hazardous material cleanup. I think that the city fathers might have given me a stern tongue lashing if they had known who spilled the gas. Anyway, I replaced that section of fuel line (it has now been totally replaced with new) when I spotted it leaking. Mickey now has the offending section of fuel line for use in a future trophy or other display.

Well, that's about enough for now.

 

amazing bio of your adventures...Clarence is a modern day Huck Finn...now if you can only get him to get the neighbors to paint fences .....

 

Kerry, you'll be happy to hear that the original 1948 Ford taillights have been replaced with new reproduction '50 Pontiac taillights. When he comes back from the painter's I'll be replacing the bulbs with LED's. Everyone behind me will now be able to see us.

 

b-t-w; @themoose photoshopped Washington Blue onto Clarence in 2018 about the time he was headed to the first painter's shop. First is with the ET's that I've used for the last 30 years or so; the 2nd is with steelies/caps/trim rings.



I don't know what color I'll paint the steelies but I've replaced the mags with white steelies for the time being. You can get centers that look like late 40's Ford wheels with whatever rims you want on them. I'm thinking that's the route I'll go with somewhat narrow tires and '41 Ford caps & rings.

Bolt circle is 5 on 4 1/2" all around. If someone has a better idea I'm all ears.

 

Some "in progress" pix. If you've followed along you'll remember that in post #33 I mentioned Clarence went to a body man roughly 3 1/2 years ago. About all he got done was stripping it to bare metal and it stayed that way for 3 years. That necessitated media blasting the entire body before any further bodywork could be performed. The white/creme color you're seeing herein is a skim coat of filler. What looks like a big hole in the side (next to fella's head) is a new gas filler door. This was necessitated by replacing the original gas tank between the driveshaft and the frame with a new one behind the rear axle and between the frame rails. These pix are a couple of months old and a lot has been done since then, but I don't have newer photos.

 

Early on in the thread it was asked if someone was going to be the ghost writer, I gotta tell you, I enjoyed your version for the past 45 minutes of reading. From the view at Pikes Peak, the sleeping arrangements in the cabin, etc. my favorite was the guys with the smoking brakes. That reminded me of a joke or? about driving up to the Grand Canyon from across country, stopping at the rim for a minute or two and turning around and going home.
You don’t impress me as the type of fella who just wants to see it, you’d rather live it.

I’m looking forward to you getting Clarence back on the road!

 

I finally got Clarence back to my shop with Washington Blue paint. Now it'll go back to Ryno when he can work me in.

Below is what it looked like when it left the paint shop. @Kerry; look at those nice round holes in the back where the new (repop) '50 Pontiac taillights will be. With LED's you'll be able to see me from quite a ways back.

 

I like the paint!
It looks good.

 

Ol Clarence is sure looking good there atch can’t wait to see it in person

 

Fantastic story and truck.

 

It looks good! But dang Atch, just yesterday I could have swore the update said “now 48 years”.
Did I take a long nap?

 

Yep.

Well, actually no. Monday when I made my last update I edited the title to 49 years. Bought it in February of 1973.

 

@atch did you see this on the 40 anniversary page? Nice wheel choice.

 

Thanx man. Can you give me a link to the page or the title? I do like these and have/am considering them.

 

Here ya go, last page, 238
https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum...versary-event-for-the-40-ford.962971/page-238
They look like the wheels on my roadster, I got them here;
https://vintagewheelsus.com/

 

This month I'll have owned Clarence 50 years. I'm responding now 'cause I'll probably not remember on 2/23.

I wish I had new stories to tell, but he's been sitting in my shop for the last 10 months awaiting the call from Ryno telling me to bring him back to SWMO. Thus no new stories.

So I'll tell another old story.

I don't recall the year (probably late 1990's), but I and some other friends went to Back To The 50's in Saint Paul. There were about 4-5 cars in the group. Somewhere in Iowa we were on a 2-lane road and someone pulled into a roadside pull-off to take care of something. I'm pretty sure it wasn't very important, but that's beside the point. It was pouring cats and dogs and that IS important. You see I removed the front door handles and put solenoids in back in '92 when we chopped the top. The solenoids had long since quit working. The rear door handle was also removed, although the hole in the door skin was still there as well as the latch mechanism. I had bent a piece of 5/16" square rod into an "L" shape that went into the latch mechanism through that hole and allowed me to open the back door. That was the only key to get into Clarence if the door windows were rolled up. With the windows down you could reach in through the window opening and trip the latch. Note above that I said it was raining. Therefore, the windows were rolled up. Guess where my "key" was. You guessed it; laying in the passenger seat. Now picture me locked out of Clarence; getting more soaked by the second; and none of the other folks having any way to get into Clarence. Let me explain that in an emergency a very large screwdriver could be used to open the back door. The screwdriver had to be large enough to go pretty much corner-to-corner in the 5/16" square hole in the latch mechanism. I went over to the road and flagged down a semi and explained my situation to the driver. He was somewhat pissed as he thought we had a serious emergency. Well, to me it WAS a serious emergency. Anyway, he did dig out a large screwdriver and let me open the back door with it. As soon as I got home I made a "spare key" that I hid in the engine compartment. It is no longer needed as Ryno installed new solenoids on the front doors and one of the back doors; the back door no longer has the hole where the square rod could be used. I'll have to install some other emergency entrance mechanism though. Probably a choke type cable going to one of the door solenoids.

On to ST. P and BTT50's. A few miles before hitting Minneapolis/ST. P my brakes started getting squishy. If I pumped them they would work but the situation was somewhat discomforting. I got to the hotel I was staying at and went to bed. The next morning I got out the Minn/ST. P phone book and perused the yellow pages. This was before cell phones when phone books actually existed and had all the listings in them. Turns out that there was an "antique Ford parts house" listed. I called them and asked if they had a master cylinder or MC rebuild kit for a 1948 Ford F-1. They responded that they indeed had the rebuild kit and asked where I was staying. I told him. He then asked whether my room was on the front or rear of the hotel. Sounded a bit strange to me but I answered that I was on the front side of the hotel. He said "look out your window and you'll be looking right at us across the street." Whooda thunk it??? I walked over there and bought the rebuild kit, but had no way to do any work on it with the limited tools I had with me and absolutely no knowledge of how to rebuild a MC. So I limped over to the BTT50's show and proceeded to look for the Minnesota Street Rod Association set-up. Many of you know that they take (took???) a well-equipped trailer with them to some of the big shows to help those with break-downs. When I found them they told me that they could help and had all the tools I would need. Using their jack and jack stands I got Clarence up in the air enough to slide under. Taking out the MC was a piece-o-cake but that's where my "expertise" ended. With the MC up on their bench they walked me through the rebuild and bench bleed. Even someone no smarter than me could reinstall the MC and hook everything back up; which I did. That MC was still there until Ryno removed it to install a dual chamber MC.

On a side note, except for the Color Run in Quincy, my standard wardrobe for car shows is shorts and tank top tee shirts. Let me tell ya: in Minnesota you need a parka and lap blanket when the sun goes down. About the Early Tin Dusters Color Run in Quincy; it's held in mid-October. There are quite a few mid-west hot rods that have heaters in them just because of that show. I have driven home from there in snow. Clarence has not had a heater in it since shortly after I bought it in '73. When going to Quincy in October I have all of my cold weather motorcycle gear with me. Long johns; chaps; flannel lined jeans; multiple sweatshirts; heavy leather jacket; etc.

I mentioned somewhere above that in my group usually mechanical problems were limited to one person/car and usually that was the only trip that that person/car had problems. Unfortunately I had two breakdown trips.

The other was the Frog Follies fiasco. I was following Ed and Joan (mentioned above). I was cruising in my normal blissful state of semi-consciousness that I'm usually in when road tripping. BANG!!! Something sounded like someone had fired a 12 ga. shotgun right in my ear. That "something" was my front passenger tire blowing out and shredding, doing a significant number on the fender also. After a frantic "Mayday Mayday" into the CB mic Ed/Joan got off onto the shoulder and backed up to where I was. Usually a flat tire (even if it's a blowout) change isn't a big deal. However, the spare I carried had a smaller center opening than my MoPar front hub diameter. So I had to exchange the rear wheel/tire (8" Ford rear) with the spare. Then exchange the rear mag with the blown front wheel/tire. A new tire was procured in the next town and the reverse of the above procedure made everything all right again.

On that trip I heard something that sounded like a couple of rocks got thrown up off of the road and hit the bottom of Clarence so I pulled over to check it out. Ed/Joan also backed up to where I was. A couple of wheel studs had broken. That was what hit the floor from below. Situation assessed we limped into the next town on three studs/nuts on the right rear. We went to a parts house where I bought 10 new studs, a "regular" lug nut, and the longest 1/2" drive breaker bar that they had. Fortunately I carried a few of the ET mag lug nuts with me. You don't just walk into the local Wal-Mart and buy these. A tire store next door let us use their back parking lot to effect repairs. One side at a time Ed and I jacked up the rear and removed the wheel. I used a big hammer to knock out the old studs, one at a time. Then new studs were installed by putting the regular lug nut on with the flat side towards the axle flange and tightening it 'til the stud was flush on the back side of the flange. Then the ET mags were reinstalled. Those studs are still on there. That breaker bar is only about 18-20 inches long. It was a real chore to pull those studs into the axle flange. Prior to that incident I hadn't ever really considered how handy a long breaker bar could be. When I got home I bought one that's about 6" longer yet. I amaze myself with how often one or the other of them gets used.

The two incidents above occurred on the same trip but I don't recollect which happened first.

Someday I hope to be able to tell "post-rebuild" stories.

 

I cannot imagine owing a rig for 50 years and unless I live to be 97, it won't be happening in my garage! More power to ya! Keep it up, Clarence is looking good!

 

50 years owning the same ride, man, that's a big one in my book. Congrats!

The longest time we have owned a vehicle is my wife's current off topic ride that has been with us 18 years now. I'm 66 now, I can't picture that ride, nor me making it to the 50 year mark (neither of us in is in that good of shape). The longest term hot rod was 12 years of ownership and its been long gone for many years. The next in line is my 48 Plymouth coupe, it too is coming up on 12 years in a few months. The coupe and I both have worse odds of making it to the 50 year mark then my wife's ride and I do.

 

Mike, Clarence looks great. I had heard from Tom that you had it painted. Hope to catch you around sometime soon. Maybe this summer we can all get together sometime

looking forward to the next update!
Ethan

 

Ethan (and all),

I had hoped to make the 2023 SK-500 in May but that just ain't happening. Then I was shooting for the Rust Revival in June but I don't think it's possible to make that either. Then the Ozark Mountain Run Truck Show in July but that's not looking promising either. As soon as Ryno gets to me in his schedule it'll go to him then glass then upholstery. I'm still in hopes that I can drive it this summer. Maybe I'll make the Early Tin Dusters Color Run in Quincy in October. We'll see.

 

So here we are over a year later. I finally got Clarence home in a (more-or-less) completed state a few months ago and have been driving it quite a bit. Here's the Stray Kat 500 story for this year. Sherry and I left home on Thursday morning heading to Dewey. We usually go south and then west. This trip we decided to take I-70 west to KC and then southwest to Dewey. All was going swimmingly so far. However, near KC the rain started. Slowly at first but gaining as we went. It kept getting heavier until it was a real toad strangler. We were skirting KC on the south side on I-435 and had just crossed into Kansas. Even in the downpour we were going about 70 and folks were passing us in the left lane. We were in the center lane of a 5 lane highway when Clarence died. Just. Hammer. Dead. Like someone turned off the key. Immediately I put the right signal on and coasted to the right shoulder. Horns were blaring as folks didn't realize I had no alternative. I couldn't get out of their way. I just had to do what I had to do. To make matters worse there was an expressway entrance right there and I not only had to cross two lanes of 70 mph traffic I also had to cross the lane where folks were accelerating to get on the highway. Once on the shoulder I grabbed my phone and called AAA. I had NO tools with me. Not even a spare tire/jack. With all brand new tires, a very low miles crate motor, freshly rebuilt trans and 8" rear, etc., etc., I didn't bother to take any emergency items.

When I told AAA that I was four feet away from 70 mph traffic they had a roll back there within about 10 minutes. The driver knew of a hot rod shop (Suburban Rod & Custom Classics - Merriam, Kansas | Suburban Rod & Custom Classics (suburbanrods.com)) not too far away so he took us there. In the short time we were riding in the wrecker the rain stopped. The shop had the driver unload Clarence right into an open bay. Far enough in that they could close the door. They had a fairly nice customer waiting room where Sherry and I sat and wondered how bad it was. In only a couple of minutes the owner brought in the coil to show us. NOTE: this was a Pertronix coil that had only about a thousand miles on it. There was a crack right at the base of the part that sticks up where the large coil wire goes. No one knows how the case got cracked but there it was. Larger than life. They called around; found an exact replacement; sent someone after it; put the new coil in; and again it ran like a new car. We paid and went on our way. Sherry had wondered if we should just turn around and go home. "No way" I said. We're on a road trip adventure.

Suburban R&C is right next to I-35 so we got on and headed southwest. In Olathe we turned south on US-169. Road was dry. Clarence was running great. Traffic was light. The world was spinning in greased grooves (credit the closing lines of the movie Cannery Row). Somewhere down the road the Heavens again opened up. This time it was a real gully washer. We were driving 30 mph with our flashers on. Even though there was traffic behind us NO ONE WAS PASSING US. After a half hour or so the rain let up. Eventually it quit altogether. Again all was right with the world.

Had a great late lunch at Sharkey's in Iola, Kansas; drove around their town square which they claim to be the "largest courthouse square in the United States"; and were on our way again. We had no more trouble the rest of the weekend.

We have stayed at The Inn at Price Tower (Experience Price Tower - Price Tower Arts CenterPrice Tower Arts Center) for the last several years. Unfortunately the building has changed hands and they no longer have $99 rooms for SK-500 participants. So this year we stayed in a cabin at the Osage Hills State Park. These cabins were built during the Great Depression by WPA or CCC or one of those work programs. Pretty cool place. Very rustic with stone and wood. Fireplace in the living room. Full kitchen. A bedroom and a bathroom. Price about equal to a motel room with barely enough room to walk around the bed and a bathroom barely big enough to turn around in. Park is about ten miles west of Bartlesville on the road to Pawhuska (US-60).



SK-500 show was great as usual. I saw several friends that I only see at car shows. Got to meet Dr. Dave and Duncan Cox (arkiehotrods). Clarence was finally worthy of being photographed by Dan Greenberg.


Credit to @Dan Greenberg and posted by Mr. Greenberg in response #71 on this thread here on the H.A.M.B.

Sunday we drove eastward leisurely to home. In Carthage, MO. we got on former US-66 to Springfield. Stopped at Spencer Station for one last Kodak moment. The concrete you see here is some of the very rare original concrete (from when 66 was first built) that has never been paved over.



b-t-w; when my 44 yo daughter (Meredith) was in high school I let her drive Calrence to school a few times. She really got a kick out of telling the boys what engine it had, how much the top was chopped, and other details. At that time she told me that someday she wanted to own it. Ever since I've considered it to be her panel truck. Here she is with Clarence in her driveway a couple of months ago. Note her hair is pulled back; it actually goes halfway down her back. It sure is a good thing that my daughters got their looks from their mother and not me.

 

Quite the adventure after 51 years! More to come for sure before your daughter takes over. Sure was good to see you (and Clarence) at the SK!! I've had my '64 Pontiac almost as long, but it has spend over 30 years as a barn find in my own barn. Hopefully it will be back out someday and back to making stories.

 

So here we are another year older and Clarence ownership has hit 52 years.

After SK-500 we went to Chicago to see kids/grandkids. While there the Pertronix failed. As I had no tools with me I had AAA take it to a speed shop not far from the daughter's house. They didn't even try to fix the Pertronix. They build high end hot rods and muscle cars and HEI is what they know so they installed a Chinesium HEI. That seemed to cure the problem.

Back home it appeared that I still had ignition problems. The tach was erratic, and it had random backfires. Upon taking off the HEI cap it was obvious that this wasn't going to work. There were carbon specs all over the inside of the unit which apparently caused it to crossfire at random times. I had an original GM HEI on the shelf so it was "rebuilt" using new module, rotor, cap, etc., etc. It seemed to run great at that point.

Next trip was to Lloydfest II in September. Great trip and great people.

We started to Niagra Falls in October. In eastern Indiana just before crossing into Ohio the HEI failed. AAA to the rescue again. HEI module and cap were toast. So back on the road after repairs but didn't even make it to the next I-70 exit before it failed again. Seven hours on a rollback to home. At this point I was pretty disgusted with hi-tech ignition so I used the best GM single point distributor I had and replaced everything replaceable except the bushings. The shaft was nice and snug with no excess play. HOWEVER; while doing this at my shop we saw that there was no ground strap/wire between the engine and frame (the frame is the ground bus). A new gihugie cable was installed between the frame and a bellhousing bolt. Frame was sanded shiny before cable was installed and then bolt was coated with heavy grease. While I was at it I did the same thing where the battery ground cable bolts to the frame (in the rear on the passenger frame rail). The ground strap between the body and the engine was broken complete in half which I also replaced. So previously the only ground to the distributor was through the throttle cable, the fuel line, the radiator water, the exhaust system, etc. As I understand it electronic ignition is very sensitive to voltage fluctuations. With the weird grounding (or lack thereof) this thing had I'm surprised it even ran at all.

It hadn't been out of my shop until Sunday afternoon. It was an exceptionally warm day for February in Missouri. We took a lunch trip to a restaurant in Jefferson City, about 30 miles away. Seems to be running great now.

This year we're registered and have rooms for SK-500 and Lloydfest III. We'll probably go to the Color Run in Quincy and the STL Hot Rod 100 also. If you see us flag us down and say hi.

 

ATCH just read your full story about your long time with clearance, you need kee p the 283 engine that you offered me. Don

 

I bet, as you say, the grounding situation was the bottom line culprit. I had a similar problem with starters in my '64 Pontiac a million years ago after I rebuilt the engine and put in headers...which I just HAD to have (biggest mistake I ever made with the car but that's a different story). I couldn't keep starters in that thing and thought it was the heat off the headers. Finally, someone pointed out no ground from the engine to the frame and that solved all the world's problems