I think I love seeing pics of finds better than seeing drivable cars! I have made some nice finds in the weeds, creeks and with trees growing through them, but, sadly I didn't take any pics! I'll try to keep a camera close buy from now on. I have, though, made a couple nice barn finds within the past 6 years. I was buildin' my 31 Pontiac coupe when a fella told me his "Aunt Flo's got a old Pontiac in the barn". I expected a somethin like a 68-70 Bonneville. Turn's out it was the coupe in the first pic. Been in that barn since 1959 and was so buried in junk you could barely see a car was even in there. Brought it home, freed up the water pump, new plugs, wires, 6V battery, added some gas and it fired up! Blowed out dirt dobber nests and other things I couldn't identify. Have done some tuning on it's original flat six since then and now it runs and drives. Only thing I did to the outside is wash the dust off. Not sure what I'm gonna do with it just yet. My next find was another 31 Pontiac-a 2 door sedan, this one in an old shed in an old s**** yard in the middle of Ohio. Bought it from a super nice guy. Been there since the sixties. Had to dig it out of a bunch of other old cars that had 'settled' outside the shed. The original wire wheels/tires were too bad to roll so we stuck those wheels you see on just to haul it. Had about a foot of nasty 'stuff' in the floors including the petrified remains of a mean-*** looking animal. Literally shoveled it out when I got it home. I'm planning on roddin this one.
Wow! NO!! not one, but two 31 pontiacs, what a pair of beautys, please be very conservative in rodding that beautiful sedan, leaving all that beautiful sheet metal styling with just a black satin WWW, steelies of some sort and a nice pontiac v8 and related power train. Have fun bro. keep us posted on the sedan-Rock on-Sololobo
Actually I forgot to mention that the coupe is a '30 Pontiac. And, these are just my barn finds, I actually have three 1931 Pontiacs and three 1930 Pontiacs (andtwo 1942 Hudsons and one 1949 Cheby coupe). As for how I would build the 31 sedan-take a look at my current coupe (pic). It's a little bit on the glossy side but I am a definite fan of satin as well. And I'm definitely going with WWW and Pontiac power. Would love to build something like a '57 Pontiac 347 with 3 dueces. Even cooler would be a modified Oakland or 32 Pontiac flathead V8. Yep, Henry didn't have the first flathead V8, he just built a hell of a lot more of them! The 31 coupe in this picture has a Chevy 283 from an old '57 Chevy project I built years ago.
Don't apologize for having a "glossy" car. Car looks great, and it's just not another Ford hot rod. Nice finds too...you may want to buy a lotto ticket as well !
The wood's actually very solid in both cars including the floors. I didn't expect the sedan to be with all the **** in the bottom of it but fortunately it was dry '****' and it didn't do any damage. The doors do sag a bit on both cars but that's expected. I replaced the floor and rumble seat compartment wood with steel tubing and sheet metal on my 31 coupe. But all the wood from the floor up is original including most of the door frames. I think I replaced only the lower sections of wood in those doors then broke some new sheet metal for those bottoms as well.
No sir, it was actually an Oakland Flathead V8 produced from 1930 to 1931. Oakland Motor Company, was the original company that was a division of GM from 1909 to 1931. Oakland Motors came out with Pontiac in 1926, as a cheaper companion car. Turns out the Pontiac outsold the Oakland brand so well that the name of the company was changed to Pontiac in 1932 and the Oakland brand was discontinued. It's the ONLY spin-off brand that ever outlived its parent company. They had a few Oakland V8's left over when they killed it off and the 1932 Pontiacs could be bought with either a flat straight six or a flat V8. The V8's are SUPER rare. In 1933, Pontiac came out with the straight 8 engines which remained until 1955. I'm looking for a picture but those Oakland flat V8's were cool looking engines! But, as rare as they are, I've only seen them in stocker Oaklands and 32 Pontiacs.
My day will come.One day i will uncover something awesome for free or may as well be free.Until then i will just be jealous.
Well, since all you guys got me all swelled up here, I guess I could go ahead and tell you bout other Pontiacs and my current project. I can't post pics of my two rarest Pontiacs (da&% scanner's broke). I got a 31 Pontiac cabriolet convertible and a 1930 Pontiac phaeton. I have never seen in real, pictures of, or even heard of another U.S. built 30 Pontiac phaeton. Both are rough but restorable and both are planned as rods. The cabriolet convertible will be a twin to my current coupe. Then there's my current project-1942 Hudson Commodore Eight coupe. I bought it cause I had never seen a 42 Hudson at that time and I just thought it would make a cool rod! But, I had more future projects than I think I'll ever finish so I made him a low offer which he turned down. So I left. Turned out the dude who had it needed money and called me up couple weeks later and accepted my offer. I get it home, join the Hudson, Es***, Terraplane club through which I find out-it's one of two 42 eight cylinder coupes they know off existing! BONUS! The Hudson is off the frame right now getting new floors and body work. I've got a 1961 348 Chevy engine already lined up for it. I like em different!
i am a typical a model man .looking at youre cars inspires me .how beutiful they are and allways cheaper to buy than a ford .these (orphan) cars deserve more respect and i believe this will happen in the near future i have a 1928 nash stashed away love it but cant find parts future rat rod maybe good luck with youre projects dave
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