PIX: My Grandfather working on a 31 Model A.. 1945

The attached pictures are of my Grandfather (we called him Big John) and his brother Hank working on a '31 Model A. These pictures were taken just after he came back from the war (dated Oct. - Nov. 1945). There was a shortage of cars, and he needed money to buy a wedding ring for my Grandmother... they fixed up this car and sold it to get the dough.

I remember someone on the HAMB mentioning that guys would convert Coupes into Pickups because pickups could get more gas during rationing... The 3rd picture is a different coupe that has 16" wires and a pickup bed.

Big John is the one haming it up.

I'm not sure what the "A" in the window is - maybe one of you guys have some insight...

- Joe

 

maybe the A was from the days of gas rashions during the war???

 

cool pictures.

that's a WWII fuel ration sticker...with the "A" you got 4 gallons a week

 

very cool pics! one of these popped up for sale in my neck of the woods for sale...not too long ago...

 

I believe the "A" was for gas rationing purposes. You could only buy gas on "A" days.

Two years ago a kid (17 yrs old!) found an old car in a barn in Southern KY. It was a hot rod highboy model A coupe with a PU bed built onto the body and an Olds motor with six deuces. Converting coupes into PU's must have been popular.

Tracy

 

after my grandpa died and we were going thru his things i found is ration card listing a ford pick up

 

That is a cool UTE he built.

 

Making pickups was quite common back then. I've heard of several people who converted coupes for that purpose, although I've never seen one in person. Great family pictures.

 

Thats it. Had one on my 30 roadster. Lucky it was taped on and now its a keep sake.

 

Nice vintage pics. Thanks for posting!

 

I love those pics so much,kool American history in those still shots.
Awsome got any more?

 

To help you a little bit- the car the guys are working on is a '28/'29 4-door, the car by itself is a totally different '30 Coupe with a bed conversion. Just thought you might like to know.

 

bed conversions were offered by Sears (along with many other companies, and home-made deals)... i've got an old Sears catalog around here somewhere that has the kit... gotta dig it out (just moved, it's still packed somewhere), but i've posted the pic here on the HAMB before (years ago)

my grandpa's dad had a sears kit in the family car... remember seeing pics of it when i was a kid and asking, my grandpa went into LONG stories about the rationing and such...

awesome pics to have... wish i had the ones i saw as a kid.

 

Thanks, those are great old photos.

 

During the Depression you could buy only 1 gallon of gas for cars and 3 gallons for pickup. Hence the pu bed conversion.

 

If you look closely at the pickup conversion you can see straps over the rear fenders that hold the bed on the coupe body... Knowing Big John, I'm betting that he didn't use a kit to attach that bed! He used to say that he had Aztec blood and that he could engineer anything.

I'll have to go over and dig thru my granny's albums!

Here is some more family stuff... Video that my dad shot at Carlsbad in '66.

http://picasaweb.google.com/poutous/CarlsbadDragRacing</EMBED>

I found this when I was copying some VHS to DVD for my Grandma. These videos were originally on Hi8... The only clue to the date is the white '67 - '72 C-10 that rolls down the strip... that and what my dad remembers - He took a date to the dragstrip the summer after highschool... 1966. That truck must be brand-spanking new!

-Joe

 

Thanks Jim - After looking again, I see that you are right.

- Joe

 

The rear wheels on that Coupe/Pickup are bent-spoke kelseys, the front are 28-29 A wheels with 16" rims welded to cut down spokes.
I've got a couple of those I bought off a welding cart in a junkyard in Denison TX 25 or 30 years ago.

 

Great pictures. Thanks for posting them.

 

Man, those are great momentos. Check the front rubber. Definately wartime. You ran your tires until they were see-through. And then some.

 

Those are priceless. Thanks for sharing.

 

Yeah, I can't wait to get over to my grandma's to spend some time digging.

thanks guys!
- Joe

 

Great pic's.

 

I think the smile is the last one says it all.

 

in the late '60s, my dad took a photo of my mum out in the bush standing next to a '32 sports coupe with the back chopped off like that into a dodgey pickup, probably done during the war (well i hope so anyway!!!!)
its a painful pic to look at

 

In my head I always see my grandpa as an old man. He passed a couple of years ago, he was in his 90s. I really like pictures like this. It really helps you see people you have known your whole life in a whole different light.

A couple of pics to show they didnt just use Model A's. I took these at a tractor show a couple of years ago.

 

Yeah man - he was a character. He used to talk about having Aztec blood and being able to build anything. I sure miss him.

I was lucky enough to know my "Big John" when he was still younger. I'm the oldest son of his oldest son, he was 40 or 41 when I was born (fuck, I'll be 40 next year!). I remember fishing & hunting trips, buildings that he built, a Rolls Royce that he had that the chickens layed eggs in... He was one of the real cowboys, he ran cattle and there were always horses around when I was a kid.

You should really do some digging and find out what kind of guy your grandpa was whne he was younger.

- Joe

 

Yeah, these are neat pics. I'm going to print and frame some of them and put them in our Cafe we just bought. We are decorating it with old petroleum memorabelia and old car photos. I have some pics already there and 2 of 'em were stolen. One was a pic of the 1960's Mokan dragster and the other was of Ryans coupe next to the P-51. Guess the thief thought he was getting origianl pics. I started useing 2 screws to mount them instead of one now.

 

Cool, thanks for sharing.

 

Cool pics!

Pickup conversions were really popular out here in Montana, I was told that it was also cheaper to register "farm vehicles", hence the conversions. Last summer I found two Model A's, and my neighbor just found two late '20s Dodge coupes, matching pair, all four of them had been converted to pickups...sad.

Terrible metal work on every one I've seen...they weren't too concerned with making them look good...ha.