I know there has been a run of "barn finds, etc. But I have a story too. About a year ago, I ran into a high school friend I hadn't seen in many years. We got talking about our youth. Flatheads, loud pipes, flatheads, girls, flatheads.....and then he told me about the flathead he had stored in the hayloft of one of his cow barns. He had taken it out of a '39 PU in 1963 or 4. It was a good runner, but the truck was getting a new 327. He lifted it up and pushed it thru a small door and there it sat until today. I dropped by to take a look at it and he told me if I wanted it, he'd get the tractor out and get that engine down for me. It's a complete 59A with an 11 inch clutch and a two piece oil pan. The only thing missing is the carb. It hasn't see the sun or rain in 45 years. It now resides in my garage awaiting it's turn at the machine shop.
My yard find. About 15 years ago my UPS man told me about an old race car motor in a chassis on his route through east Houston. He described a chassis with a beam axle sitting next to a garage with steering and transmission and an engine that had to be multi-carbed because it was wrapped in canvas and above the heads the canvas stuck up front to back. Well, I went by and sure enough there it was...the front half of a 42-47 Ford pickup chassis on wheels with steering and motor and transmission. The guy was very leery about my interest in his junk but finally told me the story. His Daddy had bought the old truck complete from a friend of his so he could restore it. He pulled the engine and transmission out and sent the engine to Motoreco and the trans to a local transmission shop for rebuild. When the newly rebuilt engine and transmission came back he assembled them together and dropped them onto the frame. Shortly thereafter he noticed the truck had taken an odd stance in the yard and THAT'S when he noticed the frame was so rotten the truck had simply broken in two just past the transmission crossmember. He gave the back end of the frame and bed to his brother who made it into a trailer for hauling trash and such. The cab he tore off the frame and threw away. The rest was pushed up beside the garage and the engine wrapped in canvas and essentially forgotten. I told him I was interested in buying it but he didn't want to sell. I left my number and went back to work. About 2 years later a young man in his 20s came in and asked if I'd be interested in buying an old Ford engine. I went over my requirements (if it turns over $100 if not $50) and he said his Dad had this old Ford truck etc. THAT'S when I realized it was the engine I had looked at before. He said he would be back shortly and sure enough he showed up with the engine on a flatbed trailer but no chassis. The engine turned and he asked for $125 and change, an odd number. It was their electric bill! I paid him and we put the engine and transmission up on the loading dock. He said he'd get the rest of the stuff out of the truck. The rest of the stuff?? A complete new Walker exhaust system from front to back for a 42-47 Ford V8 Pickup, a mint radiator (recored by his Dad for the project), a pair of NOS Ford water pipes for the truck, new belts, new shory upper hoses and new lower hoses, and a boxful of old Ford odds and ends. About three weeks later I went out to the warehouse and removed the intake manifold to see what I had bought and sure enough it was all new inside with late model straight stem valves and guides, Johnson hollow adjustable lifters, and I still have it sitting in my garage with a Flat-O-Matic C-4 conversion kit and C-4 transmission waiting for me to die or start a project again. It happens.
Did you go back over and give the old man another $75? Still a screaming deal at $200. When I lived in Seattle, I used to hang out at a VW shop called bow-wows, an older guy I saw there every once in awhile noticed my 62 and we got to bullshitting and he offered me a deal on a set of original empi rims. I paid $50 for "delivered" to my dads place. Well when I got there later in the day there were 10 Empi rims sitting on the deck with a note that said "I couldn't remember whether you needed the big or little bolt pattern and the other two are spares and don't have center caps, enjoy Doug".... next payday I decided to go another 2 weeks before mounting the tires, I went over to his place and gave them an additional $100. Still a screaming deal, I used both sets on different cars for a decade and still sold one set years later for $300, its all about Karma
The Jalopy Journal
