Anyone seen my old T-bucket? - Possibly in Port Huron, Michigan area?

I've been a HAMB member for several years, but this is my first thread in the discussion forum.

I hoped that thru the power of the internet that I may have a chance of tracking down a T-Bucket that I built back in the late 1970's-early 1980's. I built the car on the cheap with money earned mowing yards. Admittedly, it was crude, but was what I could afford at the time. I started when I was 13, and drove the car home from my friend's gas station on my 16th birthday (after getting my license that morning). What a day!

Anyhow, here's a picture of the car:




The frame was built using a set of Byrd Automotive plans. It had a '34 front end with split 'bones and '47 spindles swapped side-to-side to get the tie rod in front of the axle. I used a VW bus steering box.

The rear was a late-'60's Ford 9" with the original large-diameter coils from the same car.

The engine was a 307 Chevy with Powerglide. It had a stock 2bbl. carb, Weiand (?) mesh air cleaner and Cal Custom valve covers with right-angle breathers on them. The chrome Speedway Motors headers were the most expensive parts on the car.

The body was 'glass with a solid cherry wood dash that I made in junior-high shop class. It had SW stage III gauges. The windshield was an early T item with cowl lamp brackets and cowl lamps added.

When I sold it, the car had blue denim seat covers because I had a family member that worked for the mill that made denim for the jeans manufacturers.

The car was titled as a 1981 custom-built and had a NC-DMV serial number tag rivited to the driver's side frame rail just ahead of the firewall.

I sold the car for $2105 to a guy from Port Huron, Michigan during the summer of 1982. He and a buddy were travelling thru NC, and he saw my ad for the car in the paper. The last time I saw the car was when he drove it away from the house that day. He had planned to drive it back to Michigan from Greensboro, NC.

I'm just curious if the car still exists today. Perhaps someone from the forum is familiar with the car?

Thanks,
Todd

Edit:

Here are a couple of additional photos:

 

Bump

 

crude or not its a kool story. i hope you can track it down.

 

Thanks - I do hope I can track it down. I am not in a position to buy the car back, but am really interested in knowing where it is and what it looks like now. I'd love to pass along some of the history to the current owner.

I've added a couple of photos to my original post. One of the more distinguishing features of the car was the large diameter coils and equally large pads on the frame for mounting them. One photo shows that pretty well. The other photo was taken on my 16th birthday in front of my parents house. My cousin Julie was riding shotgun.

Notice in one of the photos that I was using a pillow as my backrest - that was before the denim interior was installed. You can't see it in the photo, but the plywood panel that I used for the seat was actually the platform for my old HO electric train layout. It still had roads and stuff painted on it...

Todd

 

Bump

 

I hope it is found it would be pretty cool to have a T in high school! I use to live in Michigan and unfortunately many t's are hiding in garages and rarly see the light of day.... I know that if I had the car I would change the rear suspension set up so it could be next to impossible to find....

 

I am enjoying seeing the vintage shots of your creation. Doesn't look bad to me at all for a youth build.

It does appear to be unique enough that someone surely will know something!

 

Bump - keep this alive, how cool would it be to find this??? I wonder what happened to my first car. Good Luck!

 

Thanks for the bump.

It was a blast to drive to school. I had a buddy a couple of blocks away with a gas station, and he used to let me leave it there during the day so no one would mess with it. He and his mechanics were avid hot rodders and helped me quite a bit with the build.

I agree on the rear suspension - it was the weak link (aesthetically), and probably got re-done at some point. I guess my hope was that the car was still around in pretty much the configuration it was back then.

Thanks again,
Todd

 

Live in the Lapeer area, not seen anything like it but will keep my eyes open.

Jon

 

Do you have the paperwork on that dmv serial #? Can you track it down through that #?

 

It's been awhile since I posted on this thread, but I was cleaning up this weekend and found a letter from the DMV with the VIN number on it. I had forgotten that I even had the letter.

Our state offers a title history search service for about $10, so I plan to do a title search to see what I can find. If I find out that it's still around, I'll let you guys know.

Todd

 

Cool. I hope its still on the road!

 

Good luck with your search. If you need any help in the area send me a message. Port Huron is only about an hour from me.

 

Thanks - If I find it's still in that area, I may take you up on that offer.

 

it looks ALOT like what I started with in the late 70's....same body, same windshield, same cowl lamps...yes, i had them brass plated. Frame has been changed ('82) added a pick-up box in 2008...check out the motor, even the air cleaner.

 

Good luck in your quest, it would be interesting to find out what happened to it. It's a shame that you can't just find it online. My grandfather had an airplane when I grew up and I just typed the tail number in Google and found out all about it. It'd be nice to do that with cars without having to pay...

 

bump hope you find it

 

have a buddy in Port Huron, and will give a call and send some pics to him and see what he can track down. He's been a rodder in that area for 35+ yrs.

 

It took me a few years but in 2011 I bought back our old 37 Chevy chopped sedan that I had been looking for. I sold it back in 2000 and then I found it sold again to someone in Connecticut. I used Craigslist and posted a picture and my phone number in the wanted section of different Connecticut cities. Got some good and bad response then finally a good lead which included the phone number of the owner. We kept in touch for about a year and he finally convinced me to come see the car. One short test drive and I knew I wanted to bring her home again.
Good luck on your search. I hope you locate the car.

 

I think that car was cool as hell. Certainly a lot nicer than anything I cranked out at 16, and I bet a lot of others didn't have one that neat either. Really quite an accomplishment and you should be very proud.

Hope you find it.

Don

 

great story...

 

So many changes can take place you might not know the car at all. If, it's still around and in the original shape, I would try to buy it back. Good luck in your search and a very good story.

CRUISER

 

Cool car - I really like the style of your build. I agree - lots of similarities. Mine was first titled and put put on the road in August of 1981 -sounds like you were already into your project by that time. It's really cool that you have held on to that car so long.

Thanks - I'd really appreciate that.

Thanks - I was really proud of how it turned out - given my limited budget and skill set. In the tradition of the hobby, lots of local rodders helped me get the car on the road. There were a half-dozen or so T-buckets in the area around the time I built this one, so those guys really took an interest in what I was up to.

My dad was also a great influence - he had always been a model A restorer, but was a huge help on this project as well. We've had a lot of great times with these cars over the years.

Todd

 

Don't lose hope. I just used Craigslist to find my brothers first car that he sold 13 years ago. He wanted it back and found it once but the guy never got back to him. Unfortunately, he is gone now, but I found it and got it back in the family for his son. It was almost still exactly like he sold it. Really a good feeling!

 

Sorry I can't help you, but I just wanted to say I love this photo. I just think it's so cool.

 

I just received my title search from the NC DMV, and unfortunately, there was no history available other than the documents related to my getting a title for the car when I built it. I don't have any idea why no other title history was available, but all was not lost - I did get copies of all of the documents that I provided to them when I applied for a title which included:

Receipt for the 'glass body @ $170
Receipt for the 307 Chevy engine, Powerglide and driveshaft @ $310
Receipt for fabricating the frame @ $130

I had forgotten that I turned over the originals to the DMV when they inspected the car, so I was glad to get the photocopies of them back. Although I did not find out any of the history after it left my posession, I still think I got my $10 worth from the report.

I guess I'll never know exactly what happened to it, but at least I tried...

Todd

 

A cool story just the same. You never know, somebody may just have some info, you know, a buddy of a buddy type thing.

 

Great read, and yeah I like that photo of you guys standing in the car too. Cool!


Posted from the TJJ App for iPhone & iPad

 

I'm in that area fairly often, I'll keep my eyes open,