I'm 57 years old, started driving during the muscle car era. I could not afford to go that way! Growing up in a Chevrolet/GM family I had to stay with my values, so my first car was a 54 Chev 2Dr post 389 Pontiac 3 speed gasser wanabe that I bought for $50! My dad hated it and was very reluctant to help me with it, but he did. Body was rough and the engine was shot so we sat down and talked a plan. So I found a 54 belair 2 door hardtop a 347 Pontiac with a hydramatic and some parts from the Sears catalog, now I had a car we both loved!....Fast forward 66 GTO....65GTO....61 Impala....Got married....raised two kids...Bought a 56 GMC V8 custom cab that I'm still restoring....built a 1300 sq ft shop...built a 80 Elcamino 454...83 Elcamino 350 (sold both) and realized I missed out on the hot rod era and really missed my first car! So the point on why I joined this group is that I have been collecting old parts to some day build a old school hotrod, I have a 57 Ford wagon 9 inch/ 4 pinion posi. 56 Chev rear end and lot's of misc. parts....then last week I found a 346 Caddy flathead wit a hydramatic that my boss had. I fell in love with it and told him I wanted it to build a hotrod, he was excited about that and just gave it to me! He said he was running out of years and wanted to do the same with it. Next thing I have to do is find a suitable ride for it.....thinking a 30's Chev truck! Sorry for the long post!
Hi!, sounds a bit like me, only one kid at home now and hes left school and is working. Work out a plan, pick a car, look for an "older restoration" some of these are good buys and save a lot of work, beware the wood worm though. Roger
hey hey , maybe anything 37 and up, i restored a 36 and the wood is usually gone , welcome aboard..love those crazy cad flatheads
Thanks all! So 37 to 46 it is! I don't need any more wood projects, I already have a 1939 wood boat project taking up valuable shop space that needs to be finished. So I started checking out the flathead, at first I thought it was stuck! I got it off the pallet and blocked it up, It was sitting on the ring gear so it wouldn't turn. The date of the hydra-matic is 41. The engine has no numbers I can find and the heads have been switched from side to side and say "Cadillac motor" on them so it is a military or industrial motor with all the automotive accessory's on it. Only major parts i'm missing is a starter and a 16 spline output yoke (any help there would be greatly appreciated) and I will get it running before I go any further with it. I want to build a fifty's style hot rod where there was not a lot of speed parts available and you built, begged, bartered or stole what you needed! You know what I mean? LOL
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