Well I was at a friend's body shop one night drinking a few brews. I found an old color chip book and was looking for something gold and I found a chip named Goddess Gold. That did it for me.
Posted these on another "Before and After" thread a while back. Unfortunately I wasn't much for taking pictures back then. In my early days I didn't have much $, so I build some pretty "marginal" stuff. Subsequently, I would have to sell the current rod to finance the next build. As I look back, I can't believe how much energy I had. 1972 $200 nice running '35 ford pickup with broken frame. Bought a "36 frame and transferred everything over. Took about a month and a half. Drove it all through college.
Early 1980s. Bought this nice running/driving '56 Chevy for $300. Lots of metal work needed. 6cyl/3spd.
1980s. Solid old '53 Ford farm truck for $300. "Un-farmed" it...heavy 390 C6 gave it a nice rake...drove the wheels off it.
1990s. Older amateur restored '46 Ford Pickup for $1200. Rebuilt the 59ab/3spd. I even did a matching pedal car.
Mid 1990s. A friend of mine dragged this '41 Lincoln 3 window out of the woods...gave him $500 for it. Later GM frame (nothing left of original one) and about a years worth of metal work. 350/350. A guy from NYC offered stupid money...sold before I finished it.
Early 2000s.Traded a roto-tiller for this '40 Ford pickup. No front sheetmetal so I adapted '37 passenger car. 302/C4.
2005. Paid $2500 for this '54 Chevy Panel Deliv...an old hippy van. It ended up being the Wife's grocery getter. 350/350.
2019. Traded the above Sedan Deliv. to the late @Hamtown Al (RIP) for this '36 Cabriolet. During the "Covid break" had a chance to go through it. 302AOD.
As I stated earlier, I never was one for taking a lot of pictures. Here's a few others I've had that either don't have a BEFORE or AFTER pic. AFTER; My high school hot rod built in auto shop, '48 Chevy 283/3spd. AFTER Bought this '58 Ranchero wrecked for $50. Replaced front sheet metal with '57 nose. 390/4spd. BEFORE; A couple of Model T Depot Hacks I build for a buddy when I had the Cabinet Shop. BEFORE; Bought this '32 Ford pickup for $1200...only owned for a week...couldn't resist a "quadruple your money" offer. BEFORE; Picked up this Plymouth "coupster", but was just too ugly/odd to build. BEFORE An $800 cobbled up '34 Fordor. The Sedan was sacrificed to repair a buddy's wrecked '33 5 window. Sold the '26 Roadster to a HAMBer who finished it (can't remember his username). AFTER; Picked up this '40 Plymouth in a trade...a 2 door sedan with no roof...so I built one.
First pictures are from around 2002. The last picture is from 2009. I used it as a beater/daily from 2003 until I sold in in 2010. The 2 door hardtops were going for stupid money, so I sold it. I hope it didn't turn out to be another "Christine".
53 day I bought it from a cow pasture. And there's been progress since after pic but close enough. Wife in both lol
I’ll play along…this truck belonged to my late father. He bought it in 1954 but I’ve only seen in person like first photo.. sitting out back behind the house my entire childhood. Never had much interest in it until later in life. fast forward to May of 2021. As his health started to fail, he had to do something with it along with all the other stuff he collected over the years. Here he is steering his old truck as I towed it around property to load it up on the trailer to bring it home. He died a month later. I retired a year after he passed and have been working on restoring it ever since. Here it is today.
Yes the same car. 1981-2025. Bought from Gary Barrious in San Jose for $500. Original roll bar is the front hoop behind the firewall. Frame is original with 6” zee behind driver seat. Same body, hair pins, front spring, spindles, front aluminum wheels on backwards, still running a GMC 6. Grille is hanging in my work area.
The Jalopy Journal
