This one’s been under development for many years. I bought it as a project over 50 years ago. It has been start and stopped worked on some of that time with about 40 of those years tied up in barn/garage storage. Took me a while to work out the y block conversion and bring the other driveline pieces together. The sheet metal was all ‘35 but since I have another ‘35 pickup, I decided to use a ‘37 grill and “hybrid” hood. More time and effort. Needed a bunch of smaller sheet metal repairs but they’re done. There are some other tricks not seen in these pics and you will see them “someday”. Getting close but time moves faster than me.
Got in '84 a week after graduating high school as an original car. Only car all the way through college and dental school, which limited how much I could get done on it. Got wrecked and has been waiting ever since. It's still here and retirement is around the corner.....
The white 62 Cadillac has belonged to my mother since the mid eighties. This car was completely dis***embled and painted in 2005. Slowly but surely it has been getting finished up over the years. I acquired my 57 Eldorado from Orange54, here on the Hamb, back in May of 2005. Since then, I've managed to remove the front bumper, get the engine unstuck, and gather up several missing parts. I'll get it inside the shop as soon as I have space for it.
Yes, and my Shop is still full of them. Now that I'm retired, I don't know if I have enough Get-R-Done left in to finish any of them. But I'm still giving it all I have every day, but it's just not the same anymore.
There were a few I should not have ever started on, those are no longer here. Does that count? I feel that I have finished building all of them that I should have.
62 Belair bubbletop. No pics, I was 15 and people didn't have phones in their pocket back then. Hell, I think we still had a 'party' line!
Last few years,have had to look at what I can an can't do more vs,jump into things. Now be 84 yo this Sept. A little over 25 years back,I picked up a garage clean out of hotrod parts. In it was a cowel from a 1917 Huppmobil roadster,with almost no rust. I didn't need or want another hotrod or even one to sell. But like it was a magnet,parts that would work great as a hotrod,kept poping up { Being I'm a nut n bolt case,if they were cheep,I'd buy them= They fit for a little out side the box hotrod !> So in my head I gave the now pile of parts a Name; "Hubba Hubba Hupp". Then more time an more parts,; I have to admitte to my self; To old now to do it. Already too much to do,just keeping my 28A an helping my Son keep his 23T going{ he has no time or want to do a nother rod ether. A lot of parts,I have no pic of,but listed down the right side of drawing of ideas. It needs a new owner.
Haha. My priorities will be ALL of them. A “quick” mild custom job and paint job on the tbird will be close to the top….after a full clean out and organization of the shop. Finish the Merc, redo the Pontiac, finish my dad’s ‘69 Mustang and a full custom 56 F100. That should keep me occupied for a while. Lol
I should have had my 48 done and driving and have already done a road trip to the Lone Star Round up in it while letting my wife get her Texas accent back when she visit her sisters and cousins. Either lame excuses or bunged up and healing up have been an issue. The big issue is not having a good place to work on it though.
Hello, Yes, I keep thinking back to the Model A Coupe I found in a backyard of a lady’s house we walked in front of every school day during our junior high school days. In Grade 7 I found the Model A Coupe. It was not obvious, but after a recent storm at the time, the canvas cover was blown partially off and I could see the Model A grill, headlights & bumper. I continued to see it everyday, as it was our favorite way to walk to school. Several of our friends lived on the same street and the final corner of the main East/ West Street, was a factory. Yes, pickle factory and they always gave out free samples. The pickles were huge and filled up our tiny hands. But, the foreman was always friendly and gave us samples after school. But, by the summer, my brother wanted a car for a hot rod build. So, I showed him the Model A location and the lady wanted it sold instantly when she heard my brother offering to buy it. We bought it, towed it home and started getting the motor to run and shift while driving down the street. It was not as bad as it looked. After a power spray wash, it looked good. Well, as good as possible after sitting outside for at least 2 years. The smile on my brother’s face was all that was needed when he was shifting the transmission while driving down our neighborhood street. It was a good start to our future hot rod/drag race future. I knew his goal of a fast hot rod coupe was going to be his version. He wanted a coupe to be able to compete against his best friend, who already had a 1934 black 5 window Ford Coupe with a big Oldsmobile motor and LaSalle transmission. That fast 34 coupe was in the A/Gas cl*** at the nearby Lion's Dragstrip and was at our driveway almost every weekend for the teen gatherings and drag race movies. Jnaki But, soon, the whole scene collapsed and the Model A Coupe + the 51 Olds Sedan were gone and sitting on the driveway was a new 1958 Chevy Impala. Our goal was a Paxton Supercharged SBC motor in the Model A to be able to compete in the Gas Coupe/Sedan Cl***es. When we saw this Model A Coupe, it was the goal to build our version of the fast racecar and for my brother to be able to drive it to school as his daily driver. Later on, this version of a Model A coupe rekindled our interest in the Gas Coupe and Sedan cl***. An old Friday Art version of Joe Pisano’s fast Model A Coupe from 1958-59. Or, a new design from the art files: A Friday Art project… black overall, with blue pinstriping highlights… That would have been a new path for our drag racing/cruising needs for sure... YRMV
Man, I kind of hate to even consider all the cars that I should have finished but ended up selling for one reason or the other. The main reasons were usually that I found something else and needed money to buy it... It all started when I sold my first car that I got when I was 12 and had 99% finished before I lost interest and sold it at 17 before I ever even got to drive it more than around the neighborhood. It was OT for here, but I'll just say that putting the convertible top on and exhaust would have finished a very nice RS/SS Camaro...
It was about 40 years ago. My buddy Bill had just bought a '40 Dodge coupe. Nice looking body style but I told him that if I was going to invest in another project, it would have to be something I really wanted - a '40 Ford. Right away, another friend found an ad for a '40 Ford Tudor so we went for a long drive to Saskatchewan to pick it up. At that time, the repro parts industry was cranking out just about everything you would ever want to build a '40 Ford. I priced it all out and it overwhelmed me. At this point, everything I built was with junkyard parts. Traded it off for a '49 Monarch. Now parts are not being reproduced as much, I don't have as much time left on planet earth and I still like '40 Fords.
My first car, a 36 Ford club cabriolet, was given to me by a customer at my Dad’s gas station in about 63 or 64. I was in the 8th grade. Had a flathead that didn’t run and no top, but the irons were there. I wasn’t smart enough, and didn’t have any money to work on it, so I traded it for a Henry J that had a Buick nailhead that did run. But as has been my practice for most of my life, I didn’t keep that one long either. But I’ve thought many many times that I should have kept the 36. The car I’ve enjoyed the most, my chopped 33 Tudor, I bought in 82 as a running hot rod. Rebuilt it frame off over a 5 year period, and drove it for the next 26 years. I REALLY miss that one.
Traded a Chev 383 for this 34 Ford p.u. in 2001, has been looking at me ever since, has all the sheet metal and the ***le just never got to it, seemed to always have one of mine or someone else's projects in front of this one. COPD & oxygen stopped me in my tracks.
The Jalopy Journal
