Art & Inspiration History lessons-learning where your car used to live

that coupe looks so badass just sitting there, I guess there never was any need to make it drive, eh?

 

I have an all original 63 SS Impala conv. adobe beige with saddle brown interior, 327/250 h.p P/G with posi rear end. Got it from a co-worker who had purchased it new in Newport News , Va. I am 75 and doubt I will ever build it, would be a sweet low rider.

 

This is what I started with for my '36 Ford pickup. I was told it had been in this junkyard for 30+ yrs. It is from a 1 1/2 ton truck and my guess is it was pulled off the frame back when scrappers only wanted the heavy metal.

Gary

 

This is a great thread!
My 48 Ford is the one I know the most history on.
It started out as an F-4 grain truck in a town (Morrison)about 30 miles away.
It was sold to someone about 10 miles away in Rock Falls, Illinois who pulled the motor.
I bought it at an auction and used the cab/hood and rounded up enuf stuff to build it into a pickup. The speedo shows 40K , the truck probly never got over 20 miles from it's original farm til I got it.

 

My car was "born" in San Jose CA in July of 1959. I found it in Denver, almost 10 years ago. The car had barrier strips that looked like they were for auxillary wiring and had a map reader light under the glove box.

It was blue and white as far as I can tell. So it may have been a low-budget police car with the 6 and factory OD that went with the 3-on-the-tree transmission. It would be nice to see the family lineage. I looked up old Denver police cars with no luck.

 

The only history I have on my 39 is last plate Minnesota 1961, title transfer 1979 and new glass wrapped in newspapers from western Minnesota of that time frame. than left in a grove of trees for the next 20 year to fill up with leaves and mud

 

I know who had my A Tudor in the 60's when it was parked, mileage on the oil change sticker was close to the odometer and had a 1968 date. An old coworker of mine had it in his collection after that for about 15 years until I got it. I had it at a little show a few years ago and an older guy came up and asked where the hell I got his uncles car. He said "we used to beat the shit outta that thing in the fields, even had a blind guy driving it one night!" While doing the body work, I found a note card hidden by the fuel tank which reads "Hook in the kitchen by the flyswatter on the wall" I suppose that's where the spare key was.

My 1950 Chevy truck came from a Marshall County farmer, there where two alike sitting next to each other in the weeds with wood cattle racks in the beds, his niece said he may have bought them both new at the same time. It had '75 plates on it and 39,000 miles which matched the last oil change sticker from that year. Of course I ruined it with a 4 inch chop and low stance among other things.

I have a flat fendered Willys that I bought from a local hot rodder, and know who it belonged to in the 70's as well. There was an uncashed check with a vitamin order form under the fuel tank dated 1978 from the guy who owned the Gulf station where it was the service truck.

 

I bought my 34 Ford 5 window from a co-worker in the late 70's. It was a big project and took a few years to get it on the road. The unsigned title was not in his name, but someone who I never met. I got it titled & have been driving it since. A couple years ago, at a VFW show I was parked next to a friend who mentioned that his late uncle had owned one just like it. I asked "what was his name ?" He answered Ernie Medina, & I informed him that is who I bought it from. The name on the title was a cousin.

 

My 51 merc was from Huntington Beach and San Diego where I found it!

 

For those interested, someplace in the hundreds of millions of pictures, , I have pictures of my 34 the day it began its 90 year journey. So I of course, thanks to Kustomrama and magazines through the years know very well the history. I have a profile shot and a head-on shot someplace, and if and when I find them, I will add them both to this post. Most guys here know the history of it and if you're interested and you don't know it, here is the link https://kustomrama.com/wiki/Jerry_Berg's_1934_Ford

Opps: I Forgot the lead picture in the Kustomrama shot is the 3/4 rear shot Jerry took the day he bought it in the mid 50's

 

I bought a junk 1952 car sight unseen from the east coast around 1989 or so, and verbal history was that it had once belonged to Grace Kelly or her family. It took me several years to restore it and my previous owner search came up blank. I showed the car a few times and someone there approached me and mentioned to me that Prince Rainier had a car collection and I should ask him if he knew anything.
I wrote him a letter and included a photo of the car as a fellow 'car-guy', and received a response a month or two later. His letterhead had this crazy-looking gold-leaf seal and this really impressive monogram. It was in French, so I had to get it translated. He said he did not know anything about the car as he didn't meet or marry Grace until the late fifties, but gave me the address of Grace's sister so I could write to her and ask her about it. She was very gracious, but said she could not recall the car in question ... so I simply stopped searching. Kinda cool getting a letter from the Prince of Monaco, though.

 

Thanks a lot for the like squirrel, coming from you means a bunch. and from you also alchemy, brings joy to this old rodder to know my peers appreciate what I accomplished to save even if it was done in my way.

 

My 53 customline I have all the receipts from when it was built in 2004 or so until now and all the associated names. Reached out to the guy who built it and he was VERY nice and happy it was still on the road. I believe he said he bought it from the burbank area from Craigslist. I'd love to track down my mom's first car (the brown 56 ford) and the first hot rod I built with my dad though. If anyone recognizes any of the 3 of the cars, let me know. The 56 was in Vallejo CA in the mid to late 70s, the model A ended up in San Jose around 2008 or so and I can't find anything on it past that.

 

Only bought one car where I knew the history on it.
In 1975 my ophthalmologist gave me a 1963 Oldsmobile Dynamic 88 his parents had bought new.
Wasn't much floor or lower body left after the years in the rust belt and had been neglected for a few years.
With the youthful enthusiasm any 16 year car crazy kid has I found 4 non matching tires that held air,scrounged a battery and rebuilt the 2 bbl with help of a mentor. Had it running within a week. Pinched off the rusty rear brake lines and was mobile. I was not the envy of the other kids in the school parking lot and other than the cool color changing speedometer it didn't have much going for it.
We were building our first stock car that summer and needed a 12 bolt Chevy rear end and so I drove the Olds to a long gone salvage yard (Red's...south of Chatfield Mn) that had one from a Chevelle. Still think I got the better end of the deal.

 

Now thats interesting. I bought a '63 Falcon Sprint about 35 years ago from a pimp in Amsterdam. Complete with original documents from the first lady owner who bought the car in L.A. and took it with her when she moved to Monte-Carlo. Was,nt Grace Kelly though.

 

My 34 pickup in my avatar came out of Norfolk Ct. It was an electric company truck. I think it was Edison electric if I recall what the previous owner said. It was originally painted yellow from the factory. It had yellow all inside it. I bought it from a guy who bought it from an estate where the old man kept in it a leaky garage since about 1970 or so.
As is was when I got it:

 

I'm the 3rd owner on my 61 Dodge I purchased in 1992. originally sold in Sunnyvale Ca.. I have a booklet from the dealership with the OG owners address in Burlingame. it still lives 20 miles from the dealership that sold it.

 

Mine used to reside in the St. Paul area, near the state fairgrounds. It’s been inoperable since ‘73/‘74. Some “gangsta’s” must have busted the window out in ‘71 looking for loot. I would have stopped them, but I wasn’t born yet.

 

I bought mine out of a backyard in riverside where it had for 10 years. The guy that I bought it from bought it in Mexico and it Was sitting there for years. So who knows when it made it to Mexico and how long it was there. It's got a Mexican vin tag on it

 

Hello,

Our first Model A coupe we bought and thought we were going to make it a dual purpose street daily driver and weekend drag racer was found by me. We had almost two mile walk to school during our junior high school days. We always walked to meet our friends along the way and took the same streets daily for the time in school. So, we were accustomed to seeing the same tract houses and cars on the same street each day.

One just can’t help but notice cars in the driveway and backyard to be fixed or covered up for some reason. We used to see this old couple driving around in a well worn Model A coupe. Then for a while, the same lady was driving a newer Chevy sedan. and finally, we saw the Model A coupe in the rear yard covered up with a canvas tarp. The wind had blown it partially off and we could see the structure.

Either the husband died and she did not like driving the Model A coupe, so she stored it outside of the single car garage. My brother walked a different route to school, due to different friends houses along the way. So, he never walked down the street where the Model A coupe sat, under an old canvas tarp. But, for some reason, several of our own age group friends lived on this street and it all led to one of our afterschool stop overs... a giant pickle factory on the corner lot. It was a mixed use area for homes and industry.

Jnaki

When my brother was talking about getting a Model A coupe and putting a SBC motor in it, he really wanted to compete against his friend with a 34 5 window coupe and big Oldsmobile motor. That was a true daily driver to high school and spent almost every weekend at Lion’s Dragstrip. it was in the A/Gas class with 6 carbs and a 3 speed LaSalle transmission.

So, when I told my brother about the Model A coupe I saw in this lady’s backyard on the way to junior high school, he instantly wanted to go see it for the idea of buying it on the spot.

We saw the coupe and the lady was glad someone wanted to buy it. She did not like driving it around and liked her new Chevy sedan much better. So, it had been in the yard for at least a year. My brother offered a fair price and she came right back with if you take it today, right now, you can have it for half of your cost.

We rolled it out to the street, hooked up the large ship, dock line we had and I got to steer it all the way home. My brother’s 51 Oldsmobile sedan only had one bumper incident when we got crossed up going through a busy intersection and the dock line rope got a little slack, then tightened.

But, it was now our first hot rod coupe, ready to start our journey. (short lived as it was in 1957)