Okay, I've been around for a few years and never got around to this....I'm a one finger typist and knew it would take a while so I kept putting it off.... Enough excuses - here it goes. I'm a young (my wife would say juvenile) 62. Been into hotrods as long as I can remember. Built models as a kid and lusted after anything automotive. First car at 16 was a 57 Ford Country Squire with a 312 that a previous owner had converted to a 3 speed on the floor. I had this thing for less than a year but it taught me a lot. Ended up wrecking it on Easter 1967 in the rain when the vacuum wipers failed. Next car was a rusty 61 Chevy convertible purchased for $125. 283 (FULL of sludge) 'glide, 308. Within 6 months it had a 327 300 hp ($100), and a T-10 4 speed with a Hurst shifter ($75). The stick conversion parts came from a donor car I found at a local farmer's. He had a 61 Biscayne with a bad 283 rusting by his barn with a 3 speed and lots of other useable parts. I got to take everything I wanted for $15. The thing ran okay with the 3 speed when I originally converted it, but the T-10 was close ratio (220 first gear) and did not play nice with the 3.08 rear end. You basically had to slide the clutch for about half a block to get the thing rolling. First chance I got....new rearend gears. I ordered them from "Honest Charlies" (anybody remember that?) In for a penny, in for a pound...I got 4.56's. I think I paid 29.95 for the gears and another 10 bucks or so for the spacer and bolts needed to install them in a 3 series carrier. Did I forget to mention that the cam in the 327 was now a Crower M-310F solid lifter job that really liked to spin? At about this time I saw the car that I would never be able to forget. It was parked in the lot of an abandoned service station at the corner of Rt. 46 and Salt Springs Rd. in Mineral Ridge, Ohio. It was a 30-31 Coupe, Eastern style (channelled, no chop) with a tri-power 348 and a 4 speed. As I recall, the asking price was like $400 - but it may as well have been 1,000,000. Just no way I could raise it. Never forgot it though... I'll bypass some interesting anecdotes here because I'm tired of typing and go on to the next car. After my freshman year of college (Kent State - the May 4 year) I bought a nice 57 210 sedan from a local guy who had spun some bearings, parked it behind his house and finally admitted he was never going to fix it. I bought it for $400 (oh.... now we have $400) and stuck my 327 in it. The paint was a heavy metallic green - almost a green flake, and had oxidized so badly sitting out there in the sun so as not to be salvageable. I shot it the silver blue you see in the pictures....looked great. I drove it for 2 years - lots of great memories, then got the Corvette bug. I'll never forget when I first saw the "Stingray" gen 2 Corvette first advertised on "Bonanza" in 1963. I had to have one of these things. It was Spring '72 and I was going to Florida for Spring Break. I had an idea and asked my dad if he'd sign for a loan for me to buy a Vette if I skipped Spring break and worked and put everything I'd saved toward the car. He agreed and we went shopping. First car we looked at was at Newhard Auto Sales in Austintown, Ohio (at the time they specialized in Vettes). They had a perfect 67 roadster, both tops, 427-435. Somebody had replaced the trips with a single 4 barrel.....but they were part of the deal and included with the car. They wanted $2,395 and said they wouldn't take anything less than $2,250. None of that is a misprint - this was 1972. Believe it or not, this was still a bit rich for my college student blood, so I kept looking. 2 days later I found my car in the paper.....65 roadster, 2 tops, red, 327, rally wheels, $1,300. Dickering went like this: (me) "take a grand for it?" (him) "we'll see, I got another guy coming to see it in half an hour" (me) "I'll write you a check for $300 and have the balance when I pick it up." I kept this thing for over 30 years....long after the passion died. Finally sold it for an obscene sum to finance another build and contribute to my son's college expenses, and after re-evaluating my desires am deep into the build of the car I wanted all along....my '30 coupe. I'll post a thread on it soon. It'll scare the shit out of you - I know it did me.
The Jalopy Journal
