My neighbor a few years ago inherited a '37 Ford woody from his late father. He and his teenage son drove it a little, then parked it and cleaned it up, inside & out. They advertised it in Hemmings, and at the worst possible time, the car made a "Clunk!" and stopped moving. They pushed it home, 1 block, put it in the garage, and the owner came over, asking if I could take a look. The engine started right up, I put it in low, engaged the clutch, and the speedo went to 15...I shifted, car won't move, speedo up to 25...I shut the engine off. "Remove the rear hubcaps.." they pull the caps, we try it again...no axles turning...I crawl under, can hear the driveshaft turning at the rear of the torque tube. We jacked it up, and they disconnected everything to pull the rear. They wanted to drain it, so I went home to eat. Two days later, the owner comes over...he had fixed the problem, the buyer came from L.A. and drove it away, his wife following. (sold it for 12,5K) I asked what he found: he said "The drive pin was broken." (Drive Pin? At the splined coupler??) He says, "There's no splines in there. It's machined round, and just slides over. The PIN drives the car." I took him out to the garage, showed him a coupler. He said, "Not on '37, they just use a pin." I thought about the L.A. buyer, and the long trip home...and the grapevine... A few days later, I asked if he got a phone call. "Nope." No news is good news...
'37 Ford Woody for "12,5K" and drove it away..that's a bigger mystery to me. A steal like that, and a guy could afford a long tow charge.
The Jalopy Journal
