I don't think I've ever set out to buy or look for a hot rod. There seems to be a higher force at work here. I won't boor you with the long weird stories on how my cars seem to have found me. On the few times that I had a wad of cash from a sale, nothing has ever lit my fire. I've always had to jump through hoops to figure a way to get that car that just jumps out of nowhere and grabs me by the throat. I'm usually just minding my own business when WHAM! out of the blue...there she is. I don't think it would be any fun to have unlimited funds. Part of the fun is the creative way we "get 'er done" when it's absolutely necessary!
watched every Local to my state car sales site (auto shopper, car soup,egay Hemmings etc .) as well as every car board i belong to, became a car/parts whore until I had enough to get what I wanted. ,found it only EIGHT miles away in a guys shop on car soup,never even knew he was there working. In fact I was next door only last summer looking at a 63 409 Imp.,never saw a thing
I love that car man, it looks good with the steelies, i've seen it around, and i must say it sounds real tuff, what happend to the superlites, and bug catcher?
Old fashioned inheratence. Actually dad lost interest in restoring it an antique original. Waited a few years then hot rodded it. I'm sure he'll talk to me again someday!
i found the nastiest rustiest one i could find and a good one that ran, took the wife to the p.o.s. first and stayed there about hour and half talking to the guy and going honey what ya think i could fix it. when we left there she said you dont really want that thing do you there is nothing there but rust. played it up about being cheap. the next one ran and was all there. she said you should get this one its nice. i quickly said OK we were there 10 mins. see ya Richard
Found my 30 tudor at my friends neighbor house. He started building it up but was hurting from being old and illness. Asked me if I wanted to finish it...ahhhh ok. $3500 bucks with a rebuild 327, ford 9inch, 4 speed munchie(how ever its spelled) body work 95 percent thier and a bitchen 1970's interior job. Tha car painted rootbeer brown with a slight metal flake. $3500 bucks. Winnier Winnier chicken dinnier.
Well I guess growing up in Kansas has a couple of advantages, there are still a few farmers around with vintage tin just waiting to be snatched up. These are not mine YET, but hopefully soon! I'll try to give a Readers' Digest version of the story behind them. There was this very small town mechanic (No way in hell I'm saying where!) that needed a place to store some cars. Asks an old farmer if he can store some for him. Mechanic dies (He was old!). Farmer says to late mechanics wife "What about all those cars? "She says "I don't want the damn things!" Farmer does not want them either. Enter me, I'm trying like hell to find a place to store them or at least the wagon. Also know of another barn that holds a '51 Chevy and a '56 Chevy, but have not personally seen them to know exactly what shape they're in. I really hope this is going to be a case of "Haul 'em off and there yers!"
My GF's sister had owned my '58 Bel Air since '83. She bought it from the original owner with 23K original miles. When she decided to sell it (114k original miles) she offered it to me for $800. I jumped on it.
I found my 1935 Tudor sitting next to a convienience store (Circle K I think) in Kingman Arizona in about 1998 or 1999, the owner of the store let some old desert rat from Hackberry park it there with a for sale sign on it. A phone call later was fruitless.....the guy obviously bumped his head and wanted a zillion dollars for it because his buddy told him it was worth a King's ransom. I told him to call me back when he really decides to sell it for cash. To make a long story short, several phone calls and counter offers later (and several months) I went to pick it up for what I originally offered him. Flower's roadster milk truck was built from the "parts heap"....."A" rails from a forgotton project, swapped a Chevy motor for my son's 8BA, 8 inch Ford from a friend's "Pro Street" Mustang project and a multitude of pieces from the shed out back and from under my son's bench (he lives next door).
My 47 Mercury came from an old man who inherited it from his son. The son had acquired it from his uncle who was the original owner. My Jeep came from my father in law. I bought my 71 Mustang from the original owner. Various other old cars follow me home at other times. I try to sell them so that I can stay focused on my Mercury. After nearly a decade, it is nearly on the road. I can't afford to let it languish much longer. It would be a shame to die now because my wife wouldn't know what to do with all of my crap.
Got the body from a friend who owed me a favor (I had given him a motorless Mazda RX-7 for a V-8 installation project with his foster son, a few years earlier). He had bought this truck - as a '32 Chevy - several years earlier. Started to hot rod it (rough top chop, Nova front end, etc.), but lost interest and had neglected it outdoors for several years. He was cleaning up around his workshop and offered it to me free for the taking (provided that I build a hot rod with it), along with several other misc. parts (steering gear and wheel, junk front fenders, windshield frame, 31 Chevy radiator and shell, etc.). It turned out to be a '34/5 International instead of a Chevy. I'm making it into a '60s style RPU. Second photo shows the body at present. The rest of the parts I've picked up at swap meets over the last three or four years. I have a motor (292 Chevy inline six, of course! - with an Offy triple-carb intake and Mallory dual-point distributor), aluminum flywheel, Lakewood-style bellhousing, Saginaw 4-speed w/Hurst shifter), '65 Pontiac posi rear end (with finned aluminum cover), chrome '30s Chevy headlight bar and buckets, '60s-era Sun tach, 15-gallon fuel cell, 48 Chevy taillight lenses, '54 Chevy spindles and period-correct Airheart disc brakes for the front, and a few more goodies I can't recall at the moment. So far, I have well under $2,000 in everything - but it starts getting expensive now (engine parts and machine work, front axle, scratch-built frame with torsion bar front suspension, scratch-built PU box, wheels and tires, interior, etc.). My budget is $5K. Think I can do it?
Found my 50 ford at pomona swapmeet.I went looking for one,and found the only one that day for sale.It was all the way in the back sittin on a trailer.I called the # and told the guy i wanted his car...he ended up going home and left his car there for the day.He said he would be there in two hrs,I ripped the for sale sign off and sat on the trailer waiting for him.Every 2 mins someone came buy asking me if it was for sale.
I Built this one from scratch...including the body and frame. If you're interested in seeing the construction you can click here http://www.hotrodders.com/forum/journal.php?action=view&journalid=17166
I've bought cars out of the Swap Sheet ('57 Pontiac), Hemmings ('60 Pontiac I drove for years), out of junkyards ('40 Buick, possibly a couple of A's this summer, plus a number of cars I resold), internet (swapped motor parts for a '72 Pontiac with no motor). eBay ('58 Rambler that I dont know why I bought), and the '50 Chevy I was selling my crap at a car show and a guy asks me if I know anyone who'd want a '49 Chevy that runs for $200. That was a nice deal because I also bought a '66 Impala with no motor for another $100, I was able to flat tow both, and I resold the '66 2 weeks later for $750. None of the others were very expensive. Oh yeah, and I have enough stuff (except one spring) to put a rolling chassis together for an A with parts that were all free, including a front axle with '40 brakes and split bones and a 40-ish rearend (got those thanks to the HAMB and a drive to Niagara Falls). The frame I got from my dad's old mechanic, and it came with a nice hood. I had a $20 cowl for a while but when someone offered me $75 for it I said goodbye. Now, I just need to finsih something -
The '48 Chevy Delivery I just sold was practically a gift. My brother's best friend said I could have it for $250 if I came and got it. Down side was that he lived in Iowa and I'm in Ohio. For $250 and it being my first hot rod, I drug an empty trailer out there and brought it home. About 8 months later I was telling a friend of my wife about the delivery and she stopped me and asked if I wanted a another car. I asked her what she had and she said it was either a 32 or a 34. At that point, I didn't care, I just wanted it. She called her husband and let me talk to him. Turned out being a 34 5W in pieces, all steel witha title and that was enough for me. I told him I wanted it and he insisted on me coming over to look at it before I made up my mind. I got over there and it was better then I expected. We settled on a price and they even insisted on me taking it home and making payments to them because they knew how bad I wwanted it and they knew I was gonaa hot rod it, which is what they intended on doing 22 years previously when they bought it. Vance
Larry, Which picture is before and which is after....hahahahaha...(too bad ya had to take more out of the top ....there goes that laughing again) Skot
Found my '33 Chevy in a pasture by my Grandparents ranch, turns out to be the car my Great-Grandpa used to own. $100 took 'er home....minimal rust but she needs floorpans built...
I was looking at a '30 Chevy coupe ex drag car at the Cedar Rapids Iowa swap meet last fall. Commented to my buddy that I needed to find one still in somebodys shed so I could afford it. Guy standing behind me said,"I've got a '31 in my shed". A week later I owned it.
I was downsized in September. In February I dropped by a guy's house that I had talked to on the phone but never met. He mentioned another guy's name that lives one road west of me. I met him and he told be about another guy. This other guy told me about a '39 Sedan behind a guy's place of business. It had been there about ten years. I called the guy and bought it CHEAP! Then the guy I bought it from hired me. I'm employed again and have the car of my dreams! Rod
Got mine by accident in the back room at All Ford in Campbell, CA. Was just in the store looking at parts and dreaming, looking at the for sale ads on the wall. John(the guy to ask for if you ever go there) asked what I was looking for and told me about a car in the warehouse...I went back and saw an almost complete 1930 Model A Sport Coupe! I could hardly contain myself, especially after I heard the price. I went home and got the rest of the money(as I already had a couple hundred in my pocket because I was on my way to look at a shoebox I was considerring buying!) and a friend with a tow truck dragged it home. I immediately stripped the running boards and fenders, and most of the roof(which was already pretty gone)...I was so excited that I rescheduled a couple tattoo appts. to do this, if I recall correctly. I remember after doing this, I immediately started the search for brakes, front axle, wheels...what a fun time.
I bought my 31 A truck out of the Recycler (Classifieds paper).I bought my 58 ford wagon from a local guy. I saw it sitting in his yard for a few years when I first moved here. Always wondering... He put an ad in the paper and I bought it. It hasnt been on the road since 1966. I was at the LA roadster show selling stuff and I had a sign up for 32 Chrysler parts wanted. I had recently traded for a 4dr Body with dorrs, but had nothing else. A nice old guy came up and asked if 26 Chrysler parts would work for me. I said no, but what do you have? The whole car. It runs, I want $300 for it. Turns out he was local and I bought it!! Still have it. Currently collecting stuff to make a hotrod out of it.
randomly in the paper, dad told me to look when we were talkin one day, i NEVER check local paper... same day had a 39 chev 2 door for $1000, and a 63 bel air for $600.... guess why i took this one, LOL... i shall NEVER regret the decision.... i think shes gonna be done by the pileup, thats my goal... cant wait to see you boys there..
Here is the day I brought mine home from a farm. I went there to buy a 454 and ended up dragging this 30 home.
'Bout everything I own right now came from eBay including my later model drivers. My '63 and '64 Fords came from the "Cars nobody freakin' wants!" catagory... Out of the 7 cars I've bought from the 'Bay, I only inspected one beforehand..the '63, and that's because it was just up the road 5 miles. It's either dumb luck or a knack of knowing whether the seller is being honest or not, but all my cars have been exactly as I'd expected.
The Jalopy Journal
