Wild Stories about finding and getting that old tin home!

My story is just getting it home. 62 Falcon, sat for a while before I bought it, limped it home (about 45 minutes with it stalling at every stop). 100 degrees out, and I'm sweating balls. Something tickling my leg the whole way home. Get it home, look under the dash, and about 3 good size black widows hanging out by the brake pedal. Out came the starting fluid and a lighter (out of bug spray)
I hate black widows
Erron

 

Not as good as some, and I already posted it when i joined, but...
I found a 40 Plymouth in the "Papershop". We drive out to the middle of nowhere to check it out, and pull up into the driveway. There are trailers to the left, cars all over, and a trailer to the right with junk piled to the roof.
The Plym has a creepy mannequin in the back and a scythe laid acroos the seats. The guy hops in to drive it, and has the handle of the scythe bouncing off of his wrist as he shifts. Later, his little kid wants to show us his pigs. Turns out the guy's neighbors protested so he couldn't get a dealer's license, so he bought his kid 2 pigs and put them right up against the neighbor's property. Tells me for every car he sells, he's buying 2 more pigs to piss off the neighbors some more. While we're watching the guy throw rotting fruit to the pigs, a goat and a bulldog come up behind us. The guy's tenant tells us "the goat is unique, it has both sexes." There was just a string of other things that were such a surreal, but not all that surprising piece of backwoods PA. He ensured me that he was going to buy 2 more pigs as we drove to the notary for the title transfer.

 

When I was working in the Bay Area in 2001 I scored a basket case 51 Victoria.

Moved it from one friends house to another for three months until I was due to come home. (Thanks guys)

Had to get it from San Jose to Longbeach overnight to go into a conatiner and be back at work in San Jose by 10 am.....gonna be a long night.

I hired an F150 because it was the only thing that the hire place had been too lazy to remove the tow hitch from. Bought a hitch insert, tow ball and lock from Pep Boys and head off to get a trailer as a one way hire from U-Haul.

Did a days work then tried to load the 51 up. No winch. Carpark at the condo's was too small to turn around so I loaded it front first....no engine in the car. Mail man arrived at the right time and helped me push it on.

Grabbed a couple of hours sleep and headed south on 101 . Didn't get over 50 mile an hour until I turned east to head over to route 5.

First time I got some open road was on a windy section. Doing about 70 when the trailer started tank slapping BIG TIME. Lifted the back wheels of the F150 off the ground and suddenly I was doing a 8 wheel drift accross 4 lanes.

Tramped it flat too the floor and managed to accelerate out of the tank slapper, but then it took about 2-3 miles too slow it back down.

Kroozed at about 50 until I got too the truck stop on route 5 and stopped for a midnight feed.

Unloaded the 51, turned the truck and trailer around and tried to push it back on........real hard going untill it suddenly got real easy. 4 Truckies had taken pitty on me and started helping push. Gave them a six pack of Dos Eques and headed on my way.

Towing real well now so I put the pedal down. 100 mph all the way down the 5 towards LA.

BY about 3 am I was starting to nod off, so I wound all the windows down and cranked the CD up to full noise to keep me awake.

I was kroozing along real happy when I noticed all the big rigs were in the slow lane crawling along. Looked at the dash and the tacho was on 7000 RPM.......I was on the grapevine hill and climbing. I had the stereo on so load I didn't here the poor 460 reving it's guts out......had less than 4000 miles on the clock when I picked it up....guess it's "run in" after this little trip

Got into longbeach at 6am, unloaded, dropped the trailer off then headed back for the Bay Area.

110 mph the whole way, made it back to work a "couple of hours late". Worked until midnight then went down to the "fuel" in San Jose to catch "Cave Cat Sammy" from Texas.....got home at dawn

Slept pretty well that night.....

 

This is something I will never forget.About 15 years ago my dad`s friend had told me about a old coupe that his friend had sitting in a building out in the country and said he would sell it cheap because there was no motor,trans and basically just a shell and it would need alot of work.Me being a carnut that I am wanted to go look that evening but was told we would set it up for that weekend.Saturday comes and off we go on a 30+mile trip in the country to his friend`s farm.We finally get there and the guy takes us into this building to show us the '' old car '' a 40 Willys coupe. I`m all over this thing like white on rice.This car is an old drag car that the guy use to race in the 60`s I mean old slicks,SW gauges,straight axle,the works.I`m goin nut`s about this thing.So after my heart stopped pounding outa my chest & I catch my breath I ask the guy HOW MUCH? Knowing I can`t afford it & he say`s ''well I was kinda wantin to get a thousand dollars out of it,but hell since your a friend of Gene`s how`s five hundred sound? I about ripped my jean pocket tryin to get my wallet out out of my pants to give him the money.The guy leaves to go in the house and after about 15 minutes he comes back out with a stack of envelopes & papers that he said went with the car[Title,some pictures when he raced it and some old time slips from IRP.Since we didn`t bring a trailer I told him I would be back that next day to pick it up and he said the was no hurry because it wasn`t going nowhere till I was ready to get it. Being that I had no trailer & had to borrow one I call my race buddy that night to arrange to borrow his truck & trailer Sunday and he said that was fine. Sunday morning comes and my buddy & I go load up my new hot rod. After about an hour or so of listining to this guy`s stories about racing [ very cool ] we hit the road back to my place, talking about how cool this things gonna be all the way home.About ten blocks from my house we take a right around this corner and we feel this ''pop,clunk,jerk and the next thing that happened was horrible.The trailer,car and all came off the hitch & took off straight into the front of a Standard gas station. I mean this thing was moving like it was under its own power. The thing completely wiped out both garage doors,two cars that were inside & demolish the coupe.I was in shock for about what seemed like an hour. Being Sunday they were closed,thank god,so my friend walked down to tell my dad what had happened since he knew the owner of the station. Needless to say my ass was in a sling, and I had no idea how I was gonna get out of this mess. Well anyway after all was said and done I wound up having to pay some 20.000 dollars to the station owner for damages. The guys truck had no insurance & my company wouldn`t pay.This all happened becuase the trailer had a 2-3/8'' toungue on it and the truck had a 2'' ball ! The guy that owned the truck say`s '' OH YEAH I FORGOT I HAD TO TOW MY BOAT AND I GUESS I FORGOT TO CHANGE THE BALL BACK''

 

About a month ago me and slickmick went to this model a swap in riverside for the first time.About 100 yards from the entrance there is this old house on the corner and i saw this steering wheel sticking up in his yard and said remind me to go look on the way home.Well on the way back we stopped and talked to this guy and he said he would sell it..Turned out to be this little doodle bug chassis that someone built out of a late 40's chassis with duallies on the back made from 2 40'ford rims welded together...all complete rolling and steering except engine....48' frontend,rearend,39'trans,brakes etc...then i noticed another rearend sitting near by under an old tarp also complete.....the only problem was i almost broke my wrist getting into my wallet when i asked the guy how much for everything......$35

best part is that swapmeet has been there for years

oh yeah at the swap we bought a 30' ford coupe with frame,grillshell,hood and side covers,old drop axle w/split bones and spring,55'rearend w/ladder bars and rear spring,brand new wood kit,all mounting hardware,4 tires and rims.........$1300

 

It was a'65 T-Bird (Yes I know a little too new for here) that I went to look at with my girlfriend. I looked at it, drove it checked it all over and everything was acceptable for the $600 asking price. I agree to buy and come back the next day with the cash.

I return the next night to the shop where I originally saw the car. I make the deal and ask for the title. "Got no title" the dude says. Stupid me never asked the night before and he never mentioned it. I'm reluctant but I talk myself into believing that I can get a title for it. So, I fork over the cash, jump in and proceed to drive the 25 miles home with the girlfriend follwing in her car.

It's November and chilly and raining. About 8 miles down the road the heater craps out. 2 miles later I can't see out the foggy windshield. 3 more miles and the power steering starts to crap out along with the wipers. (Wipers were hydraulic off the power steering in this model) So, I've got a foggy windshield, no wipers, Armstrong steering and the now power windows won't work. I can't even roll down the window to see where in the hell I'm going.

I'm about halfway home in this heap and the carb starts leaking like a seive. Gas fumes in the car with no heat, no working windows, no wipers!!! I can just hear the girlfriend now "*&^&$#@()($%!! ($^(*!#)) ))@&$#%$%&*@_!&$^ car!!!!! Oh boy, I wanna drive this POS into the river.

I finally get home, back it into our parking space, put it in park and hop out to kick the F'ing thing. As I shut the door I see the gear selector fall into R (as in REVERSE) and watch as the car rolls backward onto the landlord's yard.

I catch the damn thing, jump in, hit the brake pedal which promptly turns to marshmallow and sinks to the floor as the car sputters to a stop. Fire it up, put it in Drive, gently give gas only to hear the sound of a spinning tire and feel the car sink into the soft ground.

Back and forth I'm trying to get this thing out of the yard, I'm leaving ruts and can only go backwards. The landlord hears the commotion, comes out onto the deck and yells, "I don't care about yard, just don't hit the fucking Lincoln!" I didn't even see his Lincoln a mere 12 feet away because the rear window is fogged up. I eventually managed to drive it backwards onto the landlord's drive, out into the street, around the block and back into our parking space where I shut the damn thing off. Finally home. Oh but wait, there's more to this saga.

I went to the DMV the next day to get a lost title. NOPE, sorry, the car has to be at least 40 years old to apply for a lost title. The DMV lady was very nice and explained that in Illinois you have to have a title to sell a car as a car and not just for parts. If they didn't have a title, the seller is legally obligated to refund your money and take the car back. She say to go see the seller and ask for a refund. If there's trouble call the local Secretary of State office and request an officer come out.

I hopped into a reliable vehicle and drove the 25 miles back to the seller's shop, get out and pull on the shop door handle. It's locked. I look in the window, the shop is empty. I look over the fence at the yard in back. Yep - empty. I went across the street to the 7/11 and ask about the shop. The clerk says, "I dunno where they are now but they were there yesterday." It's like the fricking Twilight Zone. They are gone. All 20+ cars in the rea lot are gone, the shop is empty and most painful of all, my cash is gone too.

Well, I came home and had a few beers and just had to laugh. I eventually sold it to a guy with a good VIN tag and title for the same $600 I had in it. But the girlriend, well - she became the wife and NEVER let me forget that one. Even though we're divorced now, I hear about it occasionally....

 

I have a couple good ones, but they don't involve old tin so much...

When I was 17 we bought a '74 Dodge 3/4 ton 4x4 with a plow to resell, me and a buddy. So we go out to this place with my parent's Buick (a cream puff my grandparents gave them when they got their last new car) to pick it up figuring to just drive it without plates. The guy lives on a dirt road about 1/2 a mile off the main road.

So I come up easy on the dirt road and get to the end where my buddy is ahead of me in my folks car waiting to turn out... I hit the brakes and it goes to the floor, a line popped. We weren't even smart enough to look that stuff over at the time...

So okay, he needs to move or I am going to hit my folks car. So I hit the horn. You guessed it - nothing. So I swung to the right a bit to try to miss him. I clipped the corner of the bumper and tore off a rubber/plastic strip on that side of the bumper, meanwhile the plow nailed a telephone pole so hard it busted a weld and popped around it and the pole stopped me. There was some kind of little metal box in front of it that I killed.

The guy comes up and offers to take the blame on it so we don't have our parents suing him over the brakes being bad I guess.. and we left.

We got that truck up to the high school a week later towing it with a towbar and a rented clamp on bumper hitch from U-haul (do they even rent those anymore?) - with that same Buick. In fact we killed the 200R4 in about 40,000 miles with all the stuff we towed.


Later on I bought a '59 Olds sedan from a guy. He towed it to my grandmother's house where I kept it for a while. It was winter and he couldn't figure out how to back it in the driveway. The pickup had no traction to push it on the crappy road. So to get it in there he backs up and rams the thing hard in the back.. which did get it in there, with a nice dent in the corner of the trunk lid and one in the bumper to match. I was pissed, but didn't say anything.


Then there was that '58 Chevy Sedan Delivery I bought this summer. The guy in the junkyard used his tractor to pull the trailer back to where it was. Trailer has the ball and reciever permanently on it, apparently if you take it off it may not latch again... so it's just kind of chained on to go back there. We ended up using the bulldozer to pick it up and carry it over because we couldn't get around the trees on the 90' turn we had to make.

Once back there it had to be picked up in the air and rotated around to face the front of the car. Then we picked up the front of the car way up in the air, and shoved the trailer under it. Once it was about halfway on, we put it down, picked it up from behind through the back window chained to the rearend. Then I cranked it ahead with the hand winch while he eased it up with the dozer. Then we used the tractor to pull the whole mess back out to the main driveway.

I don't know how that car didn't break, when I sold it 2 weeks later the guy who got it didn't have a good winch and we ended up cutting the floors over the rear wheelwells and taking the fenders off. The frame was broken at the cowl just about completely, we finished it off with a couple cuts from a recip saw. All he took was the grille and bumper with a frame stub and the main body shell, sort of like the top to a 1/25th model car kit. Good thing he had a trailer with a deck on it. We literally hand carried it onto his trailer, mostly me under the middle bent over using my legs to lift it.

Supposedly, he's going to cut down another '58 and use the top of this on it to make a sedan delivery. Beats being crushed... but I still have about $50 of scrap leftover from the frame, rearend, front suspension all laying here.


I should get my buddy to tell the story of how he found a '34 Ford cabriolet up in the woods in the Adarondacks. He had to make a road to get it out, but he did bring it home. Somewhere there is a Model A sport coupe I could get free - same deal, no road. If it was a 5-window I'd have gone after it already though.

 

I was mushroom hunting on my grandfathers place in the upper part of the lower penisula of Michigan. About 1/2 mile back in the woods, I find a 31 Model A, compeletely disassembled, stacked under a tree. Everything was there, but every bolt, nut, and washer was missing. Took two of us most of a day to carry it out, about 10 trips.

 

out cruising around one day in '99, i found a seemingly nice looking 68 chrysler newport. it was near a horse barn and had been sitting there for around 10 years. i stopped and asked the old guy whose house it was in front of if it was up for sale. he says "sure, youll want to look it over first im sure so ill turn off the electric fence for you." the fence of course was to keep the horse in. so i went out to where the car was and saw that the rear end needed to be put back into the car, but everything else looked pretty good. 440 motor , disk brakes, cruise, a/c, tilt wheel, power seats, everything. i was informed at the time i could take it home for $350. well i said great, ill just get a hook truck and be back here next weekend.

next weekend arrives and my plan is to get the hook truck and yank the car out from the back and just carry the rearend on the bed. well my source for the truck was my brother. he informed me that his boss wasnt going to let the truck be used that weekend by anybody because he had plans for it. but my bro was in for helping me out, because he wanted to see this car too. well that left me to call a regular company. after 5 tries i got a hold of a guy who said he'd send someone out at 9:00 am. the driver shows up in a roll back about an hour late. i told the driver this ain't gonna work, because the car has no rear in it. "aw hell" he says, " i can get it, theres nothing i can't get on here". so thinking i had a world-class rigger here, i said lets go.

well he was to follow me, even though he said he knew exactly what street it was on etc. he makes a bad turn while "following me" and gets lost a bit and has to turn around and find us again. this brainiac has wasted another 30 minutes. we finally get to the old guys house and there he is wondering why it took nearly 2 hours to get from my place only 10 minutes away.
well we start to back the truck up to the barn, and i notice the ground seems awful soft back here. especially seeing how we have a rollback that you could put a semi on (great big international truck). we go as far back as we can when my brother yells "stop, i need to move this wire up".so he lifts this wire and screams like a girl. the old fart never turned off the damn juice! whats worse is he is hard of hearing and is in the house with his wife. my brother said he cant let go because it will hit the truck now and it will f--k it up. so i go running to the house and yell at the old man to turn off the fence, like 3 times. so he comes out and finally my brother has some relief, but he was bitching the entire time.

we finally get the truck to a point where we can get this car moved and low and behold, the trucker said, " hey this cars got no rear wheels". no s--t sherlock, i told him that before we ever got started but he must have not have had his 3rd cup of coffee by that time i guess. so now im wondering what to do. well we did manage to get the tail of the rollbacks bed under the back bumper and i got my bro to help me put the rear back under it. low and behold, the rear wasnt going to fit. it was out of a damn truck! at some point the old man had his son driving the car and the son decided it was time to replace it. apparently the son thought all chryco 8 3/4's are the same, but he was wrong, but didnt make this deduction until after he threw the original away.

well s--t...now im forced to put the rear in and log chain it to the springs with some stuff the trucker had, who just sat and stared as my bro and i put all this crap together.

well now its rolling and its on the bed...phew. im thinking well the worst is over lets get home. wrong. as we start to pull out the truck starts to sink into the ground. OH S--T!, we still have 50 yards to go before were back on a driveway too. well now the trucker panics and guns it, spinning the wheels and digging himself into the ground, damn. well my bro has the idea, set the ramp on the ground and push up the bed to get the rear tires out of the hole. then well set some boards under it and if the driver guns it he should be able to clear the yard and get back on the driveway. now we explained the plan in full detail to the trucker and he seemed to understand it and had the wheels off the ground in no time. the old guy had a stack of pressure treated 2x12's he let us use, because he was having a good time watching all the goings on.
meanwhile we are also being stared at by another old guy i have no idea where he came from, but he was there, not saying a word.

we set the truck back down on the boards and i yell at the trucker, "F--K'IN GO MAN!. this guy then proceeds to gear all the way back to 1st, thinking hes gonna chugga-chug it....damn. he rolls to the end of the boards and there we are again... idiot. now we have two ruts in this guys yard, old man #1 is laughing his ass off and old man #2 is walking back to his house murmurring something that i dont even hear.

so the plan got us 12 feet closer to home. with a re-cap of what hes supposed to do we tell the trucker where he screwed up and he agrees to try it again, but this time doing it right. so we get the truck back on boards but this time we laid enough out to get him 24 feet down the way, that should be enough to get him really rolling. trucker takes off and damn hes in 1st again! goes twelve feet and misses a shift and rolls to the end of the boards where he guns it kicking the boards out from under the wheels barely missing my brother's gut. damn i wish this guy could drive a truck.

now im mad. i start to walk around the cab to go bawl the trucker out and i round the left front fender and HOLY S--T!, old man #2 is there with a shotgun pointed at the trucker in the cab with his hands up and a .38 in his pants. OH F--K!!! me and my bro run around to the other side of the truck hollering at the guy to put the gun down. he comes around to our side and now i have the shotgun pointed at me and my bro with the old man #2 shouting, "who the hell is gonna fix my yard!"

as it turns out we were ripping ruts in the neighbors yard all day, but old man #1 failed to tell us so. there were no markers or boundary lines but apparently the line is on a crook and we were clearly in violation of the old man's sacred land. it was about that time we heard the rollback moving and saw the trucker on the otherside saying , "im dumping this crap and going back to dispatch, to hell with all of this." well, i take on the old man #2 and reassure him that his yard will be fixed and my brother sells the trucker on keeping the car on the bed and finishing the job. meanwhile old man #1 calls the county sheriffs.

"whyd you do that?" i asked the old man#1. he said i didnt want anyone getting shot. so now we have to wait for the cops to come out...great. old man #2 suddenly realized the cops are coming and he has a gun, so he goes running back into his house. while hes gone i tell the trucker were gonna try this thing one more time and if it doesnt work he may leave. he agrees and this time he actually drove the truck like he was supposed to, getting it back into the driveway. the cops show up and want to know whats going on. the old man #2 comes out of his house without his shotgun, but still has his .38 in his pants, stuffed in his belt line up front. he mustve forgot it was there.

well as soon as the countie mounties see this they draw theirs. OH SHIT somebody is gonna get killed, because the old man has to be out of his gourd.
"PUT THE GUN DOWN !" is what you hear and the old man says "what gun?" "the one in your pants, sir" "oh, im sorry i didnt remember i had that one" sheesh... how do you forget you have a gun in your pants?

well, everything was settled. old man #2 had decided at the end it wasnt even worth fixing and let us off the hook. it kills me because just minutes ago he was going to take us out. the cops take his guns into their possesion and tell him to call them before ever pulling out a piece again. no one gets arrested and they dont even ask about everybody's roles in todays fiasco.

we finally get the truck back to my house and unloading it the driver just about ripped my garage door out of it's channels. as soon as he had it dropped he pulled out on the road, never to be seen again. he never got paid or even got his chains back. i guess he just wanted to get the hell outta there... i dont blame him for that.

thats my story. some other day i may tell the tale of how this car almost killed me when pulling the gas tank.

 

BAhahahahahahahahahaha! That one cracked me up! That is too funny..

 

My latest grab is a good story. I been wantin an old Chevy truck. Spied this 54 I got 3yrs ago. Not bad, had a V8 already in it, basically an old attempt. They were pretty proud I thought, at $2500. So I keep lookin. I live in Monroe County MI so an old truck should be easy right? I prolly have 3-400 miles of "wander-lust" looking as well as countless trader books strewn throughout the house, shop cars, etc.


I take dad by to see "the one I been talkin about", now 2 1/2 yrs later and still there. I did notice many for sale signs on the surrounding farm land and on their house as well. Now mind you the kid's mom said he can't take less than $2300 for it when I talked to them...a year after I'd first seen it.

It's February, unseasonably warm lately, the itch is gettin me. The weather says a nasty cold front comming on the weekend. Fuck it, I decide to go for the kill. Temps dropped from 40 to 23 degrees. Howling winds and snow. I call the kid. Hey ya wanna sell that truck? "yeah but I can't get it started." I didn't care. See ya at 4:30. He stated over the phone he couldn't take less than $2000. I took 12 dead Franklins with me and headed out. He's shiverin like a dog shittin razor blades. I'm lookin at all the same shit I'd seen 20 times over. Ya gettin this? I keep lookin it over real good. Finally I decide to make my play after a solid 15min of lookin. "Got a clear title?" "Yeah..." No offer counter offer shit...I'll give ya 1200 dead presidents right now if ya got a clear title and it'll be gone tomorrow morning." "Well....ya know...yeah, fuck it." Got my paper gave him his $, I'm gone.

Looked at my trailer, flat tire, truck don't run, it's fuckin cold. No helpers. Called the local hot rod buddies shop and he said he'd flat bed it home for me for $50. Just about a 30 mile round trip...yeah he did me a favor. The cold front left too. Bout 40 degrees and sunny as I scam my new truck over that next morning...in my yard.

 

It was 1964 and I had just bought a 40 chevy 2 door from a girlfriend's dad for the princely sum of $10. Hey, I was a high school student with a 75 cent an hour job....10 bucks was a sizeable chunk of change.
I was stylin around in the stocker with a fair 216 when my buddy, Rick, says
"Hey Rocky....we oughta build a killer engine for that car. I had a 50 ford project going on at the time and was knee deep into a merc flathead build-up for it...didn't want to spend any money on the 40 and I told him so. He was hot to build a 324 Olds motor and was looking for a recipient to bolt it into.
Next thing I know, he's caling me at my parents house...
"Hey man.....I just bought this 38 chevy 2 door sedan out by your house...will you help me haul it home?"
He and I had towed many a car together with a pipe and a chain. We were only juniors in high school but we'd already done a lotta shit together.
"Sure, no problemo, Rick"
My daily driver was a 56 Olds ragtop. It had the 240 HP motor and was great for towing.
We started out early on a crisp, central Oregon Saturday morning...I cruised to his parents house and picked his skinny ass up and we drove out past my house on the old hiway.....went about another 10 miles and turned into a farmer's field, across a bridge over the irrigation canal, which paralleled the hiway but had a tall burm on either side of it....couldn't see the farmer's stash of cars froom the hiway because of it...
We idles the Olds past a few derelict farmer pickups and trucks and a gennnie supercharged Graham with the "Supercharged" hood emplems and the entire supercharger still in place to this 38 chevy 2 door parked in tall grass. It appeared someone had just driven it in and shut off the key. All the tires were up and even the brakes were functional.
"I paid $25 for it" he bragged.
"Yeah? I paid $10 for my 40 and it runs!" I countered...
We checked everything over pretty good.......made sure all the steering parts were hooked up and decided since the car had brakes, we would use just a long chain to tow with. The pipe in the chain deal is ok for towing a car with no brakes but damn, it's hard on bumper chrome. We did the deluxe hook-up job which means we used bailing wire to wire the hook on the chain so it wouldn't fall off while towing...
He already knew the towed vehicle was the brake-guy so you don't get slack in the chain and snap a bumper off or bend shit up...we were good at this and needed no pre-towing staff meeting to discuss the procedures.
The big olds hardly even knew that little potato-chip chevy was back there. I towed the chevy, with Rick at the wheel, over the bridge and out onto the hiway, dual glasspacs singin my favorite song. I was doing about 25-30 and keeping my eye on the mirror when after about 1/4 mile, I decide to change the radio station in my convertible. I'm looking down at the dial when something catches my eye on the left....it's a wheel and tire rolling along next to my driver's door....I take a quick glance up to the rear view mirror to see Rick waving both arms madly. I can see his mouth is moving too...WTF? Why didn't he just tap the brakes to get my attention?

I signalled I was pulling to the side and slowly decreased speed [the wheel and tire passed me and continued on it's journey] pulling onto the gravel shoulder where we coasted to a stop.
"Goddamnit! Couldn't you see me waving and shit?" Rick wails? He went on for another 5 minutes or so about how I needed to pay attention...after all, he had 25 bucks tied up into this investment!
Turns out, the farmer had needed the outer wheel bearing from the 38 for another car and after he took it, he just tapped the dust cap back on.
We went to town for a wheelbearing and retrieved the wheel and tire with it's drum still attached to it a ways down the road.
We returned to the scene of the crime and bolted everything back up, using the olds bumper jack and the rest of the tow was without drama....
until we arrived at his parents house with this derelict sedan but that's another story.
Rick went on the make a killer hotrod from this thing...bolted the built 324 Olds and a hydro into it..

 

I'll add mine

Christmas last year I head up to the busseling comunity of Luling Texas to spend some time with the inlaws. My father in law agrees to haul me around to look at old tin so off we go. Found a 39 dodge oil field truck a pile of 50's chevy trucks. After two days of roaming all the farm roads a I decide Im not gonna find anything.

We head out for a day of oulet mall shopping. We cross an intersection and my mother in law says " Is that in what you are looking for". I look back and there sits a 32 Chevy Big truck. "STOP THE CAR !!!!!!"

I get the number and the people later. No answer so I figure I'll call them back home. I get a call half way back that the truck is indeed for sale, make the deal and head back up the next weekend.

The truck is buried between to broke down fork trucks and an abandoned cougar which the woman claims to have been left on her property with no keys.

The truck was stuck in the dirt so I back my trailer to it and winch it out sideways. as Im dragging it out the woman must have shit a set of keys because she unlocked the cougar to do something.

we load up and said our goodbyes and got half way down the road before I realized I didnt pay for it

I went back and paid her and let her know I saw her open the door on "her" cougar and that at least one of us was honest.

I made a neat discovery half way home. All the wood was bad in the cab and the roof and rear of the cab seperated. I damn near lost it all....

Rope and tiedowns saved the whole mess...

 

I just finished up the trailer for a friend of mine. The deal was you buy the steel and I'll build the trailer free but I get to use it anytime I need it. seemed fair.

Our mutual best friend buys a cherry 40 Chevy sedan...maiden voyage for the trailer.

On the way to get the car the hood pins used to secure the swing up ramps snap in two. Sparks everywhere at night. A slight delay to rectify that situation and on we go.

On the way home my buddies 6cyl Ford p/u (an early 70's gas crisis knee jerk purchase) would hardly pull the long hill on 495. A look in the rear view mirror and it looked like the trailer wheel was on fire.

one drum was so hot and red that it almost looked transparent. We sat for an hour or so to let it cool until it didn't glow anymore and then drug the heap with the Chevy still on it to the next exit.

We pulled into a gas station and parked on one of the tank fill mounds so the offending wheel was airborn. It had no springs. My buddy couldn't afford the 200 bucks for trailer axles. I made my own axles using AMC bolt on spindles and brakes with a surge brake coupler. Buddy #1 installed the brake shoes and springs. I ran the tubing and bled the system.

I had a brain fart and figured the m/cyl must not be allowing the fluid to return. No problem cut the line and release the pressue. right? Not so bright there Einstein. It was only one wheel! The fluid not under pressure at all dripped onto the hot backing plate bursting instantly into flames while still parked dirrectly over the fuel tank fill pipe.

The all night gas jocky comes bursting from the office with a fire extingisher flailing in his hands as my buddy starts the rig and pulls off to a safer parking spot.

It took about 2 hrs for the thing to cool down enough to pull the drum. All the brake shoes and hardware fell on the pavement like crispy critters.

That was 30 years ago and my heart rate still jumps up just thinking about it.

New bearings, seals and internal brake parts and the trailer hauled an untold number of race cars and hot rod projects for many years. It still might be working today. He loaned it to some guy moving to RI. that never brought it back.

I was really proud of that trailer. All the C channel crossmembers were cut so that the top flange rolled down to the bottom flange in a perfect circle and ground smooth giving the ends a real finished look. Over kill for a trailer but It held up well.

 

Well, about three to four years ago I'm helping a buddy of mine score some parts from an old hot rodder. Me and the old guy start yappin' and he asks me what I am working on. I start talking bout my 41 Ford Tudor Sedan, Flatty powered etc..etc..

The old man points over at a rusting cab sitting on a flatbed trailer all overgrown with bushes and vines and shit. He says "That's a 41 Ford..." My buddy and I look over and see what appears to be a chopped truck cab. I open my mouth and say "41 pickup?". "No" he replies and tells us the tale of this "50's SoCal custom".

Story goes, some young hotrod types in the Early to Mid 50's cut a 41 Ford sedan in half, welded the rear portion of a 48-51 F-1 cab to it and bolted the 48-51 F-1 bed behind it, then chopped it and did some shaving and painting. This custom ran around SoCal for a long time and changed hands a few times. The truck was stolen and went missing for years. One day while perusing one of the local swap meets, the last legitimate owner spotted the cab sitting on a flatbed trailer with a "For Sale" sign taped to it. The owner told the seller that the truck cab was his and was stolen. The seller obviuosly did not see the need to involve the authorities so he gave the owner his cab back as well as the trailer to take it home.

Well the owner took it home but did not have a place to store it. Apparently he was friend with the owner of an old filling station, who let him store it on the lot for several years. He then eventually had to move it and ended up storing it at the house of the old hotrodder who told us this story. It sat there for even more years and the owner eventually gave it to the old hotrodder because he had lost interest in restoring it.

Back to modern times... At the end of the story the old man must of seen our faces as we poured over the cab thinking to ourselves how cool this custom must have been. the old man says "Kid, if you take this thing out of here today, you can have it." My buddy and I look at each other and figure out how to get it into the bed of my truck.

About an hour and a half later the three of us manage to get it into the bed of my truck sans the bushes and vines. I left to work and the cab spent the night in the bed of my pickup, around the corner from my apartment out of my girlfriends view. The next day I took it over to good ol' moms house. What luck! Moms wasn't home. I grabbed the neighbors high school football player sons and had that sucker hidden on the side of mom's hous for a month before she found out!!!

Well after saving some dough and telling my tale all over town, it now sits in a shop run by a local Metal Fabricator/ Pinstriper/ Car customiser who felt the project was worthy of restoration. The amount of fabrication/customization neccesary to make this custom look good, was way beyond my High school autoshop knowledge. Thanks for reading will be posting pics when she is completed and unveiled!
Von Xulu

 

About 20 years ago I moved from Michigan to Florida, and need to get a '63 Maserati I had down there. So, with a Ryder rental truck and a tow dolly, I lash the Maser's rear tires down and head off. We get into the Atlanta area during rush hour when a guy cruises by honking the horn and giving us the finger. I'm at a loss as to why until a van load of guys pulls along side and tells me the Maser lost one of its front wheels. Sure shit, the right front wheels was gone after the knock off worked its way off the hub (didn't like to turn backwards). A few minutes later the van pulls up again and tells us the wheel came off and smacked that other guy's car, then it rolled off the road into a construction site. We walked back a mile and looked around for a hour before we located the wheel about 200 yards off the road!

We managed to put the wheel back on using a knock off from one of the rear wheels that where up on the dolly. We wired everything on good before we started off again for Florida.

 

10 dollars? oh my god you guys had it made.

 

I was given a 70 GTO to haul off and had to dig the rearend out to jack it up and put wheels on it. As I was jacking it up I heard these low deep bzzzzz noises, I would quit and the noise would die down , could not find the source of the noise. Well , I used a comalong to pull it on the trailer and just as soon as the back wheels hit the ramps all hell broke loose. As I was unlucky to find out there was a whole nest of very irritated bees maybe under the car and they proceded to pop me in the head as I ran for the safety of my truck. After an hour in the truck, on a 90 degree day , the bees seemed to dissapear,so I pulled the car on the trailer ,licked my wounds and went home. When I got home I let the car loose and as soon as the car hit the ground chaos again hit! This time I left it alone until the next day, watching the car to see where they were, planning and plotting the destruction of these evil GTO sqautters.
Armed with a 2 gallon sprayer of diesel,coveralls ,sandblast hood ,welding gloves and ducttaped every possible entry into my armor I set out for my quest.As I approached the car the bees were nailing me harder and harder but did not get into my barrier, I sprayed as many as I could with diesel and they hit the ground . I then found where they were ,underneath the console of the car , they were squeezing between the carpet and console, it took quite abit of diesel but no more bees!It did stink till I sold it though!

 

I rode with my uncle and cousin to texas to get a '74 Pontiac Ventura for a friend. On the way down there, We got to about the middle of nowhere and I had to piss.....bad. We stopped at a gas station and I hoped out of the truck and ran in. They had no bathroom. Well eventually we stopped and I was able to go. We get to Vidor, Texas to get this car and the thing is sitting backwards in the salvage yard and it didn't have a steering column. Well we got it turned around and loaded it on to the trailer. What a piece of crap. You could tap the 1/4 panels and rust would fall right out. The car was way beyond repair. All they wanted it for was the seats! We could have just as easily pulled the seats out and left that thing there for all the work we did. Oh well, it was a fun trip.

 

It never hurts to leave your phone number....about 30 years ago I spot a 46 Chevy flatbed sittin in a farmers pasture, stopped to ask about it, he said it was his dad's and he hoped to restore it someday. He did write down my phone number on a piece of paper with a pencil, and stuck it on a nail in the milk barn.
TEN Years later, I get a call, the guy wants to know if I'm still interested in the 46...
I tell him to refresh my memory about the truck and after a few minutes I remember it well. I ended up buying that truck. The cool part was that I had pics of it that were 10 years apart; time and weather really changed the look of it but it was still a very solid truck.
...anyway, it never hurts to leave your number!