Two of my old cars

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donsrods

Well-known member
Joined
May 11, 2007
Messages
10,476
Location
fort myers florida
Last week I was sorting out some pictures to return to my ex-wife, and ran across some I had forgotten I still had. I don't have a fancy scanner, so these are pictures of pictures.......sorry for the quality.

First picture is my '32 Ford roadster pickup that I built in about 1970-71. It was on a narrowed '39 Ford frame, had a '37 Ford round tube axle, '57 Chevy rear end with 4:56 gears, and an Olds engine backed by a '37 Cad-LaSalle floorshift tranny. The engine is the one I bought for $ 175 out of a show quality '32 Ford that came from California. The new owner was putting a 427 Chevy in it, and had no use for the Olds or the LaSalle tranny. It had two fours, a wicked cam, headers, and every nut, bolt, and bracket was chromed.

I could never get the car inspected in Pennsylvania, so I tore it apart and used everything for other projects........the engine eventually went into a '40 Chevy I had. The few times I drove the rod, it was really fast, couldn't keep it straight. Years later I ran across an article in a magazine featuring the '32 Ford that got the 427, and they talked about how the car came from California with an Olds in it. The guy from California claimed he had street raced the car, and the Olds engine was never beaten. I believe it!! :D

Next two pictures are a '38 (I think) Chevy I bought in about 1983 or 84. Some guy had done a frame off restoration on it and traded it in for a boat. All the mechanicals were done, and the engine was rebuilt. I drove it around the block one time and decided it was not for me, so I sold it. It was the only car I have ever owned that I did not have the heart to cut up into a street rod. It was just too nice and straight, and original. There were boxes and boxes of new old stock parts in the back seat, and almost every piece to finish it up. Today, I would make a hot rod out of it in a heartbeat. :D:D
What was I thinking?????????:confused:


Don
 

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I just realized, looking at the picture of my old '32 that my Son is carrying on the tradition. Here is his '29 RPU, also with an Olds engine. However, his is head and shoulders above mine in all respects. :D:D

Maybe it has something to do with my wife and I bundling up my twin Sons when they were about 1 year old and taking quick spins around the block in my '32, before the cops would show up. :D:D


Don
 

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Just found more I didn't remember I still had. In about 1983 I was bike riding and spotted a Fiat Sport Spider sitting beside a house. Owner wasn't home, but I got his number and called him. He said "I'll take $ 100 for it.........no, wait, I'll take $ 75 for it !!" He explained his wife loved the car and had spent a lot of money on it over the years, and he just wanted it gone before she decided to spend any more on it.:D

We hauled it home, and the kids and I rebuilt everything. Found a freshly wrecked Fiat that a girl from Georgia crashed while in Florida for Spring Break, and used the engine, tranny, interior, etc. Painted it Ferrari Red, and gave it to my then wife for a Birthday present. In spite of the reputation Fiats have (Fix It Again Tony :p) It really was a cool little car, and lasted her for years.

Don
 

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"First picture is my '32 Ford roadster pickup that I built in about 1970-71. It was on a narrowed '39 Ford frame, had a '37 Ford round tube axle, '57 Chevy rear end with 4:56 gears, and an Olds engine backed by a '37 Cad-LaSalle floorshift tranny. The engine is the one I bought for $ 175 out of a show quality '32 Ford that came from California. The new owner was putting a 427 Chevy in it, and had no use for the Olds or the LaSalle tranny. It had two fours, a wicked cam, headers, and every nut, bolt, and bracket was chromed."

I wonder if someone, somewhere is looking for that Olds/LaSalle engine/trans to restore that 32 Ford back to it's glory days. Great stories and pics Don.
 
Thanks guys. You know Gastrick, one day I was reading through an old hot rod magazine, and there was an article on a Deuce coupe, and it caught my interest because it was from Pennsylvania, and that is where I was from. I keep reading the article, and it goes on to say the coupe had originally come from California, and had an Olds engine, etc. Suddenly, I realize this is the coupe I got my engine and tranny from !!! :eek: How cool is that?? :D

That car was really done right when it was built. The guy I got the engine from wanted to modernize it with the 427, and he traded a vette for it. His buddies were giving him a hard time, telling him he should have kept the vette, but I told him he got the best end of that deal. The coupe was evidently a high dollar car, all the suspension was good stuff and all chromed, and the engine was like out of a magazine. Even the starter and generator were chromed, as were little details like the handmade fuel log for the two fours, and even the motor mounts. I literally built mounts, dropped it in, and fired it up.

As I mentioned, my Sons were about a year old, and my wife and I would bundle them up and go for a quick spin on some back roads (I could never get it licensed or inspected because of Pennsylvanias dumb, overly restrictive laws) and that thing would scream. I ran it a few times without the kids in, and when you hit 2nd gear it wanted to come around on you.

Hindsight is always 20-20, but I really wish I had kept that motor and tranny. I finally swapped it into a '40 Chevy and some guy needed transportation, so he traded me an Austin Bantam Altered, on the trailer, for it. After a few years I sold the altered to raise money to finish remodling our house. :(

Can't wait til I finish building that time machine. :D


Don
 
Really cool pics and some great stories. I wish I had taken some pics of my cars growing up but at the time I didn't think anyone would care.:(

My Dad, who was a perfectionist, always called my cars junk, except when his friends were over and he wanted me to take them for a ride. I suppose he was right, in those days, I only cared about how fast it would go in a quarter mile, not how it looked. In fact, one of my cars looked like an abandoned wreck (65' Malibu SS). Oxidized paint, steel wheels and bald tires (slicks) on back.:rolleyes:

If you guys find anymore old pics, please post.....dig the hair styles and clothes...:D:D
 
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gassersgarage; If you guys find anymore old pics said:
Oh, you want hairstyles, huh??? :D Here is one of me and two buddies in about 1963. I'm the guy in front with the pompadore haircut. See, I ACTUALLY did have hair at one time in my life. ::cool::D

The second picture is my Son Dan and I in about 1990. I had just gotten my '27 going, and took it to it's first show. Won 2nd in unfinished...that was unexpected and cool.

Third picture, about 1993 or 4, I was pulling out of a McDonalds and a photographer for the local paper shot my picture for some Saturday car feature they had at the time.

Now I have to go and comb my pompadore. :eek:


Don
 

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Ok, two more and I quit. :D

First picture is me and my two favorite people in the world, some time in 1971.

Second picture is a VW bug we built for Dan. We started it when he was 14, and built it from 8 different bugs. We were buying them for $ 25 to $ 100 back then. He had that car until he was about 34, and just sold it a couple of years ago. In that time it had been redone 4 different times, ending up with suicide doors, and lots of other mods. This picture is the second rebuild on it, had new paint, flames, 1915 cc engine, etc.

Don
 

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Oh, you want hairstyles, huh??? Here is one of me and two buddies in about 1963. I'm the guy in front with the pompadore haircut. See, I ACTUALLY did have hair at one time in my life.
Now I have to go and comb my pompadore.

Don
Wow, I'm jealous. Wish I had hair today, like the first pic. In fact, wish I had hair like that back in those days. :D:D:
 

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