Wild Stories about finding and getting that old tin home!

[Reggie]

Ok guys and gals!!! No fish stories here....but what is your wildest story in searching for an old car ....whether it is digging it out of 3 foot of earth in the rain (Fat Lucky?)...or getting it home (any falling off the trailer stories?).

I'll start with a '37 Ford big truck I bought over the summer. It was cheap ($200), but it had a good flathead in it, very little rust, but the frame was cut off behind the cab and resting on the ground and the roof was pushed in. Well, it was worth $200 to me so I did the deal and went home to get my trailer. Coming back thru this heavily wooded area, I find 3 adult coyotes around the truck and they weren't about to go anywhere. The were excited and digging under the truck like crazy. I wasn't about to get out of my truck 'cause yotes around here do not fear humans.

After about 10 minutes of watching this maddness, two of them come from underneath the car, both with firm clinches on their next meal....a poor old wabbit. As they were leaving, the 3rd coyote looked back at me as to say "Thanks for being patient, its all yours now".

[Neverdunn 51]

When I brought the 51 home - I was only 18 years old. I dinked around showing it to my friends too long and it got dark before I realized it. Anyways, I had NO insurance on it - NO license plates - NO sales receipt - I had not signed onto the title yet - and the seller hadn't dated the title when he signed off of it either.

As I came down the expressway ramp it just died. I needed to turn right onto a 5 lane road so I did - and coasted into the turn lane. I was trying to coast it into the first available parking lot which required an immediate left turn but couldn't turn soon enough because there was a car comming and I didn't have enough speed. So I jumped out and started pushing while it was still rolling. Since the problem was electrical, I had no lights, hazzards, or turn signals.

I couldda shattered a walnut with my sphincter when I saw that the first oncomming car to pass was a police officer who was slowing down to question me. As he slowed down he hollared "Need a hand?" I smiled and responded with "No Thanks, I got it". He kept on going and I couldn't have been happier - OR LUCKIER.

11 years later my dad still rags me about what a luck ass he thinks I am since - givin my age, the condition of the vehicle, and how NOT legal I was with it - I should have been cuffed and stuffed.

[alchemy]

A local wheeler dealer bought a 32 pickup cab at a local swap before I could get to it, but told me he only wanted the dash and gas tank. So I agreed to buy the basic cab from him and pick it up from his booth at the next swap.

A month later my bro and I load my $50 purchase into the bed of his ElCamino, and man is it heavy. No way this thing will bounce out, we think.

An hour into our hour and a half trip, we drive past a hillside next to the highway and into the clear on the other side. And let me tell you a gust of wind is all it takes to set a 32 pickup cab airborn. Out of the Elky and tumbling like a cardboard box over the shoulder and into the ditch.

We stop to pick it up and the doors are ripped from the hinges, the whole cab is skewed, and if there ever was a straight panel before it isn't there now.

We tie down EVERYTHING on the way home from swap meets now.


- alchemy

[57wagon]

Here is a decent one for you......

My girlfriend and I drove from wisconsin to Michigan to pick up my wagon last october.. All went well we took my durango and a 16 foot trailer to get it... Met up with the owner, ( younger couple ) and decided to hang out at thier house and cook out, drink some beers and stuff... No problem cuz we were spending the night and were planning on taking off in the morning..

Well a few hours later, a few burgers, and way to many beers we decided to put the wagon on the trailer.... SHIT!! To long the ramps wont close......

So we turned it around, put the front wheels up on a couple of 4x4's so that the front bumper would clear the front of the trailer, and voila it's in... Well almost, the rear ramps had to be ratchet strapped on cuz they wouldn't close all the way... No problem...

After that we were pretty excited and decided to hang and shoot the shit for a while longer...

Next morning, after the fog cleared I checked to make sure everything was secure and we were on our way.... About three hours into the ride the gas light comes on and I start looking for an exit.... passed one, on to the next...... now the gas is getting REALLY low!! so I decide to take the next ramp off....

As I start onto the offramp my brake pedal goes to the floor!! SHIT!!!!!!!!!!! NO BRAKES!!!!!!!!!!!! Luckily the trailer had brakes and we were able to slow down enough... But the freaking exit I got off on had absolutley NO gastations... I tried to turn around but it was a small two lane country highway, and into a forest preserve we go....

Now no gas, no brakes, and no clue where I was I start to get a bit crabby...... Just ask her, she will tell you....

Finally got turned around and back onto the a side road looking for a gas station or something... After what seemed like forever we pulled into a gas station, ( thank God for the trailer brakes ) and started to fill her up, and see what happend to the brakes.... As soon as we pull in some people start looking at the wagon,,, is that a nomad??? Nope just a plain 210, a nomad has 2 doors. oh... and they move on.

Looks like from the weight of the trailer squatting down the back of the truck the rear rubber brake line was resting on the cooly guy dual exhaust I put on there... OOOPS.... While we were driving all was fine, just heating up that rubber and getting ready for some pressure... POP!!!!

some one else pulls in,,, Hey nice car.. Is that a nomad??

Nope,,, just a 4 doorwagon..

Ok, know what the problem is, now let's see if anyone is open to get a brake line.... Grab the phone book and start looking for a brake place,,, Saturday about 11AM shouldn't be a problem right?????

The only place open was across town and it was a little mom and pop garage with no way to come get us... So I risk it and get some directions through the not so conjested part of town.... Stopped at a light ,,,

Hey Nice Nomad.....

Nope,, it's a... fuck it.. Thanks!! http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Finally make it to the brake shop and drop the trailer, pull the truck in and he spots the problem... Yep rubber brake line.. and he tries to call around to find one.. No body has one, napa nope, autozone nope, dodge dealer nope.....Fuck now what!!!!!

So I ask,,, hey if it is just the rear brakes, can't we just clamp it off and not use the rears?? I have trailer brakes, and only about 3 hours left to go through downtown chicago, shouldn't be to bad right.????

I ended up grabbing a little vice grips I had with me, and a bolt the guy generously donated to my cause and we clamped her shut..... Pedal pressure,,, good.... slowing down nicely great!! Hook up the trailer let's go!!!!!!

Got back on the road for about an hour and I hear this Crash,,, SCRAPE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WTF????

One of my mcgiver ratchet straps holing the rear ramps broke from rubbing on the rear bumper........ Easy fix, back on the road...

45 minutes later,,, Crash,,, SCRAPE!!!! WTF!!!!!!!!!!! other side.......

make it through downtow chicago and thinking that all is in the clear only about 1 hour to make it home.....

CRASH,,,, SCRAPE!!!!!!!..... One more strap let loose... and I only had one extra one with me.... Hooked it up, and prayed the rest of the way.... Finally made it home, and some friends were already there,,, so we pushed the car off the trailer, and proceded to drink ourselves silly talk about what the car was going to look like...

Funny thing,,, nobody in kenosha had the brake line either.. I drove around for almost a week before it came in......

sorry it was so long,,, but it was kind of an adventure....

c-ya
steve

[steevil]

http://memimage.cardomain.net/member_images/8/web/404000-404999/404943_29_full.jpg I bought my 1958 Ford Custom 300 about 500 miles from home at a used car lot for $4000 (CANADIAN) and intended on driving it back home. Barely any brakes and about 90º in the shade.

I got about 3 blocks away from the lot and it died. A quick call to the lot confirmed that I was shit out of luck, all sales are final. A walk to the nearest auto parts place for a new coil got me about 20 miles and it dies again on the busiest stretch of freeway during rush-hour traffic.

I determined that towing it home would be a wise decision. A city of Calgary dumptruck driver stopped directly behind me and directed traffic for over 3 hours while I waited for a tow truck. Hell of a nice guy, I still owe him a beer.

The police stopped several times to see what all the hub-bub was about but were generally nice and understanding of my sitch.

The car sat so low, the tow truck driver removed the rear driveshaft and tossed it on his deck.

I met the tow truck driver at about 10 pm at my house (I was about 4 hours late for my daughters birthday party)

The tow truck driver was half asleep after the long trek that he forgot my driveshaft was on the deck as he lowered his boom to set the 1958 down. Of course the driveshaft was instanly crushed (cost me $500 to build a new one!). He only charged me $120 for the tow 'cause he felt bad for screwing up.

The 58 caused nothing but headaches for the next year, I think it was jinxed.

I traded it off for my current ride, a 1930 model A. Getting the model A home is another story.

[steevil]

http://memimage.cardomain.net/member_images/8/web/404000-404999/404943_47_full.jpg
I found my model A cruising the internet want ads. The A was an unreal cheap price so I jumped on it. I called the guy who lives about 1800 miles away and asked him if he was interested in a partial trade for my 58 Ford. (I already had a loan from a botched deal to buy a slick 51 Merc).

It so happens he is crazy about 50's Fords so the deal is on!!!

I talk to some freinds and one of them tells me it'll be no problem to use his truck and trailer to haul the 1958 down and bring the 1930 up.

A day before the road trip, my buddy tells me I'd better ask his girlFEIND if we can use the truck that they jointly own ,WTF?

"NO. I don't want to put that kind of mileage on the new Chevy Avalanche"

DAMN!

I hunt around the truck rentals and figured it would cost about $2100 to rent a truck not including fuel.

I rent the truck wednesday morning, we drive all day and night with 3 drivers taking shifts. We get there in 13 hours driving like mad men. All along the way, everywhere we stopped, the locals wooed and wowed at the fabulous '58 on the trailer. We stopped for burgers at a local A&W and so happens it was cruise night there. Nice folk in Saskatoon Saskatchewan.

We arrived 3 housr earlier than expected and decide to take a nap. The owner of the 30 shows up, we do the deal and we are off!

We get back early Friday morning and I return the truck. The counter guy asks me where the hell I went in 2 days and I told him we drove about 500 miles. He muses that there is no way anybody could drive 1800 miles in 2 days and that somebody must've recorded the mileage wrong.

SCORE! he charges me for 500 miles and I come away with a $280 dollar rental bill after expecting $2100.

The gods took pity on me that day.

After years of bellyaching, I now own my dream car!

[Slide]

Nothing too awful exciting, but when I went to get my 52, there was a small tree that had grown between the bumper and rear qtr panel. We used a bow saw to cut the 1.25" diameter tree off about 4-5" below the bumper. This left the rest of the tree, about 8 ft tall, sticking up from where it was wedged between the body and bumper. We hauled the car, tree and all, back to the house, and within a couple weeks had the motor running and the brakes working, as well as useable tires and 12 volts of juice. Much to the chagin of my Mom, I drive the car around for a couple weeks with the tree still there! I finally cut the tree off a few inches above the bumper. So I had about 12" worth of small tree trunk still there for another few months before I ever got into bustin the rusty bumper bolts loose to get the tree out! I still have that small section of the tree.

[zman]

About 11 Years ago I bought 3 '58 Chevy pickups for $500. The only problem was they were 2 hours away. No problem. I went and rented a tow dolly and went and got the first one. With my '84 S10 w/ the 1.6 4-cylinder. Damn I thought I killed that thing. Took like 4 hours to get home. So for the next one I borrowed a friends Jeep Cherokee w/ the 3.0 straight 6. Damn the thing started swerving all over the place with the truck behind it, I think it had something to do with there not beig a steering lock on the truck, oops. Burst a radiator hose and overheated and about killed the tranny. For the last one I got a friend to go with me that had a fullsize truck. Much better....

[SnoDawg]

I was looking through a trader paper about 20 years ago and saw an ad "55 Chrysler runs $200" so I gave the guy a call Does it have a hemi? Yep he says. Can you drive it? Yep I suppose. So I got a friend to go with me and we drove the 60 miles to town. I took a look at it and it did run but the body was terrible both rear quarters was smeared thick with Bondo. I opened the trunk and there was a super Deluxe sized can of bondo that was empty and a large bottle of brake fluid with about a 1/4 left in it. 3 of the 4 tires was pretty thin but they held air, The body was not too important for I was after the engine. Actually it sounded pretty good no reverse but the forward gears worked so no biggie since I was not planning on backing up anyway. So we headed across town and after the third stop light the brake pedal went to the floor pulled over and filled the Master Cylinder and went to K mart and picked up another 2 deluxe sized bottles of brake fluid. Then away we went made it the rest of the way across town having to fill the master cyl Twice. Found out I had 3 applications of the brake before nothing but if I set at a light I could feel the pedal work it's way to the floor. I pulled over and topped the master cyl again and headed home for the 60 mile trip the ol beast ran pretty good other than I did not steer it down the road but it was more like 2 turns to the left and it would go left and then 2 turns to the right and it would start to steer right. Got the ol beast home with out any other Drama until I went to pull it into the Driveway and damn no brakes again I thought I had 2 applications left Go figure I managed to get it coasted into town and stopped it by bumping into a old cottonwood tree. Looking back it was a pretty stupid thing to do but sometimes I get lucky.

[Verbal Kint]

Here's mine,
I bought my first 1950 Chev pickup from a yuppie couple in Seattle who had scattered the rear end overloading it with trips to the dump (sanitation station for the eastsiders). I picked it up for $700, nice body and interior, refreshed mid/late 50's 235. I call a friend Guy Litts who happens to own a decked out ramp truck/car hauler. He meets me, we hook up the winch, drag....bang the tire rolls 1/4, drag... bang the tire rolls 1/4 and so on, we get it loaded and head for the nearest tavern, drink a pitcher or 3 then on to his house. Since I hadn't thought about how to unload it, we beer googled a plan to have him unhook it and see how fast he can pull out from under it while coasting in reverse. Ever seen a 33 foot long ramp truck wheel hop and throw its driveline(s) out from under the truck - "dumbass", I think he may still blame me.

swdobbs....

[4t64rd]

The continuing story of my 3sp OD...

Brother-in-Law drives across Iowa to pick up transimission from TIM in Western Iowa.

Transmission stays in his garage in Iowa City for 4 months.

BenD pick it up in Iowa City and takes it to Austin, Texas, he then transfers it to Sean (Fatlucky)

It stays at Fatlucky's for a while.

After numerous attempts at a HAMB relay, BenD fetches transmission again and he brings it back to his place in Missouri.

BenD then brings it to the HAMBDrags, where it is transferred to Zman.

The plan is for Zman to transfer it to SteveG to bring down to Dunnellon, FL sometime in the next 2 months.

This transmission will probably have 2000 miles on it with no car around it.

Also, my 46 is driven around town in this configuration every time I got kicked out of a garage/storage unit/shed/stable before I got the front end back together.

[tinyelvis]

Here's how I got my '58 Olds, from the web site I had put up when I got it. This car was given to Kustombuilder's little bro after my Deeevorce... I was excited about it at the time, turns out it was more than I could chew at the time. Even now, it would be too much.. maybe in a few years..

Here's the story:

It all started back in November of 2000 when I was at work surfing for cars (in my spare time of course) trying to satisfy my itch for something to work on this winter, to keep me busy and out of trouble. Didn't have much money though, so budget was a concern.. I tried to limit my searches to $1000 or less. What can you get for that kind of money? Not a whole lot.. I thought.

Eventually I came across an ad for a 1958 Olds 88, though I had never seen one before, it had two doors and no pillars, and that sounded good to me. The ad didn't have much information, just year make and model, and it was $1000/best offer. To me that meant "cheap." Plus it was in Ohio, so I didn't have to drive far from Detroit to pick it up. I called Melissa and said, "Uh, looks like we're getting another car.." She even agreed to pay for half (almost), as my Christmas and Birthday presents combined. Sounded great to me!

I called, and the guy said someone from Texas was already sending him a deposit for it. Just the day before I had missed a '56 Lincoln Premiere, so you can imagine my concern over losing another great find. I said "If it doesn't come through, let me know.." Car guys talk, and we continued our talk about this and that, what he does and what I do, and he told me the history of this car. It was a one owner 46000 mile original, untouched vehicle. It still had the plastic on the seats from the factory! He said it was pretty solid, with some rust in the usual spots old American cars rust in.

I asked him where the car came from, and he said he got it from the son of the woman who drove it way back when. Unfortunately, her son went to a nursing home recently (I gather he may not have been all there, also that the dude selling the car got it for nothing) and the car was released from it's dank and dark garage home. He said that the passenger side quarter had some surface rust because the car was exposed on one side to the elements due to a hole in the garage. Mind you, the car still had '73 Ohio plates on it, bias ply snow tires in back, and a tar top battery still under the hood. Talk about a time warp!

With some encouragement (or is it bullying?) from my friends, I called the guy back and said "Fugitabout that guy from Texas, I'm coming to get the car on Saturday with cash." He eventually agreed to my mafia-like terms and I sent him a $200 deposit. The following Saturday, my friend Spencer and I got a tow dolly and headed down to Ohio. Ohhh, scenic Ohio! Needless to say, it was LOOONG 4.5 hours..

We got there and saw the car and it looked real good, until we got around the corner and saw the other side.. (see pic of me with her..). That surface rust made it look real bad.. BUT, it's not, which is the good news. We saw a broken windshield which was not mentioned, and the rear bumper is so screwed up it may not be able to get re-chromed. Spence is thinking (amazing isn't it?) "No way, not for a grand." and I'm looking at him with the same idea in mind. I asked the guy if the dude from Texas was still interested, and I didn't get much of a response. In the immortal words of Homer J. Simpson; "DOH!"

I said, "I don't think we're gonna take it.. it's too rusty and not quite what I thought it would be." Along with the other issues, there were no keys and a broken driver's side vent window (it had been locked in the garage 30 yrs. ago and they had to break into it to get it out). "It's just a matter of me getting my deposit, and we'll be on our way." Again, not much of a response.. doh.. again.

"Why don't you guys come in and take a look at my shop?" This guy is the owner of CATZ Restorations, doing lots of high end concours quality restorations of rare cars. Great guy, fantastic shop.. still didn't want the car for $1000. After our tour was winding down, I decided my deposit was gone and we would head home. Out of nowhere the owner said, "You know, I would hate for you guys to go home empty handed.. why don't you just take it for the $200 dollar deposit?" My first thought was that my deposit was probably a fuel pump for that Mustang GT500 I just walked by. My second thought was "Hell yes!" Spence and I kind of glanced at each other with the same idea in mind; before you know it we were hitching that big bitch up to the van, and we were off like prom dresses.

We both figured the car was worth a grand in parts anyway, so we had nothing to lose. Everything was there including all the stainless, all interior bits, there were no missing parts at all. This car is completely virgin, nobody has ever tried to "restore" it or hot rod it or anything. No repaints, not a lot of real rust (holes), it's very very solid. I think we made out pretty well.

The ride home was fine until we hit I-94 in Detroit, steady at 55 MPH. If you don't live in Detroit or you have not had the pleasure of passing through it, you may not understand our urban road plight. I think the roads in Germany had less potholes after a fleet of B-17's dropped a payload. Needless to say, I was white knuckled and sweaty for a good hour until we hit our side streets. I thought for sure the car would be flying across the expressway, van in tow. When we got home, I told Melissa I got the car for $200 bucks, and promptly refunded her money.. she was quite happy about that.

[MIKE-3137]

I bought a 56 Chevy pickup for 200.00, I was about 17 years old, got my cousin's truck and trailer to get it home. Going down I-10 I see one of the back fenders let go and go scooting across the interstate, and was centered by a greyhound bus! Some nerdy guy in a Honda Civic comes up beside me blowing his horn and waving. Of course I had seen what had happened but refused to look over at the guy, so he keeps blowing the stupid horn. Finally he gives up and I got off the interstate a quick as I could, figuring he would get the cops involved.

[G Griffin]

[ QUOTE ]
...or getting it home (any falling off the trailer stories?).


[/ QUOTE ]

You must have talked to Blake about me this past weekend!

[rdstr31]

I'm going to pick up some tin later this week. Maybe I'll have a story to tell... although I really hope not! http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

[zman]

[ QUOTE ]
The continuing story of my 3sp OD...

The plan is for Zman to transfer it to SteveG to bring down to Dunnellon, FL sometime in the next 2 months.


[/ QUOTE ]

StevieG picked it up Sunday.... So it's on it's way...

[HOTRODPRIMER]

I bought two vickys sight unseen,,,,,,brought the pieces home in a dump truck,,,,,,,,,,in 1977.

Funny how that doesn't sound strange nowadays! http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gifHRP

[Jer]

I don't know how bad of a story this is to some people but I think it's a decent story. It all started with me finding a '55 chevy on ebay, it sounded good so I called the owner and got all of the information. So I start working out the details, looking up a trailer and truck, money, storage, etc. Turns out my buddy that I work with had just bought his '99 Suburban the weekend before and it had a good trailer hitch, so there is the truck and he's even up for a road trip to see how it does.

So me and the owner strike up our deal and I find out more info about the car, not so good info that is, like the fact that the body isn't bolted to the frame and I have to haul back enough extra parts to make 3/4 of another '55 chevy. I talk it over with my buddy and we decide that we don't think it will be a problem, so we set up the date and figure out who is going.

The day comes and we're expecting to be home in a decent amount of time because it's only a 3 1/2 - 4 hour ride. Me, my buddy, my girlfriend, and my mom are all going to pick up this car on my parents anniversary. The day starts off early at U-haul for an hour with the guy trying to wire in the trailer lights...it wasn't working, so we lied and said the signals were working even though no matter which signal you used all the trailer lights flashed. Good enough.

So we're on the road, everything is going good and then we get to the guy's house and talk to him for a while. Then we're on our way to pick up spare parts. This took 4 hours on a very cold day, this guy is a talker. Then we get to the car, there goes another 4 hours of talking.

Now it's dark outside and he just now worries about filling the tires up...big surprise, he can't get the beads seated and no gas stations have air stations that are operational. An hour later we start loading the car, and the rear tires are barely fitting on the trailer (too wide). So the car gets cable winched onto the trailer, and after the money exchanges hands, we're on our way. Yes!

In the next four hours of airing up the tires at every gas station, making sure the body is still on the frame via the ratchet straps and sitting in a Suburban with 4 '55 chevy doors, a fender, and extra glass, I almost had a heart attack at 20 years old. The tie straps came loose because the tires lost air and traffic was thick. And as we're about 15 minutes from home, the tie straps started snapping on the expressway. I've never experienced the pavement shaking when a semi cruises by at 70 mph, and I don't ever want to again. We somehow survive that and end up cable winching the car off the trailer and then pulling the trailer out from under the car at midnight, all this and pushing the car in the garage and a cop car pulls up a little bit down the alley. Everybody is tired and doesn't want to deal with it. After a minute of him sitting there, he backs out and heads on his way. And the car has been in the garage ever since.

I'm real worried about it's first drive...

Sorry for the length, those are just the most important details.

-jeremy

[earl schieb]

This might go a little long, but I'll always remember it(and it ain't over--yet)

I'm not much of a social person, but I used to let my ex-girlfriend drag me out to visit her friends on occasion, and one trip was real memorable. These people had a huge farm and the old guy that owned it was sort of a car guy wannabe--restored RPU, 55 F100 and some old tractors---nothin for sale, mind you, except for an old CJ5 Jeep he nearly begged me to make an offer on. Price was fair, but I didn't need it...
"Hey, I've got an old Chevy in the barn I'll GIVE YA if you buy the jeep!" Well, hell, a free car---I gotta take a look. We ride a mile down a rough-ass gravel road thru the middle of the farm to the barn where I see the nose of a 59 Chevy(!) There, with it's original turquoise paint under so much dust and bird shit that it looked brown, sat a Belair 4dr hardtop buried up to nearly the rockers with dirt from the groundhog holes all around http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shocked.gif
"It was my brother's car, but he died a few years ago" the guy says("Christine" reference number one)
I took a breathe..."I'll take it---er,uh the Jeep, yeah, and this old car too"

A week later I back truck and trailer down to the barn to get it. Dig a hole, jack up each side, change wheels, etc. Hook a chain from car to trailer, then slip the 3 speed shifter into neutral. Pull her out in the sun for the first time in 20 years http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif Everything's going smoothly. Jockey the truck and trailer around, put down the ramps and hook up the come-along. Start crankin'. Just as the front wheels reach the top of the ramp, the car ROLLS forward(UP the dovetail! I SWEAR!)until the rear wheels touch the ramp---all this while on FLAT GROUND!!! Girlfriend and I look at each other slack-jawed http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shocked.gif ( I was thinkin about "Christine" again http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ooo.gif) Oh shit.....
I effortlessly ratcheted the car the rest of the way on to the trailer, then hooked the chain tie-downs and cinched her down. Ready to roll.
The road out from the barn was uphill, about a quarter-mile of rutted gravel HELL, and my first try got me about halfway before the truck lost traction. No choice, but to back up and try again. But FASTER this time! I hammered the throttle and off we went---gravel flyin', truck, trailer, and 59 bouncing ALL over the place. I guess all the commotion got the attention of the folks that lived there---they were standing at the top of the hill when we finally scratched our way to the top, so I stopped to thank 'em and clean the gravel off my trailer http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif As I got out of the truck, I looked at the 59......and saw BOTH front tie-downs UNHOOKED....and the car still in neutral!!!!(insert Twilight Zone music here http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif) no doubt she was going home WITH ME!
I traded her off in a package with my 59 El Camino 3 or 4 years ago, but got her back in trade for a ZF trans summer before last.

Some things are just meant to be, I guess http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif

[BELLM]

Back around 1963, 15yrs old, been going to dirt track races with my girlfriends father, tell him I want to build a hot rod. We go driving all over back roads on Sunday afternoons finally find a 26-27 T coupe body in a farmers yard. Has tin on top, bricks holding it down, no glass, broomsticks throught windows, using it for a chicken house! Buy it for $10, haul it home. Very solid body. GF father has a friend who has a shop @ his home, welder, liked going to races with us, gave him a model A frame, 40 Ford front axle, 54 Ford rearend and an Olds motor( Reggie, I got the motor from Carroll) & old cast iron hydramatic transmission. Showed him a picture of a zed rear frame, bulldog spring perch in a magazine, how I wanted the body channeled over the frame, he went to cutting and welding. After he basically got it put together I towed it about 16 miles home with a home made towbar made from 2x4s and angle with a friend steering with a pair of vice grips clamped where the steering wheel should be. Amazes me that I still live. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

[weekender]

About 5 years ago. Working on my 49 cadillac chopped top slant back. Told a buddy I was looking for a 55/56 pontiac rear bumper. He told me a guy he knew had one on a farm. I called the guy and bought the whole car for $50.00 bucks.

Told another buddy I needed help to load this car and he was to meet me when he got off work at the farm. sooo,I go out this gravel road and turn left on the other gravel, and low and behold, there sits a 55/56 pont in a field. While waiting for him, I air up the tires and get it ready to go.

Sitting on the trailer waiting for him when this guy shows up and asked what I was doing. Told him I had bought that pontiac and was waiting for a friend to help load it. YOU guessed it. He said "Not that car, it's not for sale!"

Explained I had bought a pontiac from the city manager and he said it was on this farm. He said, "That guy's farm is 1/2 mile on up the road."

My buddy showed up, and we went on up the road, and guess what? There were 2 55/56 pontiac's on the same gravel road about 1/2 mile apart??? Whod-a-thunkit???

Almost loaded the wrong car. Had a lot of explaining to do.

That's my story, and I'm stickin to it. Tommy Mc

[26Tudor]

'bout 3 years ago, when I went to pick up my '55, my friend and I took his truck and trailer. The car was all apart, and we stuck most of the interior and stuff in the bed of thetruck, and since we had no more room, we stuck the front fenders back on the car. I did one side, my buddy did the other. I asked him if he had the 4 fender bolts in tight, as we had a long way to go, and he said yeah, they ain't comin' loose. I neglected to ask him if he used the big fender lock washers. Sure as hell, we get about 200 miles into the journey on the way home, and a truck drives past us, honks his horn, and points to the back of the truck. I look in the mirror just in time to see the fender that my friend put on without washers do a pirouette about 20 feet in the air on Southbound I-5, land, and promptly get nailed by an 18-wheeler. Went back and got the fender, hoping it could be saved, but no dice. I do have the e-pay collectble of the decade now, though- my friend used to be the bass player for the Ted Nugent Band, so I had him sign it "Rob Grange, Ted Nugent Band, 1971-1982" so I now have a "signed Fender" from him- It ain't a Stratocatser, or a Telecaster, but it is sure as hell a Fender.... http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

[Bruce Lancaster]

!962. We were all about 14, penniless and with no useful skills or guidance or approval in sight. I had about 2/3's of a deuce tudor, my friend had a V8 60 engine in a Henry J (don't ask...), which he hated.
On every family trip of any sort, I continually begged whoever was driving to use the smallest, most rural roads to be found, part of my endless and futile search for '32 parts that I couldn't have afforded anyhow. One day I spotted a junked out '33 fordor in Gum Spring, VA, poulation probablt about 4. Hmmmmmmm...'33 parts would ALMOST fit a '32, and I was an optimist. The V8 60 would look a lot better in what was left than in a Kaiser. Heavy wheeling and dealing enabled us to purchase the rusted hulk...$11.00, including good '33 and '34 grills...
The car lacked a few key pieces for transport, including the entire front and rear axles and suspension, but we were young, strong, and stupid.
My friend somehow persuaded his mother to tow a rented trailer down there behind her station wagon. We borrowed the neighborhood chain hoist, the only lifting tool available in our entire suburban universe. It was an old clunker with several bent chain links that had to be individually persuaded to go through the sheaves.
Axles?? No problemo! We jacked up the deuce and tossed its suspension on the trailer.
Physics lesson du jour: The easiest way for one person to lift a deuce front end is to stand in the middle of the wishbone and pick it up by the tie rod. The weight of the axle will then cause the entire device to rotate in your hands, bringing the ball of the wishbone smartly into the back of your skull at high velocity. Stand up, shake head, try a different way. You can't damage a teenager.
Hours of backbreaking work with a single scissors jack got the thing pried out of the mosquito infested yard and sorta on wheels. Hours more of the same, aided by the pitying and wondering locals, got the thing dragged onto the trailer where it sat crookedly in a pool of blood, sweat, and tears. We got home at 3 AM. I don't think my friend's mother ever spoke to me again, and I wonder if she ever spoke to him again...
Next day's agenda: Put the works back under the deuce. No problem.

[Mart]

http://www.mrhr.freeserve.co.uk/rides2002/rides41/rainer05poncho2.jpg
How's that? Not me but Rainer from Vienna.
Mart.

[dabond]

OK. My #3 son finds a 41 Chevy PU in BFE, no in Iowa, and the price is right ($100). Asks me do I want it. I say sure. Anyway, the plan was for him to tow it on his trailer to some half way point and me to rent a trailer and meet him. This is real cool until his rent a house gets sold and he has to move. Well I told him to find me a go to hell truck and he told me he would sell me his trailer for $500. He calls me back and has found a 85 Ford 4speed 6 banger for $500 that needs brakes. I say OK and wire him the money. I fly out there, he meets me, and I go to see my ride home. Well the Ford was a rust bucket, you could drop a battery through the floorboards, and see through the sides of the bed, but seemed to run OK. We wired it up for the trailer and loaded the 41. Well off I go. The tires on the 41 all have leaks, so they have to be aired to keep the tie downs tight. I miss them at one stop and the truck comes forward to the front rail on the trailer, puting a bunch of tongue weight on. I stop somewhere in the middle of nowhere, flatten all the tires and winch that sucker down tight. Things went pretty well from that point on except for a lot of wind in the Columbia River Gorge. I still a times have dreams of that Art Deco grill in the rear view mirror.

[Joe T Creep]

The old car gods smiled on me one day a few years ago. I was in the market for an old car of some type. No specific idea. I followed this 58 ford custom cab around my area that had been for sale. I setup a deal with the guy and when I went to pick it up with cash in had he decided not to sell it. That was thursday night. I literally had a wad of cash in my pocket when I drove from Los Angeles to a small town in Kern county off the Kern river to drop off a porsche motor to be rebuilt. As I talked with the machineist I joked about whether or not he had any old hot rods laying around. His response was "Actually come over here to the garage". I have expected some old rust bucket, but when he opened the door I saw my current 34 pickup, chopped and partially done, sitting in a whole pile of parts and junk. He had gotten it in trade for some work he did and the previous owner was going to make a billet rod out of it. It had huge aluminum wheels and green and purle flames and it was all there but in sad/ugly shape. He was going to take it to Pomona, but with the big Billet wheels on it, it did not fit on his trailer! Lucky for me. He asked if I wanted to make an offer and couldnt believe it when I pulled cash out of my pocket. He was moving shops so he needed cash that day and we struck a sweet ass deal. He said there was one stipulation though. He needed it moved asap. I left and the next day had a trailer and truck up there and I towed it home. When I picked it up he said "A few months work and you'll be able to drive it." I got home saturday night at about 8:00 and after 12 hours of solid non stop work I drove it Sunday morning to get breakfast. Now channeled and setup in a more traditional custom fashion, I drive it everywhere I can. Another car saved from the billet death.....

[wingnutz]

http://www.mrhr.freeserve.co.uk/rides2002/rides41/rainer05poncho2.jpg
How's that? Not me but Rainer from Vienna.
Mart.

Mine's not this wild as this roll over..., but My 1940 Willys Coupe passed me on an icey bridge over the Mississippi River.

It seemed a little odd that a car was passing me on that bridge backwards and I suddenly realized that it was my Willys strapped on a trailer.

The damn trailer hitch lock broke and the chains flung my car around like "Cracking the Whip"...!

I did a complete 360 degree spin in the middle of the bridge and didn't hit a rail or anything...!:eek:

I crawled the car to the side, reattatched the trailer and wrapped a wire in the lock hole and drove another 5 hours through a Blizzard back home.

Got the Heart going pretty damn good.;)

[Yo Baby]

This isn't strictly speaking on topic,it's about taking one to the bone yard for a few extra bucks.

Back in the 70's pops and I had this nappy old feild stripped 56 chev 4 door.No front sheet metal no motor or tran dash, 2 doors missing .basically it was picked clean and we wanted to get it to the scrap yard and our regular 36 chev scrap truck was broke.So the question arose how are we gonna get this damn thing across the scales.
About this time we noticed the chevy still had a cheesey hitch on the back.So being the rocket scientist we were (are) we thoght well we've got the deuce and a tow bar,we'll hook up the tow bar and put it on the back of the 56 and push it to the scales.
Sooo.... we get 'er all hooked up and head off for standard iron & metal.
Here's where it gets screwy.
We pull up to the stop light at 4th and Hudson and stop for the red.A cop pulls up at the light that crosses our path and looks over ,he can see the chevy sans front end and motor etc, but he can here the unmistakeable rumble of an uncorcked 10 sec. race motor.We can see him looking around trying to figure it out but his angle is bad and he can't see the 32.
Soo... we sit through a stop light and he in his confused state sits through a light and we finally get tired of waitin' and know the inevitable ticket is comin' so when the light changes pop juices up the old deuce and away we go through the intersection and the poor cop is still looking pretty puzzled and rather than turn on his lights and having to write a book he just scatches and shakes his head and waves us on by and goes on about his bussiness.But it sure was fun to see him tryin' to figure out how that car with no motor or sheet metal is makin all this noise.
The 56 netted us 62.50 over the scales and we had our money for the day no worse the wear and got a good laugh to boot.
T.OUT

[No_Respect]

last week my friend? (not a car guy) bought a 65 coupe devile at paso (the really rotted one in black and brown primer with midwest style rust) he asked me to drive it home 65 miles.of corse i said yes this will be exiting chalange, it had only 1 good wheel cylinder 2 were shot and 1 wasnt to great well we took off to kraigans to ad 2 quarts of oil power stering fluid and to check the other vitals before the ride home we took off about 1/2 hour later and the thing was going great till the thermastat stuck closed where icouldnt pull over and blew a head gasket any way we left to go home for the night and the new owner my friend? has yet to get a wrecker to pick it up i told him i would help him out and he said he would take care of it!!!!! oh well waste of his 800 bucks

[Brad54]

Borrowed a friend's Ford truck to pick up a free '72 Road Runner the guy swore would be a great AND EASY restoration for the magazine. "It's only about 2 hours from work" he said.
The catalytic converter on the truck plugged up, and it took me six hours and three tanks of gas to finally get there. First he tells me "Well, that 2 hours is at about 100mph in my Dodge Omni!" Thanks. That woulda been good info to have before leaving on a Tuesday night. Then he says "The car is at a friend's house. He's about an hour away." More good info to have.
2 plugged-up cat hours later, we roll into this Mopar guy's place at 1am to get this cream puff. After doing the normal bench racing, I find out A) He's a die-hard Mopar Guy. B) He's on permanent disability from the Post Office, for--no shit--anger management problems and mental distress.
We walk through the stockade fence to the cream puff, and he says "I haven't mowed the grass in a while, but there it is." Grass is at the top of the fenders. And oh yeah, it's 1am!
We drop the trailer, hook up a chain and pull it out of the ruts it's created for itself. As I climb under the nose (trying to ignore the rust scales falling like snow, and the skeeters swarming) he says "watch out for rattle snakes. And I think I saw some Black Widows around it, too."
We get it out into the house floodlights, and the gift-giver starts to talk about how it's not as bad as it looks--most of the interior is there, and all the glass is in it. Not in the window openings, but in it. I knew the engine and 4spd were gone before agreeing to take it, but when he said the 8 3/4 was still in it, I kinda assumed the diff would be there. Dumb me.
We get the thing on the trailer (no Black Widows, but some very irritated wasps) and I head back home at 2:30am.
This was all in the summer, and Florida was in a drought. I ended up driving through a forest fire that closed the road down about an hour after I went through--because it was jumping the 4-lane highway.
I finally get home at 6:30am--three tanks of gas later, smelling like a bon fire and exhausted.
I wake up the next morning, look at my prize, and discover that in Florida, a car left outside in the weeds with no glass in it will rot from the inside out. The dash--and all it's supports--rusted away but the dash top was still there. The roof's inner structure was so rotted that there was no place to attach sun visors. All the glass was fogged, the bucket seats were un-usuable. I restored the wheels for a story and traded them for something, lost the rear end housing to a shitty employee (who in turn lost it completly), and salvaged the tail lights (which went to a reader). Finally, a very nice man with a ratty old pickup truck and a VERY big propane tank and Victor torch took it away. In 3x3 sections stacked in the back of his truck.
-Brad

[Tito]

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

[disturber]

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.

[Halfdone]

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.....:)

[muffman58]

Mine's not this wild as this roll over..., but My 1940 Willys Coupe


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''

[slamchop]

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

[oldcarmike]

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....

[rustynewyorker]

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.

[enjenjo]

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.

[chitbox dodge]

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.

[Rocky]

Nothing too awful exciting, but when I went to get my 52, there was a small tree that had grown between the bumper and rear qtr panel. We used a bow saw to cut the 1.25" diameter tree off about 4-5" below the bumper. This left the rest of the tree, about 8 ft tall, sticking up from where it was wedged between the body and bumper. We hauled the car, tree and all, back to the house, and within a couple weeks had the motor running and the brakes working, as well as useable tires and 12 volts of juice. Much to the chagin of my Mom, I drive the car around for a couple weeks with the tree still there! I finally cut the tree off a few inches above the bumper. So I had about 12" worth of small tree trunk still there for another few months before I ever got into bustin the rusty bumper bolts loose to get the tree out! I still have that small section of the tree.

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

[theHIGHLANDER]

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.

[Rocky]

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..

[TxRat]

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 :eek:

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...

[tommy]

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.

[VonXulu]

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

[Michigander]

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.

[snortonnorton]

Back around 1963, 15yrs old, been going to dirt track races with my girlfriends father, tell him I want to build a hot rod. We go driving all over back roads on Sunday afternoons finally find a 26-27 T coupe body in a farmers yard. Has tin on top, bricks holding it down, no glass, broomsticks throught windows, using it for a chicken house! Buy it for $10, haul it home. Very solid body. GF father has a friend who has a shop @ his home, welder, liked going to races with us, gave him a model A frame, 40 Ford front axle, 54 Ford rearend and an Olds motor( Reggie, I got the motor from Carroll) & old cast iron hydramatic transmission. Showed him a picture of a zed rear frame, bulldog spring perch in a magazine, how I wanted the body channeled over the frame, he went to cutting and welding. After he basically got it put together I towed it about 16 miles home with a home made towbar made from 2x4s and angle with a friend steering with a pair of vice grips clamped where the steering wheel should be. Amazes me that I still live. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif



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

[TRUCKRODDER]

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!:D

[Fordguy78]

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.

[rusty1]

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!