Hot Rods Should I knock on the door?

Look at post #357 on the WHEELS and STANTS thread. Is that the same car?

 

Obviously you have no experience with meth houses.

 

Jack 68GTS . I,ll change the subject, what is the '68 GTS you have in your screen name ?

 

Looks like '33-34 chopped coupe maybe. Kind of big for an "A". Can't hurt to ask, just don' t get shot!


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This one ? it,s RHD. Australia or NewZealand then. The subject under the tarp in this thread i can just see a steering arm for LHD. I think, . Thats why i asked 2 posts back what Jacks '68GTS is . Aussies know what i mean.

 

I came across an ad several months old , never imagining the car would still be around. It was and I went with the trailer...you just never know

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Can't wait to see the build thread! Good luck to you.

 

Ask about the trailer. Ryan is hunting for one. Might get you in the door.
If it was my wife that answered the door, she'd give it to you.

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Another point is not to put to much weight on what others say. There was a 55 Chevy 2 door in our town painted with a brush Navy Yard Gray (paint taken off the Navy yard--the kind they paint ship hulls with. This car was just sitting outside next to a one car garage. Talk to several buddies and they all told me the same story, yea the car is for sale but the price is way over the value of the vehicle almost the price of the car when new. At the time I was in high school working summers bagging groceries for a local super market. One day this lady comes in with a Lincoln Continental, 4 door convertible. With the back doors open backwards. Well we talk about her Lincoln for about 15 minutes and she told me she had an old car from her late husband just sitting. She gave me the address. After work I went over to the address that she had given me and it turn out to be the same gray 55 Chevy. Just about ready to turn around when she came around the house, saw me and show me the car. She sold me the car for a dollar or the cost of having the "bill of sale" notarize. I asked her if a lot of guys asked her about the car, she said no, even after her husband park the car. I then asked her how come they did not put an ad in the paper. Get this, because the paint was stolen off of the shipyard, and it was paint that painted the hulls of the ships, they figure that it must be some sort of top secret, radar avoiding paint and if they posted an ad the word would get out and they would be arrested. So go ahead and knock, but if it is painted with Navy Yard Gray, you might be in a little trouble---HA HA.

 

In the mid 1990’s I had just moved and was getting to know my new area. One day I was driving down a small highway and saw a 32 5W that was poking out from behind a ½ blown off tarp. I stopped to ask if it was for sale. The guy had owned it since 1952 and had recently had a stroke. He finally had realized he was never going to get around to building it and because of his stroke, he needed a riding lawn mower. I bought it for the price of a new riding lawn mower. The local guys had been trying to buy that car for 25 years but I got it because I stopped at the right time.

 

A note, I always leave a note first. In the mail box, house door, somewhere. Usually have to re-write it a couple of times. And add a short "my uncle gave me my first ride in a hot rod like that". Wait a week or so. Than knock. Now you can start by asking about the note, not the car. And wear a car shirt or worn work clothes. $100 jeans and fancy sneakers won't help at all.

 

I once bought a 1965 Corvette after stopping by once a year for four years in a row. The guy lived in a house trailer in the back of a trailer park behind where I lived and not many folks knew there was a 65 Vette parked in his yard. I would see it back there summer and winter, with snow plowed up to and on it! I would stop and ask if he was ready to sell and he would say no. I'd thank him and leave my contact info if he ever changed his mind. He never called. Four years in I stop by one day and ask again. He asks what would I give for it? Now it was complete including the factory hardtop. Only thing missing was hubcaps but it was in rough shape. I offered $1800 and bought it for that back in the early 80's. Car was a runner after fixing the brakes and replacing the carb and intake. If I remember correctly it turned out to be a 365 hp model. So nothing ventured nothing gained.

 

...somebody needs to save that car, can't wait for the unveiling...

 

It puts the lotion on it`s skin....................

 

My boss was at the Pick-A-Part in Monrovia several years ago when an elderly woman came in to drop off an O/T '70s Cadillac. By the time he caught up to her she'd sold the car to the yard, but he started a nice conversation (he has the gift of gab). She mentioned she had a couple other old cars stashed in a garage near South Pasadena if he was interested; and he ended up getting the running/driving '40 Buick sedan she'd bought new, as well as an O/T '67 Dodge van that had originally been Gene Hackman's motorcycle hauler.

Hope you can find out more about the car, and +1 to the idea of showing up in a nice old hot rod if you can. Good luck!

 

Way back in the 60's, I spotted a tarped car in a back yard. The shape looked to be a 37 sedan. I stopped & walked into the yard & started to peek under the tarp. A guy came out the door & said what are you doing? I replied that I was just checking out the 37. He said "who told you that it was for sale?" So, $125 & a couple days later it was in my back yard. Being nosy paid off.

 

Boom! That was Always my "ringer" in the late 80's/90's...

 

Well,have you checked on it yet?

 

I guess it depends on how bad you want the car and what you're willing to maybe do to the guy that owns it. I have always found that if you earn the money first, then start searching everywhere that what you're looking for will be for sale. I have never not been able to find what I wanted. 99 percent of the time if something doesn't have a for sale sign on it, it is not for sale and you will piss the owner off like a bunch of others have for bothering him even if he is reserved enough to not show it. That is not worth it to me. Most of the time that people go this route is trying to beat the system to get something cheaper than every one else would pay or they are just tire kickers bothering people in their dream world as a hobby. Sure there are those few times that someone has something they aren't sure what to do with but that is a very small percentage. Most have a dream of finishIng the car some day whether they ever will or not. I do not want any part of helping to deminish or killing that dream. I LOVE hotrods but I care about other people more. Just my personal opinion and conscience. Go with yours.

 

Knock! Just say you've seen it sitting there a while and were curious about it. Maybe its got a great story the owner will share. From that its usually easy to judge the "is it for sale" answer.
I knocked about a 57 wagon a while back. Guy was super nice but didn't want to sell. We talked a lot about fishing and guns. Left him with my number, for fishing, or selling the car. Havent heard back. I think I saw the car on craigslist the other day. I should go by and see if he has it, or its being flipped.

 

Did the knock & talk many times, only met with a shotgun once, and still ended up buying the OT 69 442.

 

Some day, a revitalized version of that car will show up at a cruise night. You'll ask the driver to confirm it's the same car and he'll say: "So I knocked on the door...."

 

I want my auto trader first...

 

Fuck man I’ll put lotion where ever you want for a 33 coupe. You fucking knock on that door yet?!

 

Also any house with that much old metal sitting in the yard/ driveway is no meth house. That shit would have been long scrapped

 

I stopped to ask about a 40 ford coupe that I saw sitting in a driveway back in 1972. I knocked on the door and a lady opened the door. I said I'm sorry to bother you but is that car for sale, she said it wasn't this morning when he went to work but it will be when he gets home tonight so give your name and number. That night the guy called and said he just got the car a week and a half ago with out telling his wife, so if you want it you can have it for what he had in it $155.00. Its the car behind the flamed 39 in my avatar, it needed complete resto. but was all there. DON'T pass without asking, you never know till you ask.

 

Take a page from your own book. If you don't want to get crabbed at, don't stop, but what if.....?

 

Finally stopped to ask about an f1 and pretty soon I should be picking up the top loader transmission, shock mounts, brakes, 226 flathead 6(that'll end up in a speedster), stock wheels, think a few more parts but I can't remember. Been waiting a few months but he's in his 70s and still runs his own business and builds street rods for himself and friends in his spare time so I don't wanna be a pain. May have to ask about the pedal assembly, too. Never can have too much genuine Ford parts.

 

I am pretty sure that is an old New Zealand number plate,( 1950's?)

 

knock knock