Art & Inspiration Divine Intervention: Have you ever been "led" to a car or parts?

I know it sounds weird fellas, but bear with me. About a year ago I was visiting my uncle in Mandan, ND on a trip to get a '64 Chevy van from my other uncle. My best friend from high school, Andy, was out to visit as well, and when we get together we tend to just go for a drive and catch up with each other's lives, etc. We had just washed his car, and decided to go for a cruise in his black sedan.
We headed out of town, following the main highway until we tired of it and had to hit some gravel. This is where the adventure begins. I said "Let's find the first abandoned farmstead, and if there's no signs saying we can't explore, let's check it out".
We go down the gravel road, and it comes to the inevitable "T". My senses tell me to go to the left. We do, and at this point I'm starting to get a feeling. A nudge from the COSMOS or something. "Further, young man, further..."
We head about 10 miles down the gravel road and notice an old F-1 pickup turned on it's side next to the railroad tracks. It's pointed in the direction we're going, and I'm reaffirmed in our path. "It's only a couple miles that way", I say, weirdly confident in where we were going. It was almost like I had already been there in a dream...
A mile and a half down the road, we spot the farmhouse. "This is it!" I said, butterflies starting to well up in my chest. We pull into what used to be the driveway. No signs of signs. The house is 1/4 mile from the road through a field, and we're in a (now very dirty) late model Chrysler 300. Around the corner from the house was a '50's Lincoln and a '50's Cadillac. I could see the tops of fenders and a pair of wishbones sticking up in the air 100 yards to the North. I hurried along to inspect them, and noticed the roof of what looked to be an old '50ish Mopar above the tall grass about 50 yards to the left. We were in a low area, and headed towards a hollow. We got over the knoll, and wood ticks started climbing our pant legs. As we crested the hill, I could see a LOT of cars. There must've been 15-20 of them. We stopped to pull off some ticks and then we each went our separate ways, I went to the old Fords, and Andy went straight for the Cadillac. There was a whole line of them! A '53 Mercury convertible, a handful of '46-'48 Ford sedans, a couple old jail-bar trucks... AND A '49 MERCURY! My heart nearly stopped as the information clicked in my brain, much like watching a slot machine hit the jackpot in slow motion. Holy SHIT! The cherries are all lined up... Then I climbed all over the car and checked the floors, the dash, under the hood... Shoot, I've seen worse! My phone was dead, nobody would believe me! I went back in January to scout things out again.
Now it's time to find the owner...

And I did just that! After a trip to the county courthouse in a nearby small town, I found that the previous owner was deceased and that the land now belonged to his son, who owns the shop right across the street.

The rest of the story is pretty boring, but long story short, I made a deal on the car, and the last day of May, after 6 hours of getting stuck and un-stuck and almost giving up and prayer and answered prayers, the old Mercury came loose and we got it on my trailer.

SO, I know I'm pretty blessed to have found the car, but I truly believe someone was pointing me in the right direction; that it wasn't all just luck. Have you had a similar experience?

 

I call it good luck. HRP

 

I was ‘led’ to this thread!

Congratulations on your ‘find’ no matter how it occurred. Have fun resurrecting it.

Ray

 

Heavens to mercutroid , that was one stuck puppy....

 

Mmmmmm...Southern Tin...sorta...Ya did good...not even any bullet holes...

 

If I hadn't a been looking, we wouldn'a found it! I'd say there's some luck involved, but I truly did feel pushed in the right direction on this one.

Thanks Ray, I'm looking forward to turning into the custom I've always dreamed about... Hopefully I'll get a good start on it this winter!

Yes, it was! I didn't think it was that bad when I first went to look at it, but looking back, I felt the same way about the '40. "I don't care, I want this car and it's fixable!"

HAHA "southern tin"... I suppose it is for you! It's a miracle there weren't any bullet holes too, because the deer blind was just on the treeline.


Nobody's found a Stromberg or a '32 on an inkling that maybe you should just look over there...?

 

I see a torpedo back there to ...in fact a few vehicles that would be best snapped up by people you feel would have genuine interest in such things. You can help others realize thier dream as well. Did you take any other pics @Pinstriper40?

 

I think I deleted the pictures of the other cars, but I'm happy to PM the guy who owns the land's info to anyone who's interested. The '53 Mercury convertible is probably the next most desirable… The '50 Chevy fleetline is rusted out beyond repair... like 18" up the side of the car. It sat in some really wet muck.

 

My story, last year i got a call from a friend, `do you want to buy a 50s American car ` BTW I am in the UK
I replied ,would love to but got too much on my plate right now and dont want another project, but what is it / condition and how much money
Its a 59 Edsel and basically its up together running and very cheap but must be gone straight away so the deal was done and i drove it home running out of a gas can with bad exhaust and cab full of fumes
It had been hand painted matt black and de- chromed looking very sorry for itself, I found out the Edsels history and here is where the weird things start, it was imported 20 years ago from AZ by a lady who loved and cherished it then around 5 years ago she put it into a bodyshop for some resto work but then she got cancer and died, her partner went to the shop slapped on the black paint and took it away from then on he lost interest and gave it away to the guy i bought it from
Most of the chrome was missing and I had no contact numbers for the previous owner so started asking around eventually somebody told me that they think a bodyshop about 40 miles away did work on it but did not know the name or number only the name of town, I googled body shop in the area and they guy there said yes we have all the chrome here and you can have it
As i progressed flatting off by hand all the black paint and bringing the Edsel back to life things just started falling into place like they were meant to be then i remembered a conversation i had about 10 years ago with a guy from a local windshield company who said they had a windshield for a 50s American car in the stores but not sure what make or model
One day when the windshield fitter was at our work i asked him if they still had that 50s windshield in the stores he said yes but dont know much about it so give the boss a ring, the boss told me that many years ago a lady had purchased the windshield and had it delivered to them with the intention of having it fitted when the resto work was done , I asked she wasnt called Alison by any chance who had a white 59 Edsel , he replied yes , I told him that I was now the owner , he said if you drive down to the shop in the Edsel its yours free of charge.
Since i got the Edsel on the road odd things have turned up + i found some personal items of the lady owner to which i have left alone where the were found in the car.

 

Sometimes fate just pulls you! Cool save on the Edsel! I'll warrant you don't have to worry about not being able to find it in the car park

 

Not weird at all. pm sent

 

My weirdest...very minor part, but it found me! I was collecting accessory/optional parts for my '48 Ford, mostly just to collect because of the sheer tackiness of this stuff. I found one of the rare mechanical bits, the electro-magnetic temperature controlled fan. I had the fan and its clutch and hub, but not the temperature sensor. Years at Hershey never produced one.
One day I was hunting for simple tune-up parts at Joblot, the best early Ford parts place there ever was. They considered me a harmless pet or pest, and allowed me to hunt for goodies in their warehouse. I would go everywhere looking for oddities, and also dig through the barrels of Argentine repro parts to find the NOS Ford ones down at the bottom. As I passed through a dimly lit aisle of electrical parts something fell off the top shelf and bounced off my shoulder. I picked it up and found that I was holding a NOS temperature switch for my electromatic fan!
I crawled up and looked around...nothing but dust bunnies and a little path where my switch had crawled over the edge to find me.
The only wild electromatic switch remaining on the planet had hunted down the only person on Earth who was looking for it!

 

Hi Pinstriper 40.I think that there is a bullet hole in the passenger side windshield,and the exit is through the drivers side rear window.
Good luck.Have fun,Be safe.
Leo

 

That convertible could fetch some good money. About 10 years ago I picked up a 53' Ford convertible that was cut into pieces and not much left, paid $50 for it and ended up trading it for a nice 39' Merc Sedan, guy was building a 53' convertible and needed parts so he traded the 39' Merc for it! Sold that for like $4000!

 

I have not had the cosmic feelings or been influenced by divine intervention. I did, however, find a '46 Ford pickup over the edge of the roadway in Gunnison county, Colorado--near Pitkin.

All I had to do was stop my motorcycle and walk to the edge of the tree line to pee. I'm pretty sure that we have all done that, have we not? Anyhow I asked around and found the owner. He produced the title and said that if I could get it out without ruining his fence I could have it. So I did.

 

It's the work of the Devil! Did you not know that Mercury and Lucifer are one and the same?

 

I was recovering from a long regimen of radiation treatment after my Cancer surgery in the Fall of 2010. I hadn't touched my cars or gone to anything car related in a year or more. I figured that part of my life was finished and I'd probably get rid of all my stuff - pretty depressed.

I had been putting a good friend of mine off when he called me several times trying to get me to go out to a cruise night or local show, but I just wasn't interested. He called again, one "last time" he said, to go to a cruise night and for some reason, this time I said I'd go, not just to get him off my back, but, I really wanted to go - surprised myself!

We got to the cruise night and there was a '36 Ford 3W coupe, looking about as good as I felt. A guy I knew enough to say 'hello' to, was sitting by it and I walked around it and got the story of how it had been sitting since the early-'60's and blah, blah, blah. When he was finished, from out of the blue I said, "if you ever want to sell this car, I'd be interested". He replied that he wouldn't sell it, but as he'd always admired my '55 Buick, he'd trade me even. I said "yes" immediately and 3-days later it was sitting in my shop. That Winter, I very slowly started taking it apart and little-by-little, I kept working on it as I was physically able to do and today I'm pretty much back to normal, Cancer-free and the car I wanted since I was in my early teens, but thought I'd never get to own, is almost done. It's been a good trip and one that helped heal me.

Divine intervention? Maybe, but whatever made me go to that cruise night got me back to good health.

 

When I was younger people told me I could smell old cars. I was down in Bowling Green, Ky. visiting my girlfriend's grandmother. She said her dog wasn't feeling well and should probably visit the vet, but she couldn't take it because of her age. I told her I'd take it, on the way there I catch just the littlest bit of a Model A fender out of the corner of my eye. I slam on my brakes, back up and head down the road. There sticking out of a wooden garage on a vacant piece of property sat a 31 4-door Model A. Not my kind of car, but none the less, I found it. Urban Renewal was clearing out the area and they were going to build new houses in the area. The Model A was mine for the taking if I wanted it, but at the time I didn't know anyone with a trailer and I lived 3 hours away. My girlfriend said, "I don't understand how you can find these old cars, it's like you can smell them." By the way, the dog got a vitamin shot and was well in no time. Found a 40 Chevy coupe on my next visit, and when I went to see the owner of it, he showed me a touring T he had setting in his shed. If only I could have found that Chevy coupe 10 years later.

 

More like trying to find a car park to put it in, it takes up 2 spaces in the car parks over here LOL, I usually end up parking in the far corner where the Lazy people don't venture

 

I was collecting parts for a 27 Ford roadster and needed a turtle deck. I found one in Hemings. The seller was in Colorado and he said that it was in great shape and had a little rust in one lower corner. I sent him the money and he said he would put it on a pallet for shipping. He did that.
I was working at Reno Harley Davidson back in the 80s and had it shipped there. When it was taken off of the truck you could see daylight through it all over. It was rotten. While I was inspecting it out back, a customer came by with one of his co-workers. We all agreed that it was too rough to fix. The co-worker, whom I had never met, ask me what I planned to do. I said keep looking. He said that I should come by his place in Sparks NV and maybe he could help.
I got there after work and his mother came out to meet me. She said her son was busy at the moment, but would be right back. We sat on the patio and has a pleasant conservation. The co-worker came around the back of the home and was carrying a nice turtle deck without the decklid. It still had black paint and zero rust. He said he had it for years and had no plans for it. He would not take payment for it even though it was offered and I expected to pay. We sat and talked hot rods for a while. I asked him about cars he had in the past and it was clear that he had enjoyed old fords as well.
I asked if he still had any and at first he said no. Later he said that back in the 60s he had bought a 32 Ford and it was in the basement. He had disassembled it and took it down one piece at a time. He would not show it to me but he said that he planned to put it together after he retired. I can not remember his name.
I never saw him again and that turtle deck went on my 27 hi boy. I went back to the house again a few months later and nobody answered the door. After that we moved back to Alabama.
Now I try to help others if I have parts I will not use. I sell some if I have investment in them, but i give a lot away. I just hate to give parts to someone and then see them just get them for sales. I try to pay forward if I can.

 

I call it my my Guardian Angel watching over me, through the years I have gave her plenty to watch over and protect me. There's a feeling I get and have learned to listen, stop and think about, have many stories where things could have turned out real bad if I had followed through as originally planned, sometimes as premonitions about events in my life. One popped in, goes way back to my open wheel racing days, started night off bad, qualified poorly, , means you get to start in back of everything, win the C main ( the bonar race) start back of B, magic, in 5 laps I'm in contention for win with top 4 cars and thinking to myself, this must pay 10K to win ($100 and you transfer to A), 5 laps go by, back forth, slide jobs etc, now I'm thinking, WTF, these guys are trying to kill themselves and me, did something I rarely did. thought not worth it, dropped down out of line, pulled into pits and look across track watching those 4 cars flipping down straightaway, hell of a crash and I would have been in it. My wife asked why I pulled in as she figured I was going to win it, my answer, someone was in my head saying, get out of this while you can, tomorrow is another day/race. Now that you all think I'm a little nuts, probably somewhat true, In life, family, business I have been a very lucky/fortunate man and am very thankful to be here typing these memories. Twilight Zone type stories I have.

 

Great stories , get out there and stuff will find you...I love being a part of this forum.....

 

When I was 16, I was lying down in the driveway working (or more like "looking") under my first car, a 1960 Chrysler Royal ( think of a mid-50's Plymouth, Dodge, etc), and I had no idea about this car, when I hear a pair of shoes shuffling up the path. There was an older bloke there who asked if it was mine, and I told him it was, so he said that he lived a few doors down and had something for me. So I followed him, and we got talking, him and his brother had one the same, and used to drive it from Melbourne to Perth a few times a year (no mean feat, most of the road was dirt then). He handed me the workshop manual, and said "it's yours- I know that you will make good use of it".
I thanked him, and read that book cover-cover. The car is long gone, but the manual is still in my collection, and has been well used by me and friends. I think that if I didn't have that book, I would still be under that car trying to figure stuff out!

 

The only thing better would have been the "chopped" version......................................

 

Well, I'll be damned!!

Ray

 

very Cool

 

Back when '49 Plymouths, '50 Buicks, '54 Olds, etc., were worth nothing, I had dozens given to me. People couldn't believe you wanted something old & dirty …

 

OP... I enjoyed your story cuz my hometown is Mandan, NDakota... was that a '57 chev sitting in that collection of cars?

 

It is! A '57 base model wagon, but it's got mud halfway up the doors! It would be impossible to lift out!

 

In the 60's I answered an ad for Cord Engine $400, when I went to pick it up it was 4 Cord engines and 3 more truckloads of Cord parts including a couple of transmissions. 2 Nice senior citizen sisters who's brother had been a Cord nut. I was building 2 Cords from parts and pieces so this find really fit my bill. JW