Projects What’s the best place to find project cars?

FB marketplace
FB antique car sale pages
Scrap yard
Talking to people at car shows

 

try right here on this site, go to the wanted section and post what your looking for. miller

 

My last three project cars all came from different places. Oldest is my '37 Austin sedan that came from Ebay. I swore I'd never buy a car off Ebay, but it was 40 miles away from me, and all original when I found it. It also had a "buy it now" price that was crazy low. Contacted the seller, and arranged to run out and see it. Paid him, and loaded it in the trailer.
Next one was my '63 Falcon Futura, which my wife kinda found. Sitting in the living room one day when my wife says, "Hey look at that Falcon on Roy's trailer!" So I jump up to look, as it's headed around the corner. She says what I was thinking next, "What's that drunk going to do with a cool old Falcon?"
So I put my coat on, walked down the street, and asked. A little later I came home and told her I'd bought a project car.
And my current project car is a '39 Chev coupe, which I found without looking. Walking around the big swap meet here two years ago, when I see this rusted out hulk sitting on a trailer. Started telling my buddy about my '40 coupe in high school, and always wishing it was a '39 Chev coupe. An older gentleman comes around the car and we start talking. 30 minutes later I owned a '39 Chev coupe full of spare parts.

 

my house, just don't come by at lunch time unless you bring lunch!

 

It all depends on what your looking for? Model a ford , 1934 ford, 1950 ford shoebox or 1960 Chevy . Plus talking to guys like hamb members and taking in a few shows when the come back. I know most of the guys and gals on here know of one or two for sale ... put in a want ad ...

 

Ask guys who travel the county. stop by the county road dept. guys that work for the phone company or electric company. They see a lot while out on calls.

 

Found mine by word of mouth


Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.

 

Checkout the auto auction websites where the estate and charity (KARS-FOR-KITTYS???) end up. Locally it is:

https://www.copart.com/

Search for a maximum year (i.e 1965) and your ZIP code.

 

Its a lot easier to find a good deal on a project if you have cash in your hand. Lots of people want to wheel & deal but don't have the money to back up their mouth. If you want to start wheeling and dealing with me, prove to me you have the cash to back up your mouth as soon as we are done talking, not next week.. No money, don't waste my time.

The fastest way to kill a possibly good deal is to offer the seller 1/2 his asking price. If I have something for sale, and someone starts out offering my 1/2 my asking price, we are done, no matter how bad I might want to sell it.

The next deal killer is to tell me you can buy one just like mine on (insert site name here) for a lot less then I'm asking for mine. I'll tell you to go buy that one.

The next deal killer is to tell me my pile of crap is only worth scrap price. Thanks! I'll scrap it myself.

What you say, and how you say it can have a huge effect on getting a good deal or not having a chance at all. Gene

 

And please show respect for others property, if you check out a vehicle that is covered be sure it is covered when you finish. I cannot tell you how many times my 5o pickup was uncovered when I came home from work cause some mouth breather either thought they wanted to see it or that I had an obligation to sell it to him cheap.

 

Hello,

We do a lot of searching for possible future hot rods and possible projects, if they don’t take up too much time away from our locked in place pandemic schedule. As rigorous as the restrictions became, we settled into a routine and it just seemed like the right thing to do. We don’t venture out much and when we do, it is for a short run to the bank, gas station or a beach drive to spark the idea that “better days are ahead.”

Just seeing the blue water, the waves and the calmness brings back an uplifting experience to smooth out any pandemic blues that may pop up. What is not to like about going to see the ocean?

During our locked in program, there is plenty of time to do research for our possible next car or an addition of a mild hot rod to make it our own. The last category of a mild build is where we like these days as it would take time and energy to get things done correctly, but, at least the base is set with a SBC motor, suspension, transmission, seating and style. The rest … is in the details which we have done before and with the time allowed, make any semi finished project our own style and comfort.

The HAMB is a good place, but some are too far gone or would take years to get finished, so those are easy to overlook. But the ones with some character and in partial build stages, well that may be the way to go. So, the next place is BAT. Those cars are usually finished, but if one types in American, then it only shows American made cars/hot rods of all kinds. Some are in need of work and most are what people would think are finished. If the cost is right, a possible finished hot rod would do the trick for us.

We also like to do direct searches: We were looking for a 2 door 1940 Ford sedan. So, out pops up plenty of hot rods in all stages on the internet search. Now, slimming down those are as easy as a fast scroll down to pass up those that are just not in the cards. Despite being somewhat finished, the base is there for our style of hot rod we would want.

Now, if a 4 door 1940 Ford sedan with suicide rear doors, then there were plenty of those in the searches. So, the websites of dealers all over the USA bring out plenty of choices and for us, at this stage of the game, it would be nice to see and purchase one of those that we liked.

Jnaki

We found a cool green 2 door 1940 Ford sedan, but seeing it on line, discussing the parameters and the coolness of the car, it was decided that it would fit our needs, was well built, and would not harm our pocket books as the savings are rising due to not spending any money on vacations or lavish stuff during the pandemic.

Wouldn’t you know it, if it is a good build and the ideas/details fit, it won’t last too long. We were sorry to see, but it sold within several weeks, so our Google Website Search provided us with more hot rods in all stages of building or styles. We found one that was painted a candy apple red and looked to be well built with almost the same details as the green 40 sedan that was sold.

So, we are keeping an eye on that one. Or, my wife just got the notion to completely re-do our floor tiles, kitchen, office, a new garage door, and new bedroom make overs, so for the time being, that is taking up our time and energy. But, that candy apple 40 Ford sedan is still on my to do list and we keep talking about it constantly.

The HAMB, the BAT website, and of course the powerful/all reaching Google Website Search Engine are our choices for our next project car or somewhat complete hot rod sedan.

 

Down the alley and over the fence.

 

OP has not been back ???
I think this was just a random post to get his post count up so he could disappear back to the classifieds............

 

Best advice, period...

 

Exactly. I found this project down the alley and over the fence, just five blocks from my home.


To me, this hulk was a "project." The kind you don't find on a website. But to others, a "project" is a clean driver that just needs a few tweaks. So in the end, "best place to look" depends on exactly what it is you're looking for.

 

That's a really good looking speedster, are you putting it together, got any more picts? My Dad had an Auburn 851 in 1938 and talked about them while we were growing up so I've got the speedster bug. Thanks for the pict. JW

 

heres one

 

Amazing how many of those creatures rarely post and only lurk in the classifieds section.

 

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/a-speedster-comes-out-of-the-weeds—build-thread.1003005/

 

So does that make you a regulator?