Projects 1932 Cabriolet - The 'FlatCab' - A Real 'Barn Find' for Once

Did you get to keep the garage it was in? How about the tools and stuff hanging up. That car shouldn't be separated from it's surroundings for the last 60 years. Great story, thanks

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good thing .. its only money you only regret the things you miss ... its worth it what ever you paid

 

Fantastic story and equally fantastic photos, well done for taking the time recording the cars' home. As mentioned the wall of tools is equally cool, now my desktop!
Thanks for a great story and congratulations.

 

Great story

 

That's pretty damn awesome. The car even looks a little forlorn in some of the pics. I'd take the photo of the car with the pot-belly stove and make it wall mural in the garage.

 

Good entertainment.

 

Heart rate elevated! Great story! More pics needed!

 

Stay Tuned - 'Part 3' tonight . . . and you'll get to meet 'Earl' (Grandpa) and 'Brian' (Grandson)

 

More pics!!!!

 

Great story...that's not fiction! Congrats on the '32

 

Great Story, as you were typing, we all were there, at the Auction!
Congratulations!

 

Hope to see these family photos!

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great find, waiting for the latest instalment.
Al.

 

He's too busy working on the car

 

Nice read.....

 

Pregnant pause, the suspense is killing me.

 

Nicely done

 

Well written, very well written...I usually don't read anything about '32's (they just don't interest me), or barn finds, but since the two-part article(s) are so well written (including punctuation, spelling and grammar), right from the beginning, you got me hooked...waiting anxiously for part three...

Great pix BTW...thanx for that...

R-

 

Very cool story and nice pics, waiting for the rest....

 

Uhhhh, part three please?

 

What he said...

 

Cant wait for the rest...great read...

 

Where is part 3?

 

Awesome story!! Can't wait to hear the rest!!!

 

Like everyone else I am waiting & waiting and then waiting some more....

 

Dale I'm so happy for you this is one hell of a car and its going to be in the best of hands well done my friend.

 

Part three?.
Al.


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Part 3 - Rolling the Ole' Girl On Out

At long last - time to finish this part of the story . . . and let you meet 'Earl', 'Marie', and 'Brian'.

Just Won the Auction, Can't Pick up the Car - Can't Sleep That Night!

So here I am, the new owner of my first 1932 Ford - headed home on Thursday evening after the auction. Frankly, all I can think about is that this dang car has sat up on blocks since 1959, nobody has disturbed a dang thing . . . and now that 75 of my fellow hot-rodders and God knows who else know about it . . . some goofy bastard is going to steal it before I can come pick it up the next day. Didn't sleep much that night.

Meanwhile, Chris Daniels locates a photographer who on a moments notice agrees to meet us there the next day (Friday) after work to pick the car up. That was a really great idea in that this made it possible to capture the car as it sat - before we disturbed a dang thing. This is part of the 'history' that belongs with the car.

The grandson 'Brian' and I (and his girl 'Hope' ?) agree to meet us the following night and help 'dig out' the car and get it loaded. Chris is coming along - without him, I probably couldn't get it done.

What About the Steering Column Lock?

I have to give Grandpa Earl some more credit - when they were getting ready to auction the car, they wondered "Where is the dang key for it?". Well, Earl seemed to think things through . . . he tied the key on a string and attached it under the dash.



Wonder if We Can Fill the Tires Up - Will They Hold Air?

Good question, they are really old/weathered - but the car has been up on blocks? I bring a small compressor and sure as hell, they hold air.

Do the Wheels Turn, Or Are the Brakes Frozen?



While it is still up on blocks, I try to turn the front drivers wheel - no go, frozen solid. Crap - I have visions of rusted damn brakes . . . having to drag the thing out of there (skidding the whole way). Things are starting to look a bit grim! So I start adjusting the mechanical brakes - to back them off. I start putting a tire iron in the spokes - getting ready to put some muscle into it and Chris says:

Hey, wonder if the emergency brake is on?

Now I think for a second - Hmmmm . . . mechanical brakes . . . Hmmmm, emergency brakes worked on ALL four of them back in the day (mechanical rods all came together on one common mechanism), what the heck. Chris goes into the car - sure as heck, emergency is on - releases it . . . wheel turns just fine. I guess Grandpa wanted things to stay safe!

We Roll It On Out . . . First Time on Wheels and 'Under Power' in 54 years!



The grandson Brian helped us push his Grandpa's old hotrod out, down the driveway and into the street. I was a bit melancholy thinking about it. Here he never saw the car move his whole life, never had a ride in it . . . and here he is helping a stranger roll in out of his life and forever gone. Kind of made me sad a bit. Guess that was the moment I kind of thought a bit more about Grandpa, Grandma and Brian.





So What About His Grandpa, Grandma and the Car

I asked Brian what he knew about the car, when his Grandpa 'Earl' purchased it, built it, etc.. He didn't know for sure in that the story wasn't really told. He did say that his Grandma 'Marie' was approached by a LOT of folks who wanted to buy it - but she'd never sell it. (There were guys at the auction who talked about helping Marie with car problems at times - after Earl passed - hoping to win some favors from her to maybe get her to sell the 32 . . . no dice, she wouldn't budge).

Brian and Hope went to their house the night before and dug up a few photos of the car - and one of Earl and Marie . . . gave em' to me off of the family albums (they all had glue on the back). Is that cool or what?

So meet 'Earl' and 'Marie' . . .





They were kind of a dashing couple of folks from back in the day!

Some Cool Momentos:

Brian and I got to talking about how cool this whole scene was - that to capture it, take pictures and preserve the history was important to me (and him). I asked if he minded us taking the 'girlie' pictures off the wall - he thought about it for a second and said "go ahead". I asked him if he wanted his Grandpa's old 'Louver Shop' business sign . . . he let me have it.

I think these things are valuable - they're a part of the history of the car, they belong with it. I consider myself just the current 'care taker' of it.



Plans for Columbus GoodGuys - Maybe I'll Make It

In talking to Brian, got to thinking that he never had an opportunity to ride in the car - so I let him know my plans to get it ready for GoodGuys in Columbus, 2014. I asked him if he would like to go to the show with me and ride in the car to attend it? He was very interested - I think it really appealed to him. I told him it is he who has the family history and story - not me. I hope to make that happen (but boy, I have a lot to get done!). If I don't make it this year, there will be other opportunities. I'd like him to have that chance and to see the look on his face when he gets to drive it a bit.

The Four Amigos:

Here is a picture of Brian (on the left, me, Chris Daniels and Hope). Thought it would be cool to take a group photo - standing in the spot where the 32 sat all those years.



The Aftermath:

Last picture of the scene . . . kind of a lonely picture without the car that was part of this garage all those years.



The House, Garage and the Car - Born in the Same Year

I went ahead and looked up the deed information on the house. Thought it was only fitting that the house, garage and car were all built in 1932 . . . now doesn't that just beat all. Good buddies most of their lives, built the same year, together for at least the last 54 - and dispersed into the wind after all these years.

Final Thoughts on Friends Departed . . .

The garage is probably already demolished - having done it's job of protecting a fine 1932 Cabriolet for most of it's life.

Kind of wished I could have saved the garage and kept it with the car . . . they seemed to belong together, maybe never disturbed. Funny, I'm kind of sentimental about it in some strange way . . .

Thanks for your interest in reading this long story, Earl is smiling down from the HotRod cemetery in the sky!

B&S

 

Phew! Thanks for the last part!

 

The car with Earl in the picture doesn't look like yours or..... Is it just me?



Dustin