Hot Rods Gifts for the next owner??

I can't count that high on how many people come into the parts store needing axle bearings or a transmission service kit for there hot rod or custom build and NOT knowing what is in it !

Being the "OLD" grumpy guy in the store all the retail rats come in the back and ask for HELP

 

On all the rods I've built ,I hide a decal I had made that says" Hot Rods by Stretch" somewhere . Some times on top of the gas tank or top of the trany. under the head liner. Just for fun.
Never found anything tho.

 

Morbid? Maybe? Maybe not. But pretty damn cool. Dads smiling on ya . i'm sure

 

My NAPCO had all the original purchase paperwork in the glove box when I got it in 2006. Purchased in Evanston, WY by Ted Neuman of Rawlins, WY. That same year, I bought my s55 and it had a lot of it's stuff also, including the window sticker. Neither vehicle being in very good shape, the owners just kept the stuff over the years.

 

About 1972 a friend of mine told me that he bought a car in the 60's from a guy, it had been wrecked pretty badly, can't remember what the car was but I do remember that he said he found something under the dash that the previous owner had left...........a finger.

 

I had bought my 57 chevy 2door belaire in 1977 . One year I replaced the tires and on the inside of every hubcap was the sale date and the first owners signature on all 4. That is real cool.
Vic

 

The car I am currently doing has the same thing- the first owners name and address written inside each hubcap.
When the car was new (1960) the outback town would have had a population of a couple of hundred, so if they flew off, they probably would have found their way home.

 

Same here...built a 3-story home in the 80's that we knew the owner was going to paint to keep costs down. I wrote "Hi Paul" on the uppermost gable end clapboard.

3 years later, as he'd just finished painting, Paul phoned to say it was all he could do to keep from falling off his ladder, he was laughing so hard! (My little prank coulda ended badly!)

 

I wrote my name under the headliner on several cars I worked on. Left a couple of Porto 1/4 inch drive ratchets and 10 mm sockets in Buick Roadmasters at the factory. Finally tied a string to my ratchet when repairing opera lights.

 

I've been both a finder and a loser.
About 1970, my older brother bought a 66 BelAir station wagon, he actually taught me to drive with it. It had a heavy thump/rattle in the front of the car from day one that could not be found. I was putting a new battery in it and dropped a socket, while digging around in the inner fender area under the battery box I found a brand new long handled bodymans dollie, bet that guy really hated losing that tool.
A couple years later I was wrenching on my 65 Malibu bracket racer, while reaching inside the frame I lost a brand new Craftsman 1/2" drive 9/16" deep socket, I could hear it travel down the frame rail, never could find it, I'm sure that drove the next owner crazy.

 

Any car I’ve sold in the last 20 + years gets every piece of paper with service dates, part #’s
and receipts that go with it.
For my 40 I keep a listing or journal of anything that’s been performed whether it’s maintaince, replacement of wear parts,adjustments, etc. I list all part #’s, cost, where I got it,you get the jist of it.
I have all the literature from the build,parts as well as any installation instructions,eliminates a lot of guesswork as I age and my memory isn’t what it used to be.
Whoever is the next care taker of my car he’ll be impressed by my OCD streak and anal record keeping.

 

When restoring a house I found Nov 1 1871 in the horsehair plaster that someone did when it was wet with their finger,on the cellar stairway wall. I also sign in hidden spots on my projects.

 

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/gifts-left-for-you-in-the-car-you-purchased.1116529/

 

Well O.K .mods, delete this thread. I'll admit I'm not very good with the search function.

 

Most of the cars I've sold, I've wanted them gone forever, not from shady work, when I was done with them I didnt want them coming back to haunt me, didnt want to leave my name.
Same way with past females, gone and done, there was always a good reason from one side or the other.

 

Why delete it? Nobody knew about that other thread except one person, this one is fresh..

 

I welded some info. in the inner fender panel and X frame of my 51 Merc.

 

No don't delete,
I was just joining in, I didn't mean any offence.
They are all a good read.

 

How about a small fish skeleton in the A-pillar.

 

Used to do alot of fab/welding for an outfit that had big trucks. Fleet guy at my current work (totally unrelated industry) has a Peterbilt water truck used for fires. he was telling me about it one day, describing the rear bumper. From the description I knew it was mine. Went to his house, sure enough underneath in welded cursive "B Ramsey 7/96".

 

In the 70s I would clip photos or the center folds out of Playboys and fasten them in in places like behind the rear seat, inside a door, plumbing access panels or any place that could supersize a guy and make him smile.

 

I try to pass on any information that could help the new owner- Bob K.

 

Customer had a Cadillac (O.T., 1986) that had a noise since new. Passenger door window fell off track, I opened up the door panel and found a bottle in the door that jammed the window...and a note in the bottle:
"Finally found me, you rich sonafa-----!"
I had heard this story since...forever...actually got to live it!

My bud Lester used to go to auto wreckers almost daily. When he was building his '40 pickup, he sat down in the pass side of a rear-ended Buick Riv, opened the glove box, (car was immaculate, owned by some elders) thumbed thru the owner's manual, and four (4) one hundred dollar bills dropped out!
Yeah...Free lunch. I ordered a steak sandwich and a chocolate shake! Thanks, Lester... Glad I went along!

 

I found a small paper tucked behind the fuel tank support in my A that read " on the nail in the kitchen by flyswatter"
I suppose that's where the spare key was.

 

Not car related, but I'm about to build a wood deck off the back of the house. I'm gonna halfway bury a life size plastic halloween skeleton under there, should last a good while, for whoever demos the deck

 

I get the finger all the time, but .....i guess thats not quite the same now is it...........

 

When I built my house I left a note inside a wall detailing my frustrations. Having been a heavy equipment mechanic and not having any carpentry skills I hope the finder does not read it aloud in mixed company.

 

Yeh, there was a time when that would have been a real problem, now I'm just happy to be acknowledged

 

I like to think I'm #1...........

 

I know a guy who bought a beater truck for $50 and found like $60 in change and money in it.

So far all I'm finding in the current beater is more things to fix.