Hot Rods 1934 3 Window Coupe Find --Build

Well..time for another of my long drawn out forever build threads. This may be my 6th on here?

Anyhow, about a month ago Matt Murray, from Irontrap Garage, gave me a ring that he had a lead on a barn full of 34's stored since the early to mid 1960's. Matt is a local guy and in addition to horse trading and parts swapping over the years, we've become good friends. He knew I was sorta lookin for a 34 3 window and filled me in that there was a nice solid one in the bunch. Fast forward a month...the deal worked out for everyone and the 3 window got to my garage.
It was put into dry storage in 1967 and hadn't seen the light if day until this past week. The car came with Polaroid pictures taken back in 1967 when it was 1st purchased before being put away. Amazingly , the condition is exactly the same today. Also included were letters from the owner's brother to him when he went to look at the car for him. Some pretty cool documentation that you rarely find with these cars

 

I watched Matt's video yesterday, what an incredible find.

 

I got the car home and gutted what was left of the original interior which smelled like a dead body! I vacuumed the floor and was amazed how solid things are. All the garnish moldings were there too and solid wood inside.

 

The body is practically rust free...probably the most solid one I've ever seen. It was coated in a green primer of some kind and the window openings were taped shut with plastic and green tape

 

I was worred about rust on the roof opening..but again..rust free. I had to heat the tape with a heat gun in order to get it off.

 

Next I slowly began getting the green crap off with heavy duty oven cleaner. This was a trick that Scott McCann in California told me about that he used on a roadster of his years ago. Scott found numbers underneath a top layer of paint and discovered that his roadster raced on the salt flats years ago. He painstakingly removed the top layer of paint slowly using oven cleaner and shared with me how he did it. It worked great..

I should say at this point I dont know 100% what Im eventually going to do with the paint....chop and repaint...chop and save the paint..blend in on cut lines..etc. im just having fun cleaning the car up at this point.

 

Underneath the green on the windshield frame was nice old chrome. I used fine steel wool and lacquer thinner for this.

 

Great 3Window! Really Great video! Looks like the fellow had every '34 body style, and had fun collecting them and the history that went along with every one. Should be fun to watch the next caretakers get them back on the road. Bob

 

Great find and you must be an old dude like us if you could read those letters in CURSIVE

I will be following along as I like reading your other threads.

 

The Pennsylvania Kid......Congratulations Jerry, nice barnfind...a real nice barn indeed...considering the condition of the capsule you've aquired...

Bring it On!!!...Can't wait to see you work your magic on it and nice save on the paint...between @Nailhead Jason and @Chris you'll have it shining again...fingers crossed...

 

Congratulations. Looking forward to another one of your builds.

 

Matt sure outdid himself, this time! Can’t wait to see what you have in store for this one. Awesome starting point Jerry!

 

Great story, look forward to your build. Banger, my kids can read (and write) in cursive, so he doesn’t have to be That Old!

 

One things for sure Jerry doesn't need any help making this shine. His skills are through the roof. His caddy powered 5 window is the stuff dreams are made of.

 

Sure glad you got, at least, most of the weird door art on the drivers door.
What was it?

 

Holy cow that is a nice body! I'd have a hard time chopping the top on it especially since you have uncovered decent original paint. Dang!

 

Congratulations, Jerry. Looking forward to your new build.

 

Haha I thought the same thing!

Awesome find!!!!

 

Congrats. That's a great start for a nice 34 build. Getting all that green stuff off has improved it immensely already. It must be a big advantage being a friend of Matt's and local. Because of his exposure with the IronTrap garage channel, people think of him when they are looking to clear stuff out. He's lucky but has worked incredibly hard to make that luck happen. He always goes the extra mile to make these deals work.
Again, congrats on the 3W. It looks like a really nice piece to start with.
Mart.

 

Hoodlums, lucky they didn't use it for a trampoline...

 

I'd slap a good engine in it and drive it

 

Awesome, Awesome, Awesome!

 

What a great old car

 

Awesome results, that technique works well.
...any chance you could tell us how its done?

 

There's a picture early in this thread. You just spray the oven cleaner on wait 5 minutes and start wiping it comes off a little bit of time

 

Told the fenders off today and the rear tank cover to check out the wheel Wells. Surprisingly they were also super solid and rust free. All of the mounting bolts came out super easy which is not my usual luck .

 

Had a set of wire wheel rollers that I threw on for now

 

Got the green paint off of the trunk this afternoon. Slowly working my way around

 

I have a 34 3 w and the rear inside wheel well has the crow feet indentations. I notice some do not. I thought the 33 s were smooth, unless Henry mixed and matched. I also was told by a good friend he had a 34 with one side smooth and the other had the crows feet. Any thoughts?

 

From what I understand there were several variations on these 34's. Early 34's had the smooth wheel wells, door handles on the extreme end of the doors, and a fully stamped dash where the instrument panel is.. among other variations. Little changes to the body happened as the year went on and they were being produced