Projects Totally illegal test drive. 39 Ford.

Hard to resist a little scoot when it runs. I used to go for a little boot every day before i started working on it. Couldn't resist. Friends got rides to. Get the fuzzies everytime

 

My trip around the block. No glass, no mufflers & no windshield wipers.

 

Looking great. I love where I live small town population 30. Nearst town cop 8 miles. Out here neibors usualy come outide for first smooky burnout. and trip down our 1/4 mile test area. Cal

 

I'll always remember my first test drive - no windshield, seats or mufflers, metal dust in my face. It's a rite of passage. Congrats man.

 

A milk crate is a traditional first drive seat!!! Quite often the parts that it used to hold get dumped on the garage floor due to the urgency of the situation. That's the first thing I thought of when I read this post.

 

Great first drive! My '46 Chevy was in exactly the same shape for its first drive, no front clip, rear fenders, glass or exhaust. The gas tank was a five gallon can on the front floor. the only difference was that my neighbor, a cop, was holding the gas can, I was testing the steering in the alley between our houses and he comes out jumps in and say "lets go, I got you covered"....he was real gearhead as well as a good cop.

 

Dude, you build cars faster than anyone I have ever seen. Do you have a job?

 

sounds about the truth, me and bud just finished a y-block in his 59 truck. No headlights, no hood, no brake lights, and open headers running up and down the road by the neighbor hood lights. At 11:30 pm on a friday night, We had two different neighbor call the popo on us. We got a warning and that was the end of that.

 

Panda fluffer...........and since there are so few pandas he has plenty o time to build!

 

Its still safer than 3/4 of the rat rods out there!

 

Illegal? Hell you popped in some gauges, that makes it legit as far as I'm concerned.

 

Makes sense......

 

I'm calling "Shot Gun" for the next one!!

 

How does one become a panda fluffer?

Car looks killer, can't wait to see what comes out after a winter's worth of paint and assembly.

 

sweet car love them first rides..

 

Really lookin good ! Can't wait till I see how it looks when finished .
One of my first rides was a 66 Chev , just got the engine and brakes working late one night with no lights at all ! My passenger and I sat on cinder blocks for seats and that was it ! My passenger held on to the big flashlight and I kept watching the telephone poles so I would stay on the road . damn that was fun !

RetroJim

 

my first visions too..

cool..

 

Cool story!

I took a Ford stock car with a healthy 429 in it for a run through Babylon Village in 1982. No front tin, no doors, but it did have a seat. No exhaust, it was very loud and fast.

I did 2 passes around the block (all left turns) at 11 PM, went back to the garage, parked it, closed up shop. We watched the road from the shadows and sure enough, a cop drove past twice and saw nothing.

Bob

 

I'm going to cry when you sell that one. I am still not over the fact the merc is gone.

 

Man seeing that no dash there brought back a scary memory. I used to rent a shop in my old town, and had a radically chopped (cant see shit behind you) 51 Ford with a nice 351w in it, long/short my friend started it to move it back into the shop and as he was backing in the car went berserk and started doing a burnout right toward my friend and I. Luckily, the brakes worked really well and held the car and he found the keyswitch and turned it off, I thought it was going to kill us. Ive been to chicken to try and start a car with no dash since. It's kinda like having a gun with no holster at high noon, not knowing where to reach in a jiffy could be mass destruction.

 

When I built my 39 Ford Sedan, I ran it around every Sunday morning in Dec like that to get the bugs out. BBRRRR it was cold. Also had no seat so I used a lawn chair. I fell off the damn thing every time I punched it!! LOL!! Also passed the law a few of those trips but they did not bother me. They probably thought I was NUTS!! John

 

Nothing like a little test drive to get you fired up for the coming winter build. You know you're going to want to get out there and cruise come spring!

 

Heck yea man I just go for it . You need to do that every once and a while to keep the fire under the project. If I get pulled over I just play dumb. Had my 50 out last week no headlights lic plates and one tail light, oh yea no exhaust. Anyway It gets dark around 4 pm this time of year. The cop was cool and gave me an escort home.
I guess when you are so wrong they think ya don't know better.

 

Illegal is a sick bird.

The best runs are always unfinished projects.......uncorked in the late evening or early morning. Kind of brings back memories of a 2AM push start of our flatty gasser back in the early '60s.

 

You just got to do it when they can move under their own power.

On my first run around the block with the T I was making a left to get back on my street and a cop was waiting to make a right to get out of it. I remember thinking man, no stickers in the windsheild and no plates he's going to bust me for sure. As I crept up to make the left he was pulling out, he never made eye contact and I headed for the garage thankful.

 

This is great!

A couple of years ago on father's day, I took my custom motorcycle out for a spin. I had just finished building it from scratch (although this was not my first ride) and had no title, no license an no insurance. These are all legal requirements here is California. I got pulled over by the police. I confessed to the situation and asked them...."You are not going to ruin my Father's Day are you?".

There were two officers, one was being trained by the other. The senior officer said to the younger officer..."I will let you decide what to do". They walked away for a minute to conference, came back and let me off with a warning. Yeah!

For all of you locals, this was a Roseville police - very cool.

Mike

 

The first test drive in my Henry J in 1996 - no windshield, no mufflers and a coming out party for a healthy 429. As I pulled back in the driveway, a black and white pulled in behind me. Being new in town, I didn't know I had a cop living on my street. As he began his lecture, he spotted my (finished) 36 Ford in the garage and immediately caught on to my vibe. We bullshitted for a half hour or so. he didn't give me a ticket but he made me promise not to drive it again until it was legal, and not to burn rubber all over the neighborhood EVER again.

I actually complied.