Given cars, how lucky were you?

When I was a kid (from 10 0n) I worked weekends and summers with my father in a bodyshop. It was an old shop off an alley behind Roberts Rambler (the used car lot across the street from the dealership) in La Puente Calif. People would come, routinely, and give us cars, or just leave them on our lot. This was in the 60's, from about 1961 until late 1969. We were given a 1960 Humber super snipe (not sure if that was a good thing), a 1958 Cadillac fleetwood Broughm (nice car but one of the lower control arms was torn off the frame), a '53 Dodge with the little red ram hemi (spun bearing), a bathtub Rambler with the flathead 6, and a 50 chevy fleetline. Later, at Loud Ford in Pasadena I was given a '40 Ford 2 door, and my first driver a '56 Chevy 210 2dr. What cars were you given, and how were they given(haul it out of here?)

 

Hmmm

first car given to me was a 70 impala 4 door hardtop. Had a factory 400 sbc, th400 and 373 posi.

Next was 68 sport satalite. 383, 727 factory air car. 64,000 original miles.
71 Jag xj12 with a 400 sbc
71 volvo 142 coupe, 307 dynoed horse 3.8 buick, t5
There were more, I just don't remember them right off.

 

As an addition to the above. Dad was a jalopy racer during the late 40's, and we always were involved one way or another. In 1966 he bought a Rambler American with the 290 V8 in it. We went drag racing. J pure stock automatic. through the mufflers on street tires it did low 15's at about 95 mph at Irwindale (our home track) completely stock. In 1968 AMC came out with the Javelin, and old man Roberts (who owned the dearleship dad worked for let us have one to race with the new (then) 390 in it. It did 13's around 110mph through the mufflers on street tires. We got to cherry pick parts from the factory(over the counter) and used the factory traction bars, a 3 barrel Holley(as I recall, remember those?) Jardine headers, and 7 1/4" street slicks. The car had a 4 speed and positraction. It would boil the tires at anything more than 3500 leaving the line. In 1970 dad was working for Loud Ford in Pasadena and we got a Pinto to race. It was a 2000 4 banger with a 4 speed and a Detroit locker rear out of a Cobrajet Mustand (used car lot parts, gotta love 'em). Someone managed to fill it with Chevy pop up pistons. It had headers, and the stock cam and carb with the choke butterfly removed. We tried a Spearco cam but found the stock cam worked better. It was a low 14's car and a suprise to everyone.

 

Got my first old car for $75 from parents of a friend...68 Impala four door with a 327 and a four barrel. Got my most recent car while parking my 59 Belair. Yet another old guy comes up and say "I got an old car too." He had a 60 Impala 2dr hardtop rotting under a tree for 10 years! Wasn't thinking of selling it. I says what's it worth, expecting 12K. He says he'd take 6. I bought it for 5!

 

In the late 80's I helped a lady I worked with move her stuff in with her
boyfriend as the building she had rented in the last 25 years was being
torn down to build an office building. I made several trips with my pickup
each night after work- as we made the last run she asked if I wanted her
old volkswagon. I figured it would be something to play with- she took me to get it from her landlords barn- a 1964 Karmen Guia with 24,000 miles
on it. The battery had died 5 years earlier and she just left it. The original
paperwork from her buying it was still in the car- it was a demo with
3200 miles on it when she bought it! Wish I kept it but sold it to build
my garage. Jim

 

Over the years I asked a few people to call me when they wanted to get rid of their cars:
My aunt's 64 2 dr sedan 6 cyl Tempest - never called and junked the car. It would have been a great car with either a Pontiac 400 or a Chevy 350 swap.
A friend of my then girlfriend who had a first year MonteCarlo with 350 and Posi - no call.

The one I did get was the car of a friend of my first wife:
62 ChevyII 4 cyl 3spd with 43,000 miles in 1974.
Got it for free because her father had managed to break off the edge of the block where the starter mounted. I got a '55 Chevy 4 dr from an 86 year old neighbor who drove it into a parked car. I used the bellhousing and starter to fix the ChevyII.
I broke all the piston ring lands once I started driving the car. It turned out that it had never been revved over about 2000 RPM. I rebuilt the 153 and drove the car as a backup for my Camaro. I sold it for $500 in 1976. I wish I still had it.

 

My dad passed away 3 1/2 years ago from lung cancer. He left my younger brother his '56 Chevy 210 2-door post which was purchased from the second owner in 1971 for $400. It is still driven everyday!!

 

In high school my bud Ted worked 2 shifts, and went to school every day! I worked after school at the 'Best damned garage in town!" and all summers.
My bud had a '33 Ford Tudor I worked on, constantly. He bought a '32 Five Window from a pal of mine's Mom when pal got a M.I.T. scholarship. Car was freshly painted and ready to go back together, fresh chrome and new maroon paint. Pal tired of the project, sold the Olds engine & dual-range Hydro, gave me the car.
Another pal gave me his near-perfect '50 Ford convertible when he had legal problems. He went to state prison, and I traded the '50 for a '40 Harley rigid, with a knucklehead and suicide clutch...(my first of a few choppers)
Those were the best, but there were others. (my '46 Ford Tudor, for instance)

 

a small red steel one with pedals you had to pump to make it move , after that one i had to buy them : )

 

1964 Impala 2dr Ht and a 60 willys wagon. Put the profit from the 2 together anf you get $400! Imapala was a nice one owner....I was a dumb ass kid!

 

I've been given two cars....my first, a '64 El Camino that was kind of a POS, but it was a lot of fun and at 16 I had a blast with it. When I was younger my dad had a '64 Olds F-85 that got totaled. In high school he found a '64 Cutlass that needed a little work but was very solid and complete. It was my second car....we both put a lot of work in it and I have been driving and modifying it ever since. I love that car and I'll never get rid of it....I'd say that pretty lucky.

 

I think I was pretty damn lucky...

 

My father in law bought it new

 

This car was in the backyard when I was looking at another car. It was a pretty rust free body with no front sheet metal. He helped me load it on the trailer.