I was over my cousin's (Kevin) house helping block his father-in-law's '71 Charger. We started talking about recent bike rides. I told him about a local Hamber I went to see in Eudora to see a rpu. I waxed poetic over owning a Model A. He said an old classmate, Chris, of his wanted to sell an old Ford. Chris had drug the Ford home after finding in a barn in Leavenworth County over 10 years ago. Chris's father had made one attempt at getting it started shortly after it was brought home. It had not been touched since and sat in the garage. After a couple of phone calls we decided what better way to let the 1st coat of primer dry than to look at an old car. We went to have a look. I met Chris's parents, Melvin & Karen. Melvin took us to the garage. I don't know what I was expecting to see. I did not really believe it would be anything worthwhile. I was wrong. In this garage sat an unmolested (not for long) 1930 Ford Model A 5 window Coupe that was in fantastic shape.
We picked it up last night. There are no pictures of the load because it went fast. We just aired the tires up, put it in neutral and rolled it into the trailer. I entertained the idea of pulling it back out to take some pics but I am lazy. The engine freely turns! All the linkage is operable! The tank looks clean! We are going to see if we can get it running this afternoon! I have built this at least 100 times last night. I have a mid 60's 302/4speed in a friend's garage. Kevin has a 350/350 setting in his shop. There is a 383/727 there too! I would like to find an old firedome or maybe a flattie. Can anyone tell me how to get pics small enough to post but good enough to look at? Each pic I have is just too big by 40 or 50 kb.
I am heading out the door to Kevin's now I will take more pics and try that photobucket thingy. I am going to take pics with a less quality to see if that may help.
You LUCKY Bast*^T ,Nay Just funny ya.......... Man have fun with that...... Another dream comes true,so im one more closer to my name coming up on the list........ Good Luck.........
I have built this at least 100 times last night. I have a mid 60's 302/4speed in a friend's garage. Kevin has a 350/350 setting in his shop. There is a 383/727 there too! I would like to find an old firedome or maybe a flattie. Looks like chucklz, probably did not get any quality sleep last night! I know when I get another project, my brain resist sleep and goes into re-engineering build mode.
PLEASE!!! Don't kill that cool car with a 350/350. AAARRRGGG!! Hemi, Nailhead, SB Ford, Hell, Briggs&Stratton. Anything but another cookie cutting Small block Chevy. Dare to be Different. B
Run the banger motor or sell it to me and I'll keep it as a backup - seriously, if you don't want it, let me know. I'm about 3.5 hrs away in NWArkansas.
I just got back home. I don't know whether to backtrack with the story or jump right in. The car sat in an old farmer's barn since the early 60's. He got tired of paying personal property tax every year so he switched it to a non-highway title in '91. Chris bought it in '98. He and his dad, Melvin, drug it up on a trailer and stuffed it in their garage. The engine turned so they tried to fire it up but had no success. Chris said the rear brakes had froze and made moving it difficult. They went on with their lives leaving it to set. Until I showed up. We aired up the tires. I put it in neutral. I released the emergency brake. It rolled right into the trailer. The wife did not even have a chance to snap a pic. This should bring me up to the original post. I went over Kevin's about noon. We rolled it out of the trailer with me in the driver's seat. I figured I had nothing to lose while they were pushing me back towards the ramp so I stomped on the brake pedal. It stopped! Kevin took some pics while I rolled off the ramp. In the bright Kansas sun we looked her over again taking more pics. We rolled her into the shop. I took out the original floorboard to get to the 6v Walmart battery. We threw the charger on it then under the bonnet. I pulled the spark plugs out passing them to Kevin's Father in Law, Frank. Frank took them over to the spark plug cleaner. I gave each cylinder a peek. Piston tops at varying depths. I put a couple of squirts of transmission fluid in each hole. On to the gas tank, a quick peek and it appears clean and solid. I poured in about a gallon of fuel. It did not even leak! I opened the petcock on the sediment bowl. Clean Fuel!!! I grabbed the hand crank heading for the front of the car. I cranked and it just spun like a dream. Frank started covering the plug holes one at a time. Compression!!! We all looked at each other with cheshire cat grins. I tried to take pics of all this but everything kept rolling. We poured water into the radiator. Leaked around the hoses but just tightened the clamp and it quit. When it was full a small trickle came from the center of the radiator. I opened the petcock on the lower hose and clear water jetted out. We checked the clutch. It grabbed and released. Ran through all the gears with no snags. Put the plugs back in. The only thing left was to try to start her. The 6v was not taking a charge. Kevin had a gargantuan 6v from some industrial implement. He started the change over. I asked if this was a positive ground design. Frank said yes. Kevin said no. He said the negative was the ground when he took the battery out. So we hooked it up the way it was. For a huge battery it did not have much life. It sluggishly turned the engine over a few times. Frank said there was no current at the coil. I grabbed Bert's catalogue (it has a wiring diagram in it). Positive ground. We swapped the poles. Voila! Power to the coil!!! But no battery. Yet again at the what's the worst that could happen junction of the show we hooked up 12v. The starter spun, power to the coil but no spark. A quick rub with the points file and little blue lightning bolts. We would push the starter, jockey the advance and flutter the choke trying to find that magic spot. Frank worked the video on my camera when the magic happened!!! She fired up and ran I was squealing like a little girl. We shut her down hoping we did not burn out the coil. We found an 8v battery about the same size we needed at the auto parts store where Kevin's son, Kyle, works. A quick run to town was in order. I stuffed it in, fired her up and pushed the clutch in...
Man, what a find! Congratulations. That car, in that condition, it must be like a dream. Great potential. You hear of stories like this, but there can't be many left these days. I look forward to more pictures and the continued story.
Not just yet. The 350/350 is there for the taking & runs. A buddy just got rid of a 331 or I'd be hitting him up for it. I don't want a cookie cutter either. The banger bangs after all these years. There are too many choices. Maybe I can build it each way year after year I'll Keep you in mind. Do you know if a modern 12v out of an 8 or 9N would work? Thank to everyone with their words of encouragement and discouragement. I wish this fortune to all.
Hopefully no one wants to hit me for saying this, but.....keep it just the way it is? It looks pretty cool to me like it sits. I really dig chopped coupes with V8's, but this car looks like it's in pretty nice shape and preserved. Just my 2 cents, it's your car after all
You sound like Frank and his wife Fran. Fran's daddy had an old model A hotrod coupe when he was a courtin' Fran's mama. The town just thought that Swaggert boy was T-rouble. Bein' he outran the Marshall e'rytime he could .
...dropped her into reverse. You could hear the pitch change as the gears twirled. The top of my head was going to fall off if my grin got any bigger. I eased the clutch out a bit. The idle dropped and she started to roll back. Kevin, Frank and I looked at each other with utter surprise then the top of my head fell off (just kiddin'). I backed out of the shop. Kevin jumped in, Frank filmed and I dropped her in 1st then bombed across the lawn. She had not ran under her own power in over 40 years! We worked on her about 45 minutes and I was driving her across the field . We got to the road when Kevin said we should take it over to his neighbor Randy's house. What was I to do? I was driving a car that had not been registered since the 60's with no insurance rolling on tires that if I described them a severly dry rotted would be akin to stating the Titanic took on a little water. I drove her to Randy's! I even got into 3rd gear before I had to slow to make the turn into Randy's drive. Randy came out to see us. His wife came out and pointed out the roller curtain rod in the back window (none of the guys had noticed this). She said her Granny had a letter from Grandpa away in the service that said, "Here is the money for the curtain in the Ford I should be home at the end of the summer." We said good-bye then tooled back to Kevin's. I really wound her out on the way home. She chugged and flung bits of tire about.
The Jalopy Journal
