Hot Rods Automotive CARNAGE !...... What have YOU done ?

I was reading the thread about the guy not knowing weather he should cut up a perfect 1932 Ford firewall for his Hot Rod project,.... I was going to suggest he should sell it, And buy one that has already been cut up,... Cause you can find them fairly easily.... And after all,.. This stuff is only original ONCE !...... Sell it to a guy building a Flathead powered Deuce.

WITH THAT SAID​

What have you ripped apart or cut up to build a Hot Rod that you kind of regretted later ?..... Because of the subject matter, Ryan will have to decide weather this is appropriate content, But thought you guys might relate to ripping apart something rare to build your perfect Hot Rod.

Back in the 1970's a friend was building a 40 Ford Coupe,... He wanted to run a big block ford, 4 speed, 9" and Disc brakes... A guy I worked with, had a 1967 Mustang "S-Code" Fastback in pretty good shape (Just a older used car in the 70's.. Not hard to find at all) .... Looking over the inventory of the Stang,... It had a 390/4V,... a Toploader 4speed with Hurst Competition Plus shifter, 9" traction lock rear end that was the right with. A usable (and desirable) steering box & column, bucket seats, driveshaft, Master cylinder, Clutch and Break pedal assembly... And disc brakes.. (And Rod Action just did a article on how to adapt these very disc brakes to early ford spindles)...... And a Radiator that could easily be made to fit.

$300 handed over for a title in place of it.... And I drove that Mustang back to my buddy's house.... It had a little rust in the quarters, along with a dent in one of them,.... On the way back to his house I was driving it. Looking around I thought he might be able to use that overhear counsel as well as the one on the floor..... And it was wearing American Torque Thrust rims.... That would look pretty cool on the 40 Coupe as well.... And Shoot !... We might even be able to salvage the Headers and dual exhaust ! This would be a cornucopia of Hot Rod parts !!

I swear, I can still hear the pop of the torch as we lit it !..... Unbolted what we had to,... Torch whatever we could.... And in one Saturday....It went from being a car that would be destine to become a collector car.... To the sum total of its parts.......... After the carnage, We called our old pal "Bad Jess" at J&D Auto Parts,... And he asked if he could tow it?... Well, We didn't think about that...We called around to get somebody to haul the carcass away.... But nobody wanted it,... Cause it didn't roll anymore (Lot's of wreckers back then,... Almost no roll offs)

It sat like a rotting corpse, For a couple days, Worried that his Neighbors would complain, We decided to cut up the remains the next Saturday,..... Cut into bite size pieces, We took what was left of this future collector car to the scrap metal yard.. it was like four or five loads in the back of the pick up.

So ended the existence of the pore old "Organ Donor",.... However over the next 12 months, A rather snotty 1940 Ford Coupe was coming together in the garage.... Most of that old Stang went on to live in that Coupe..... But I often think of that 67 "S Code" .... Especially when I'm watching Barrett-Jackson or Mecum Auctions.....

So,... What kind of "Automotive Carnage" have you unleashed,.... And what did you use the "organs" in ?......

 

Not quite as formidable as cutting up an S code Mustang, but in the mid 70's I picked up a 64 or 65 Comet two door hardtop, bucket seat model, someone had transplanted a 302, it had a four speed that turned out to be damaged. I bought it for the engine, I ended up selling the engine and transmission, used the seats in my 38 Chevy and the rest was cut up and tossed. Minimal rust It was "just a car" and not valuable at all at the time. I had a mini salvage yard in the 80's, living in the country at the time, the "county" sent me a letter that had me out of zoning compliance and I was subject to a $100 a day fine unless I cleaned up. Cars that were crushed included a couple of 55 Chevys, a 62 Impala two door hardtop, V8 Studebaker, 54 Lincoln Capri, 50 Ford, Starsky and Hutch Torino, in all about 50 cars, good times that came to an end, lots of good tin that was just junk at the time.

 

Back in the late '60's I worked for a Ford dealer that also did towing and had a storage yard. We towed in a nice '58 Chevy convert with a 348. I thought the 348 would be cool in my '55 so I bought the car, and pulled the engine. The rest went to to the county dump. I mean, what else would you do with a '58 ragtop, nobody wants one of those sleds.

 

Not knowing...really...
A guy around the corner from me, years ago, had a Nash Healey Roadster. Nash Healey's are rare cars in general. His was one of the rarer versions with the rear tire opening with the flat top vs. the full round opening.

He liked the way I "moved" the rear fender metal on my 56 Chevy (not a rare car !) to clear the big tires.

He asked if I'd do the same thing to his Healey..."SURE" I said. We agreed on a price and I went to work.
It wasn't until many years later that I learned one of these cars in "reasonable..." condition, can bring a six figure price tag..!
At least there was no plastic filler needed, all metal finished, with a little extra primer thickness.

Mike

 

Well not so rare but I did pull a Cleavland Hamster out of a 70 something Mustang and replaced the 331 Cadillac in my '46 with it. I doubt that anyone including myself cared that I cannibalized the mustang but it was a serious disservice to my '46 and I later put the caddy back in there.

I am currently hacking up an A sedan. Again not so rare and the body is rough as a cob, but the firewall was perfect before I took the sawzall to it so the engine would sit back a little farther then what anyone else would consider sane.

 

Well...I am willing to admit it, but as my very first car 'fabrication'....I cut the metal top completely off my mothers old green 1963 Plymouth Valiant, 4 door sedan (fins on 'both' ends of the car)....thinking she would appreciate a custom 'convertible' taking us to school and groceries...and rigging a homemade frame & canvas top that folded 'somewhat' behind the rear seat in a jumbled heap, held down with a bungee cord and door springs ....it looked awful, and she about blew a major headgasket when I showed her, yelling "Hey Mom, check it out ....you have a convertible!!!''....,she dropped her jaw as I was beaming! I can still see her trying to manage that canvas frame hanging over the doors and feet kicking outwards, cussing like I never heard before, trying to keep it from flapping into mid air! I was 14....so, I very quickly learned I should have left it alone! NOT one my better judgement calls-----Ray

 

@Raiman1959 that's rich man.

The worse thing I believe I ever did to my mom's car was pull the v6 out of her '66 Four door special and replace it with a 401 while she was out of town for the weekend in my old Merc.

Anyway this has got to be the absolute funniest thing I have ever heard anyone admit and I have admitted some pretty funny chit myself.

 

Well....my mother wasn't too pleased, and grounded me for 2 months for the act...my father wasn't as lenient with his insight....I had grand visions of 'car culture' and hadn't thought it out very well...live and learn, huh?....

 

I hacked a hole in the hood of a '65 Dodge Coronet 500 convertible in order to install a Cobra jet air cleaner and hood scoop. Of course I peeled the Cobra jet lettering off of the scoop so that no one would know that I had a Ford scoop on a Dodge. Screwed up two nice cars in the process.

 

In about 1965 my brother parted out a pretty nice 57 Chevy 2 door hardtop and used the engine, 3 speed trans and rearend for his 39 Chevy. In 65 a 57 Chevy was just used car.

 

In about 1965 my brother parted out a pretty nice 57 Chevy 2 door hardtop and used the engine, 3 speed trans and rearend for his 39 Chevy. In 65 a 57 Chevy was just used car.

Wow..... This one hurts just a little.........

 

One of my less than stellar choices, when I was 16 I had a 57 Chev, Horrid piece of old wore out.... you get the idea.
Decided to put a Hood Scoop on it. Also decided if a little Scoop was good, an even bigger Monster size one would be the Best. Built a massive sheet metal "Box" Riveted it to the Hood, applied copious amounts of Bondo on the Seam, and then treated it to several thick coats of Red Oxide Primer.
When my best friend saw what I had done he said, it looks like a Giant F%&kin Chocolate Cake on the Hood.

 

back in the late 70's we had a guy that used to come in the shop that had a bunch of 69 charger r/t s. He had my boss at the time build him a 440 for the orange 69 that he was going to drive. One night him and his buddy were out playing dukes of hazard and lost control and rolled it over. They thought they could fix it themselves so they pounded the roof out and put a windshield in it out of one his parts cars. The cops were hassling him all the time because of the lack of the rest of the glass and how bad it looked in general. He decided that he was going to run it in the local fair demo derby, my boss called him up and offered him $200 and a 70 coronet 4dr that he could demo. He took him up on it and we parted out the charger. It was 69 with 440, 4 speed, dana rear end, orange, black vinyl top and black insides. I am sure with the prices on chargers now a days it would be fixed but then it was just a used wrecked car that wasn't worth any thing.

 

Not too desireable of cars, but in High School in the 80's I torched the top off a buddy's 2 dr 60's Rambler so he could cruise the loop in a convertable that weekend. A few days later we couldn't open/shut the doors because the unibody had sagged so much. So off to the scrap yard it went. A few months later we cut just the roof skin off the top of his replacement '63 Chevy.....at least we learned you can't remove all the structure when trying to make a ragtop out of a coupe

 

I had a friend in high school in the 70s who I saw part out a 66 SS427 Malibu then a 69 SS350 4 speed Camaro.
Oh yes he totaled them both first.

 

I have never done anything remotely as bad as any of these posts so far (yeah, right!). My biggest personal DFU was GIVING away my 2 B & M Hydro-Stick transmissions, spare flywheels and torus assemblies, AND a never used Hurst Hydro Gate shifter (missing the connecting rod); STUPID, STUPID, STUPID, and all because they were basically getting in the way and the nostalgia thing had't really hit yet. BUT, my best friend in high school (66-69) had a very nice 55 Bel Air hardtop, 283 4 barrel, 4-speed, green with a nice interior, and American 5 spokes; he traded it straight across for a 62 Ford some-thing-or-other (full size) convertible with a real loose 390, 4-speed, primer black, torn up top, steel wheels painted primer black, with the flipped over rear shackles and flattened out leaf springs (we all know that flattened out look). A real POS, but all he could see was "CONVERTIBLE". I did everything I could to try and talk him out of it. His next car was a 64 Falcon Sprint with a swapped in 289-291 HP, 4-speed, former drag car (even had a forklift battery in the trunk), that was painted Competition Yellow (a really bright yellow). He did an almost as stupid trade with that car for a Honda CB305 with Scrambler pipes on it. He is still a good friend to this day, but every time I see him, he gets reminded of those trades. I doubt he'll read this, but if he does, sorry Mark. I am Butch/56sedandelivery.

 

.

In 1980 my buddy brought over his new air chisel and we cut up a
Camaro into bite sized pieces.
That's Brad in the pic holding the chisel.







The car had been swiped on the passenger side after scrapping the
wall at the local drag strip.
Looking back, it really was quite reparable but at that time it was just another
69 camaro.


The Aluminum 427 engine was all we really needed for our project.
It took us about 6 or 7 hours to cut everything including the frame into pieces.
I was the guy using the air ratchet.


The engine went into a 63 chev truck and the first thing we did was
disintegrate the stock differential.
After patching things back together, The truck got sold to Mark Courtemaige,
who was one of our best drinkin buddies.
But Mark couldn't seem to afford a three tiered life of beer, fines and car
insurance.

A few weeks later while attempting to outrun the 'opposition',
Mark blazed a trail out of town and headed west onto the gravel.
With flashing red lights in tow, he turned north on the
rainy creek road were about a mile or so down was the
wooden bridge that everyone in town had seen to practiced
'getting air' due to the raised road/nature of the bridge deck.

Everything was going fine up to that point and Mark even stated that at
75 or 8o mph he had made a perfect landing but that was before the
front tire blew.
The combination of landing in a somewhat less than straight line on
gravel roads along with bald bias ply tires was a little more than he
had apparently bargained for.

The truck was pulled into the right side ditch where it began to roll.
How Mark made it out I don't know but one things for sure,
he wasn't waiting around for the ''boys' to catch him.

Besides, the constable in the cop car knew who Mark was and had more
immediate and pressing issues like the fireball in the ditch and resulting
grass fire.
Mark turned himself in a few days later, he didn't have to wonder if there was
a warrant for his arrest or not...

If I recall, the life of that L88 powered truck lasted about 3 months with the
end result being a spectacular crash and burn.

The remains sat in the local impound yard for almost a year but the
fire had made sure that there was nothing at all worth salvaging.


We didn't really find out til many years later that we had actually cut up a
69 camaro ZL1 with an L88 aluminum engine into
pieces smaller than 3 square feet.

Looking back, I don't think very many of them had made it into Canada as
new so I'm guessing that it was less than one in a handful.




.

 

Acquired a 58 Impala 348 with factory three two barrels 280 HP. First thing I did was remove the factory air cleaner to install three small chrome worthless air cleaners. Probably threw the original air cleaner in the trash. They are scarce as hens teeth now and worth a lot of money. Thats what you do when you are young and dumb.

 

I did almost the same thing as harms way. When I was building my 32 Ford in 1974 or 75 I bought a running driving 67 Mustang from a co worker and used every conceivable part of it that I could to put in my car, even the steering column. Interior went into a Model A sedan then I junked the Mustang body shell for $25. But it was a lowly 289 coupe, not a big block.

 

Parts car, before and after!!-MIKE

 

Cut the body off a '55 Chevrolet Chevy convertible so we could use the frame under our stock car.
Turned a '67 Chevelle SS 396 4-speed into a stock car.Did the same thing to a '69 Chevelle SS 396 4-speed.
Paid $150 for the '67 in 1976 and $200 for the '69 in 1977.
Demo'd a 1965 Mercury Cyclone 289/271hp 4-speed with 4:10 gears.That one was free from a cousin.
All were rusty cobs that had been driven hard and abused.The mid 70's was a time when those cars were cheap and plentiful.No regrets for what we did.

 

About 1960. Bought a very nice 34 Ford 4 door sedan for $125--ran great-we cut it off at the top of the doors and used it to chase coyotes then junked it. Got a nice 48 Cad for cheap and made a topless coyote chaser out of that one too then also scraped it. Bought a nice 40 Zepher coupe out of the Indian reservation for $50-drug it home and took out the trans and rearend and scrapped the rest-my Dad thought we were pretty dumb. Went back to the reservation again and bought a 37 Ford pickup for $35--got it running with the help of my dad and drove it to work for 2 yrs-sold it for $75-wow huge profit!!. Sure would like to have that Lincoln coupe back!!

 

These are Great Stories! I did not start Driving until 75'. I wish I had been driving at least 10 years earlier, I missed the"Glory" years as far as I am concerned.

 

I don't even want to count how many performance era Mopars I cut up to take to the local dirt track, nor how many were cut up to use as parts! In the late 70s, and through the 80s & 90s, I lived in the country, normally there were at least 13 Mopars there as parts cars or future race car projects. At any given time, the parts cars could have covered 3 or 4 decades of Mopars ranging from the mid 30s through the late 70s. I funded my dirt track racing habit, and my hot street car habit, through selling parts.

When We moved into town in 1999, I scrapped 7,000 lbs of Mopar performance parts ($279 scrap value) and 10 car and truck carcuses! We had hauled 10 pickup loads of the "good parts" into my new place and didn't have room for the motors, 4 speeds, 8 3/4 rear ends and other large parts. As unfortunate as that event was, over the course of the following couple years, I had to down size two more times. The 10 years after that, between my son and I, we build 6 cars or trucks. Now, very little of the huge stash I once had remains. It was a great ride!

Looking back, there were a few of the cars I wish I would have kept intact, but by now they would have been piles of rust flakes. Gene

 

My stories involve a decent 51 Merc 2 door, and a 40 Ford p/u. If I tell what I did with them, I'll be banned from the HAMB.

 

I would never have done this, but a friend of mine and his brother drove a 55 Ford Crown Victoria in high school in the 60s. When it quit running they used it for target practice. He says now he knows better and regrets it. Oh well, too late now.

 

tri 5 Chevy....what partsdog said....Dad had got into Mustangs as he retired in about 1976...one day a pretty cheery 57 Chevy 4 door hardtop in that rare primrose purple color showed up in my drive way - as he had no room in his....before I could say I want it/save it was gone - when I asked where - he said he traded to the circle track guys for an old at the time Stang they had....we know what for....damn I could have kicked his ass...but he was pretty big guy....

 

I took a first year Firebird and a Hurst Olds in partial payment for some house remodeling work. Guy drove the Olds to my house and I tried for a month to sell it. Got pissed one Sunday morning and removed the T tops, unbolted the hood, doors, and trunk lid. Mr. Saws-All cut it in half front to back and side to side. I advertised it an a Quartered Hurst -Olds and the sold parts went for four times what you could have driven the car away for. Wish I could find another. Bob

 

this was about 2001 -2002. Senior in high school. Bought a very nice 68 pontiac catalina for $500 bucks for the 400 engine for my 67 gto. Pulled the engine and proceeded to use it as target practice. I wouldnt do that now. but kinda glad to have the experience of destroying a old car.

 

There was one guy we knew, a worse drunk that the rest of us put together in 1975 or 1976. Not a friend by any means, he was on a different path to say the least. I was parting out '65-67 Impalas and Belairs to raise cash. Sold this guy a nose for a '66 Impala SS that he cracked up while blotto.

I heard a few weeks later he wrecked it. Drove past his house and he's out on the lawn, sitting in a wheel chair, not good. I never saw someone tear up as much nice stuff as he did.