Neatest old car you got for FREE?

I was given a mint 61 Buick invicta, from one of my neighbors. and a 48 Ford 2dr sedan from a Girl i worked with.

 

In 1971 I was fresh out of the US Coast Guard, attending college in Mobile Alabama and living in married student housing just off campus. I took a little dirt road shortcut to the main road and just caught a glimpse of a split windshield behind a shed in back of a little country house. On my way back from work I stopped and asked about that old car in back. The guy took me in the back yard and showed me a 1936 Hudson Terraplane Coach (2door sedan). He gave me the car buit said he was keeping the engine and transmission since that was the famous Stock Car Champion engine. He just didn't know that the famous engine didn't appear until way later than 1936 but I was happy and dragged the old car home to sit beside the 34 BB Ford Truck I paid $25 for over in Tillman's Corner and the running driving 51 Ford convertible I paid $40 for up in Andalusia. Oh yeah, I was driving a 47 Plymouth 4door sedan which was my first car Bought the year before I went in the service in 1967. I sold it when I went in the service and bought it back the last year I was in the service.

 

In 1964, I was 15 and went out early one Saturday morning and saw this 1950 Chevy 2dr sedan in the driveway. When my Dad got up I asked him what was with the old Chevy.

"It's yours if you can get it running", he replied. Turns out they had been at a cookout and someone mentioned this old car that the guy had driven to work had died and the wife wanted it gone. My Dad inquired and learned the tranny had locked up. It was in neutral and wouldn't come out of it. Dad said he'd been looking for something to let me fix up and the guy gave the car to him. They drug it home on a chain behind his pickup late Friday night.

I was pretty pumped...back then most kids didn't have their own cars. I was 6'2 and weighted 125 fully dressed with my Taylor All Stars laced up but somehow I managed to drop the tranny and survive. Only problem was everything looked great inside it. The levers on the tranny moved freely.

I was sitting behind the wheel muttering to myself and noticed the shifter (three on the tree) was still frozen. After some investigation, I dug the entire contents of the shifter linkage box out with a screwdriver and a hammer. It had petrified and locked up the linkage. Put it back together, did some really crappy bondo work (steel wool in the rust holes over the rear wheel openings) and a dark blue lacquer paint job sprayed by my dad in the carport. Drove the heck out of it for 3 years with the only problem being a blown tranny because I was speed shifting and later a blown clutch from the same thing.

The connecting rod babbit bearing (216 stovebolt) one day at about 85mph and I parked it. Later I gave it to my girlfriends mechanic dad who promply sold it to a neighbor that I see once in a while, usually at a funeral. It's still sitting in the woods behind his house, slowly reverting to it's natural state. I saw it a few years ago. After 40+ years in the woods, there's not much left.

 

my son Josh and i got this for free.......

 

hmm..this wouldnt count but I ALMOST got THEM if it weren't for my parents
saying no... a 1948 CHEVY FLEETLINE and a 1950 CHevy 2 door deluxe
the fleetline had a straight6 and the 50 chevy didnt had neither and engine
or a tranny.

 

In about 1967, my brother gave me his '57 Chrysler 300 as he was going into the Marines. It was a little rough but functional. Cracking leather seats, AC, Torqueflight, 392 hemi (if I remember correctly) with a "full race" cam he got donated from some local drag racer guys. It had to be reground so it wouldn't keep trashing the tranny. Drove the crap out of it (lucky it didn't kill me) and sold it to some circle trackers who wanted the hemi.

 

i also got this 49 merc for free but i spent $600. for a front clip.

 

Back in 1976, found a nearly complete 31 Ford rumble-seat roadster… the previous owner had it stored at this lady’s house. He had passed away & none of his relatives wanted anything to do with it. I inquired about it & she said, "If you want it just haul it away!" Still have it!

 

Around 1980, I was given a 62 T-bird with 80K on it. Nice interior and only one dent on it. But the condition was that I run it in a demolition derby for advertisement. The reverse went bye bye as soon as the derby started, so I had to make sure I didn't get stuck with the need to back-up. Cut a big figure 8 through the field of cars cutting them to pieces with the pointed front fenders. Didn't win because it lasted a long time and that great running 390 sucked the tank dry. Still finished 2nd with no gas and no reverse. Hate myself for it's destruction now, but sold it for $50 to the derby winner and he fixed the trans and drove it with success in 7 more derby's. Don't let anyone say that the old T-birds were weak in any way. It sure went out in a blaze of glory!

 

The 33 pickup that i am driving.....I got the cab from my dad.......

 

Let's see.. for free... around here you have to pay cash for cars most people think you should be getting paid to haul away. We dragged a Model T out of the park down the road from my house, it sat in an old farm dump, but had rotted to where it was just a frame - I'd had a cowl top and steering when I was a kid, but these assholes from up the road stole it.

I also got a Model A frame for free - just come get it out of the yard - it came with a front axle/bones, one nice wheel, steering, bumpers, and a nice hood. The frame had been under a driver someone went Hot Rod with. So the serial on it is probably no good, but the frame itself is nice.

Have gotten a lot of stuff so cheap it might as well have been free, too, just about being in the right place at the right time. Have a couple of deals on the burner right now.

 

In 1958 a fellow had a cherry 36 Ford tudor and a 29 roadster in pieces for sale for $100.
I got a friend to buy the 36 for the hundred and I ended up with the pile of parts for free.
The picture is somewhere along the line with a 265 in. Chev, 3 twos and Duntov cam.
The car was finished and still is in the St. Louis area.

deChrome

 

I got this 27 T Touring body for free. So when I went to pick it up, this guy has a free home made breakfast waiting for us. Eggs, bacon, sausage, biscuits, home made jams and jellies......I couldn't believe it was happening. He restored Model T's and was building a Depot Hack body for the frame he took this body off of, just wanted to get the space back in his garage.
That was a great day!

 

heres mine

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=296750

 

Kinnda a long story:

Few tears ago I spot a nice ol 62 Merc wagon (deluxe woody version). I stopped and asked about it. Wasn't for sale. I then toldthe owner I had a friend Mike who had a personal salvage yard with a 62 Merc wagon in it, if he needed parts. I gave him mikes number, and off I go.
A year or so later, I get a call. It's from the guy with the merc wagon I stopped and asked about. He said he got my number from my buddy Mike, and asked if I was still interested in the wagon. Told him no, I really didn't have any money. He said he moved to Seattle, drove the wagon over there, it's getting tow notices on it and he enlisted in the Navy, if I could come get the car, I could have it.
Went over there and drove it the 260 miles home....at 30 MPH. He mentioned something about it pooping out every once in a while. If I got going to fast, it would die. Figured out 20-30 was a decent speed. Took ALL DAY to get home. Figured out the "sock" around the fuel pickup in the tank was plugged up. I cut it off, cleaned the tank, and drove the car all over, even taking it on a 700 mile trip to the Portland swap meet and sleeping in it!!! It drove great and went down the road nice. It quit charging one day and I was getting tired of it. A good friend of mine wanted it bad since the day he saw it. I told him I didn't pay anything for it, so just gave it to him. He still has it!

 

I don't like to buy cars so i never look in the ads but my friends do. They saw an ad in the paper for a free car. I called and the woman said that like 5 guys were already coming to look at it and take it...but she took my number. She called me two days later and said all others flaked so come get it. we rustled up a trailer from a buddy went a uncovered a sunken 58 Edsel 4 door. We yanked it out almost broke our harbor freight come along. loaded the beast and the woman gave us a zip lock bag full of homemade cookies.

 

In the mid 60's got a 33 chev 2-door complete for nothing. In the same area I got a 32 Ford 2-door for $5. I miss those days. Lots of good deals back then.

 

60 Caddy 2 door-running
35 ford 5 window coupe

a few more but I can't remember right now.

 

Believe it or not, this was sitting in the original owner's garage (who I never got to meet) for several years before it was signed over to me in '99. Other than tires and a good cleaning, especially the chrome, this is how I hauled it home. Seems the elderly woman signed it over to her neighbor for helping her with her business affairs after her husband died. He never removed it from her premises because it would have been an emotional tragedy to her. When she had to move into a nursing home, it was more important for it to go to a good home rather than just receive a few thousand dollars for it and I just happened to stumble into the situation at the right time.
I restored all fuel system parts, brake components, belts, hoses, wheel bearings, timing chain & oil pump while dropping the pan to clean out the layer of sludge that had accumulated from years of city driving. Best riding car I got!

 

Not quite free,but---my brother had a 63 Dodge Dart with a slant 6--one day it won't start, so he and our dad decide to "work" on it. Neither one had any mechanical ability,so my brother is just stupid,and my dad is a hot-head!After about 2 hours fuckin with it,my mom calls me and wants me to bail em out. I get to their house,my dad is throwin things at the car,and my brother is sitting on the steps watchin it all. Dad tells me:if you get it running-you can have it. Have bro crank it over: no spark. Pull the cap:dist. won't turn. Pull dist.: plastic dist gear worn out. Go to parts store: new gear-under $2.00. I was driving it home in less than an hour.

Drove it for about 6 months--mom tells me her friend at work has a kid that needs a cheap car--sell it to the kid for $500.00.Everybody's happy---cept my brother,who still had no car!

 

It wasn't free. But in early 1967 an AF buddy got orders for Nam. He had this 26,000 mile 55 Ford Victoria. He told me I needed to buy the car. I told him I didn't have enough money to pay him what the car was worth. He asked me how much cash I had on me. I came up with $15 and some change. So, I got this cherry 26,000 mile Victoria for $15. Wish I still had it.

 

that coupe and that merc .. free !

 

I got a 50 Merc and a model A for free.
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=276844

 

It's been in the family since it was brand new. My wife's grandparents passed it on to us a couple years ago. It's very solid, absolutely no rust. I drive it as much as possible.

 

Got this 29' roadster for free. In Aug. of 2006 received a phone call after 12 years of inquiring and keeping an eye on it. My uncle and I are restoring the running gear and putting the body back on. I'll have to do a detailed story on it when it's done. Nothing to do with racing, just some really cool local history, for starters it's been to the bottom of Lake Erie twice!

 

there is nothing more expensive than a free car or motorcycle

except a "cheap" Ferrari.

that being said... I've been given 2 1963 Suburbans. Both in need of THOUSANDS of dollars.

 

65 Galaxy...after replacing the JC Penny bias-plys, brake lines, adding a junkyard Holley 4 barrel to the ole 352, and some free indoor/outdoor carpet, this old heap got me to work for a couple of years without an ounce of trouble...sold it for $200 and made all the money back I spent in tires, brakes, and the card adapter/Holley 600...goddamn thing was the fastest car I ever owned too!! Old lady who gave it to me bumped everything in New Castle County with it, including the garage (several times)...

"I hung up my spurs years ago...if you can make use of the old thing, get it out of the garage before it falls down"...Thanks Madeline...RIP...

 

I traded a '62 Impala for my '47 Chevy truck & $1000. I only had $900 in the Impala, so I guess he gave me a hun to take it. I found the Hudson truck in what was left of an old barn, the old woman said she would pay me to get that junk out of there, I told her she really didn't have to do that. A guy that I work with said... "So you like old motorcycles?" Got 2- Nighthawks just if I'd come haul them off. Both have brand new engines.

Kevin

 

1978 Chevy Malibu 4dr. I've always like that body style ......should have kept it

 

I don't know if this counts, but about 4 years ago I bought this '57 Chevy at a charity auction for $300, it had '71 Challenger bucket seats installed on blocks of wood where the original bench was. I brought it home and immediately took the seats out and sold them, got $356 on eBay for the seats.