It all started at 5:30 a.m. yesterday when a good family friend Bob and I left my house and headed 3 hours south to an auction in Jane MO. (link with pics and info http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=685209) My dad sent me down to the auction to look at a 59 El Camino and another off topic car, but I only went there in hope of getting one vehicle. Bob was looking for a good cruiser to work on this summer, he thought he wanted a big pink caddy but ended up falling in love with a 55' Chrysler Windsor. He almost walked right past the Chrysler at first but I stopped to admire the interesting door handles and that drew Bob back in for a second look. Upon deeper investigation of the car we both started noticing just how solid this bad boy was. The 55' had interesting lines and trinkets that allowed it's true potential to shine through it's faded paint. I on the other had was sent down there for strict business reason....kinda. I looked over all the cars my dad was interested in but none seemed to be the kind of project he was looking for either to much gone or would require fixing someone else's mistakes first. That's when I decided to check out a 64 chevy truck I had had my eye on. When looking though the pictures of the auction I thought the truck was a short bed because of the odd angle, but I was saddened when I realized it was a long bed. That fact was quickly over looked though because just like the 55 this truck was really solid. When the auction started at 10 am Bob and I got lucky because the auction started in the row of cars that had both the 55' and the truck in it. The auction moved at a quick pace and the 55' was around the 10th car to sell. There wasn't much of a bidding war and Bob was the proud new owner of his first project car. There was a little more excitement when we got to the truck and I went a little over the price I had set in my mind but I figured spending a few extra hundred now on a nice truck would save me time and money later on in the build. After we paid for the cars we loaded up Bob's Chrysler that he now calls the "Jelly Bean" and took off for KC around 12:30. Here is Bob's car up on the trailer On the way back I informed my dad of the good news and he insisted that we go back that night to get the truck. Bob and I were so pumped with adrenaline and excitement about our new projects that we agreed to the idea. We pulled into my dads car lot around 4:00 and immediately dropped Bob's trailer and hooked my dad's up. We were on the road again around 4:30 and ready for another 6 hours of driving. My dad decided to tag along this trip so he could see the other cars at the auction and the entire way down the three of us talked about ideas for the cars. We pulled back into the auction site just past 7:00 and got the truck loaded up. I was surprised because my dad actually liked the truck, I was afraid right after I bought it that he would be pissed that I was going to be dragging home another project. We made it home around 11:30 dead tired from all the driving, I'm not sure how many miles we did but we put Bob's new Duramax truck to the test and it passed with flying colors. All in all the day seemed to go by fast and wasn't that miserable because of the excitement of the new projects. Snapped a some pictures of the truck and the tow vehicle when we stopped to eat, it's a fun comparison of new and old. and a glamour shot We started cleaning on Bob's car today while it was still at my dads shop. We got the interior vacuumed out, the car washed off, and I even buffed the roof for him. I think he is on the hamb and maybe he will see this and post some pictures because I forgot to get some today.
30 years from now you will be asking each other do you remember the night that we went back for that old Chevy truck? It's trips like this that memories are made of.
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