Hot Rods The very best trade you ever made

I traded a Kennedy top machinist tool chest for a Snap-On wire welder with the 75/25 tank, then traded the welder and tank for body work and a crappy paint job on my 65 Chevelle, oh wait never mind.

 

Not sure if this is the best, but we both were happy. I traded a rusty, incomplete 58 Ford convertible for a 35 Dodge pickup missing only engine and trans. Straight up one for one trade.

 

I don’t know if this was my best trade or not, but it was the most complicated and fun trade! I bought one 1965 Ford 427 long tube cast iron exhaust manifold in Pennsylvania at the FE reunion, hoping to find the other side.
I found a complete set in Illinois a year later! To pay for them I had to sell a Columbia rear end that I had purchased thirty years ago for $10. I sold it to a guy in Australia, but had to deliver it to a guy in Indiana for shipment!
So I got my money from Australia, loaded the Columbia and the one manifold in my mini van and the wife and I went on a road trip to Indianapolis on Memorial day. I delivered the rear end, went by and traded my one manifold in on the complete set, as that guy actually had one missing on another set and came home with my treasures and a mini vacation! But missed the race, as it was sold out!



Bones

 

I took a bag of crushed cans to the recycling yard and while waiting for my weigh ticket I spotted a small block Ford performer intake on the ground that someone brought in for scrap. The scrap guy was happy to trade my cans for the intake. Three months later I traded that intake and an Edelbrock 4 barrel for a 1940's Snap-On roll cart full of tools.

 

How about a Honda CB750K2 4-cyl motorcycle that I bought for $1400 (brand spankin' new) traded to one of my room mates back in college daze for his slighly ailing 1970 Chevelle Malibu SS 454? The bike had about 5k miles on it. The Chevelle had about 60k and needed a few things like flywheel and starter and exhaust work. My buddy replaced the 450 HP LS6 M22 4-speed equipped Chevelle with a brandy new 1973 Vega GT station wagon. WHAT WAS HE THINKING? I fixed the SS454 and took it down to Woodward Ave a few nights... This was during one of the gas crisis times and I needed bucks to buy a mobile home for a place to live and finish out my college edumacation. Sold the car for a whopping $2650! It was fun while it lasted.

 

i was chatting with a guy who drove a '50 merc with a pontiac engine, and i happened to mention i was working on a flathead. he said, "oh...you like flatheads? i have two in my back yard. they're yours if you haul them away!"

 

Way too many good trades to really be able to call just one the best. But one that comes to mind is I traded 3 model A coupe body's and some labor for enough cash to buy my first 32 five window. It was an all original 4 cylinder car that had been in the same family its whole life and had not been out of the garage since 1954. I got it in 2008 and hot-rodded it in 2010

 

My best trade: traded an 8' pram/sailboat for a pretty decent (minus engine and transmission) '40 Ford Sedan Delivery.
Worst trade: Whatever the hell I swapped the '40 for (don't remember, that's how insignificant it was)!
DoH!!!

 

I traded a 1959 Gibson 225 electric guitar for a 53 Buick Skylark convertible.
The 2nd best trade was a 4 poster bed I had for a 40 Ponitac with a 57 Olds engine and trans.

 

While in high school, I traded two fairly good sawdust snow tires and 15" wheels for a 1946 Ford Coupe. The '46 was in good shape. The flat head v8 was tired, but I drove it for a year or so!

 

Back in 1977 I traded four beat up '30 Model A fenders for a real clean, unmolested, '32 frame. I then mounted the left-over Model A roadster body on the deuce frame and built a nice hiboy for my wife.

 

When I was 16 I traded a broken marlin lever action rifle for a 53 studebaker champion. Should never of sold that car but needed the money.

 

Back in 65 I traded my v8 60 Falcon for a nice 62 galaxy 375 hp 390 4 speed even I only had it or 8 months It kept eating T10s

 

Traded my ‘60 BSA 650 Super Rocket for my ‘40 Olds with a 350/th350 combo with a 12 bolt rear…

 

Traded a fifty dollar bill for a Boss 429 block

 

the only trade I ever made was the worst trade I ever made even though I made money on the deal. traded a steel 23 T body, V8 60 axle, suspension and hubs, T rear spring, T grille, cool brass or copper gas tank and misc other parts for a 53 Chevrolet 1/2 ton. the T was a Hot Rod in the 60's and I bought it from the builders daughter.

I traded it because the truck ran before I got it and the T was a project I did not have time to mess with. plus the guy I traded with had built 2 "T bucket" kind of cars and i thought he would put it together but he just parted it out.
turned out the truck had something wrong with it where it would idle fine and run in first gear but cough and sputter in second. sold the truck for more than I paid for the T and made money but a real 60's built T was lost forever

the V8 60 axle ended up on Von Franco's Lightnin' Bug.

someone here has the T body but I can't remember who it was.

 

Traded 4 new WWW Tires for a '55 Chevy 2dr. Local appliance repairman had gotten the '55 as partial payment on a job. One day he was riding by my place as I was cleaning out a '47 Hudson and he saw the tires and had to have them for his '48 Chevy Fleetline project.

 

In about 1981, Traded $$ for a 12 bolt out of a 69SS396 Chevelle in scrap yard. Asked guy how much for the 12 bolt posi. He said it's not a posi. I said, how much for the "it's not a posi" rear-end......$25.

4.11 12 BOLT..... ON MY LUNCH BREAK.

 

Traded several 32 5w body pieces to Rob Hall in Wahoo Ne.to benefit his recently acquired 5w, in return for pieces I was needing on my 5w as well, I was more than glad to help Rob along as he has suffered with a heart condition that has plagued him for years with a dim outlook. His 5w is now running & road worthy save for a few incidentals, Rob is an old hand at the hot rod thing & a wonderful person, would appreciate all the prayers we can get for him. Thanks, Ron

 

My friend and I went to an auction with a bunch of stuff, mostly car related. I guess the auctioneer was getting tired, because he started sell whole shelf’s of things. So we bought one shelf for less than $100. It had about 1 /2+ pickup bed of parts, including three FE 3x2 carbs , Muncie four speed in a box! We took that load to Ft. Worth and paid for our trip and then some!



Bones

 

I once traded a 19XX cxxvxxxe for a 19XX Txrxxo GT straight up. I got a great deal, i loved the Txrxxo GT

 

The ALL-TIME BEST trade I ever made was a fistful of$$$$ to my ex-wife for my freedom!

 

As soon as I read the thread title I thought “I traded half my 401K to get divorced from my 1st wife. Best trade ever. Wife number 2 loves fast cars and it’s been 17 years now!

 

About 10 years ago I traded a 10 year old Chevy Silverado for a '88 Harley FXR. Still have the bike. Life is good.

 

Traded a set of Eddie Meyer 8BA heads I paid $300 for at a swap meet for two English NIB Stromberg 97’s, worth $450 EACH.
Traded an Australian 32 luggage rack for a NIB LeBaron Bonney 32 roadster top.

 

There’s been a bunch but the one that comes to mind is the 261 I built for my 50 fleetline .

farmer pulled it out of an old Chevy grain truck . 261 high pressure oiler , pcv valve and duel point tach drive distributor , solid lifter cam and steel timing gears ! Pulled it apart and it was grungy but very little wear .
Traded it for a 1 ton chain fall and some towing chains I got from the gm plant we service the forklifts at , once the tag rip off the chains or manufacturers spec plate comes off the chain fall they cannot use them anymore , every year tons of chain , cables and lifting straps get trashed for this .

anyways , quite literally one man’s junk is another’s treasure and I needed up with a sweet engine !!

 

traded '31 Ford 5 window coupe Hot Rod for a '34 Plymouth 2 door sedan Hot Rod. being on the tall side having the extra leg room was great.

 

After my divorce, many, many years ago, I pawned my wedding ring for enough to pay for a ski lift ticket at Timberline. Good trade.

 

Ses few near me like to trade. But I still end up with decent ones. Few years ago I went for a deal snap on was running where if you bought a set of deep well half in drive sockets at a discount they gave you a 24" breaker bar and a couple half inch ratchets. Two years ago I realized I literally never used the breaker bar and offered it to a co worker for $80. Ended up trading it for a short tail th350 core(that I was looking for) and an Edelbrock performer intake for sbc(that I was also looking for and is in fact currently on my 53). Locally those go for around $100 each so I did ok. And he got a breaker bar he wanted (he kept breaking his hf bars lol) in exchange for some parts out of his hoard he wanted to clear out anyway lol

Another trade I think both did ok is a guy at a parts store agreed to give me an employee discount on any auto paint I bought from him if I painted his tailgate on his pickup (with him supplying all materials). He also threw in on the deal that I could keep any leftover paint and supplies. In the end I basically told him I'd do minor bodywork and occasional paint work since I felt as much paint as I'll be buying it was only right lol

 

I traded a 2001 Chevy Malibu with 180,000 miles on it for my dog. That was 3 years ago. Malibu is dead now but the dog is doing great!