One thrilled 90-year old!
 

Just had to pass this on. Three years ago I acquired a town sedan to restore. It was in pretty bad shape but had been stored in a barn. As I was cleaning it out I found the registration papers dating back from 1960 to 1970, during which time it moved from Central Point, OR to Gold Hill, OR, then to Etna, CA where it was last registered. During the last three years I have done several searches trying to find information on the former owners but could not find much.

Recently there was a TV car dealer ad and an older gentleman from Etna appeared in it. He had the same last name of the last registered owner. I called him and he said he was not related to the owner but someone else he knew was. I did another compter search and happened on to the name of the last registered owner. I called him and it was the correct person! He is 90 years old and was so thrilled that I had restored his old car. I then sent him pictures of the before and after look. This Saturday he took it to his senior breakfast get together in Etna and had a wonderful time showing the pics and reminiscing about the old Model A. He called me this morning after he returned home to tell me about his adventure. It really made me feel good when he told me that I had made his day, no, week, no year! He was so impressed that I would take the time to restore the old car and then seek him out. Needless to say, I felt real good especially when he told me that his son, who died young, drove it all over the countryside with his buddies. I had always guessed that it was owned by a young kid as his first car.

This July they have their annual Scotts Valley Bluegrass Festival and I have it marked on my calendar. I told him to expect me in July and we will go for a ride. I sure hope he hangs on till then. He is not in the best of health.

Sorry for my rambling, but I just had to pass this on.....

Robert Elayer
Brookings, OR

Re: One thrilled 90-year old!
 

Greay story......! Gar Williams

Re: One thrilled 90-year old!
 

Thanks for sharing this story-Great to hear how the hobby continues to make people happy:)

Re: One thrilled 90-year old!
 

Yes great story! I imagine it would be hard to find all the people who have owned the car since the first day it rolled off the line......

Re: One thrilled 90-year old!
 

great story. I'm sure he is really looking forward to July now.

Re: One thrilled 90-year old!
 

Great story and I'm sure there are many, many more to be told here on the barn.
Paul in CT

Re: One thrilled 90-year old!
 

Wow, what a great story!!!

Re: One thrilled 90-year old!
 

Robert

Thanks for taking your time to share a great story with all of us.

Malcolm

Re: One thrilled 90-year old!
 

This is a heartwarming story and exempifies the best of the good in the hobby :)

Re: One thrilled 90-year old!
 

Nice story, and I hope the old man gets to go for a ride.

I'm still learning the hard way that you should never put things off. There is a nice antique shop about 50 miles south of me which is run by an older lady. She always had a jar full of homemade cookies and a pot of coffee. She used to race cars at the speedway and always enjoyed it when I'd sit and listen to her stories. I hadn't been down that way for about 3 years, so today I rode down there only to learn that she passed away 3 weeks ago.

Re: One thrilled 90-year old!
 

At least you got good memories of her Tom. And i am sure she enjoyed your visits and never forgot them. Life is just to short and everyone needs to enjoy every day.

Re: One thrilled 90-year old!
 

Great story!

Jack

Re: One thrilled 90-year old!
 

Now that is the kind of story that should be on the news!

Re: One thrilled 90-year old!
 

Wonderful story! Could you share the 'before' and 'after' pictures on here?

Re: One thrilled 90-year old!
 

Its wonderful you were able to provide him with some good memories. Is there any reason why you can't take him for a ride now? What Tom said about those folks well along in years is so true.

We restored a 41 Tudor for a sweet old guy in his nineties. It had been his first car, the car he dated his future wife in. After it was finished, he went for a drive and was thrilled to his toes. All those memories of his late wife, his children, the good times... he died suddenly later that week, having had only one drive in it. His grandson has it now and will maintain it as original. But you see the point with these old guys .

Re: One thrilled 90-year old!
 

Re: One thrilled 90-year old!
 

One responder asked for the before and after shot. Here are two shots I ran some time ago on the FordBarn.

Also, I have been considering taking a special trip there this spring after the rains stop. I will have to trailer it there. I am just afraid he may not make it until July. Then I will feel real bad!

Re: One thrilled 90-year old!
 

Re: One thrilled 90-year old!
 

This is what makes model A people great
Thanks for story

Re: One thrilled 90-year old!
 

Great story, and nice looking car. I agree with others, if at all possible, I would make the trip as soon as I could. If he is in bad health, he might not be physically able to even enjoy the ride in July. Go for it now! Good job.

Re: One thrilled 90-year old!
 

I agree. Do the visit before...
clem

Re: One thrilled 90-year old!
 

That's a great story, a beautiful job on your car and you can tell we all want to see the pics of the original owner in "his" car! Thanks for sharing the story. Hunt in NH

Re: One thrilled 90-year old!
 

Another model A reunion but with a different ending. In 1968, we bought our low mileage 1929 Tudor which was in about the same original condition as the above 4 door. The tudor had spent its whole life running the limited roads of Shaw Island and Orcas Island in Washington state. We bought the tudor for $225 from a 24 year old fellow that said that it was his high school car and that he had received it from his grand parents who were its original owners. After our two year complete body off restoration (which it really needed), we drove the tudor back to Orcas Island to meet the original owners and to show off our large investment of materials and our hard work. The old folks had tears in their eyes when they first seen their tudor, but they quickly became very angry with us. I asked them why the anger? Their reply was that their grandson was to never sell their tudor and he had promised to keep it in their family forever. They told us that we should sell it back to the family right then and there for the $225 that we had paid their grandson for it. We drove out of there as fast as our tudor could run, and we hope our tudor will stay in our family forever. Yes, we are sorry for the old folks, but we didn't know what we were getting ourselves into when we sought the original owners out. The old folks bought the tudor new from Burlington Ford in Burlington, Washington. Their family owned the tudor for 39 years. Our family has now owned the tudor for 43 years and we now have our grandsons asking for its keys. I occasionally let them drive the tudor, but it will stay in our garage.

Re: One thrilled 90-year old!
 

I think it's terrific when you know the history of your vehicle. The story is often times as good as the car. Many years ago I had a nice original '31 standard coupe. I was able to find the original owner, then in his late 80's in Georgia. He asked me if the car still had red seat covers. I told him it did. He said he put them on shortly after he bought the car to protect them. Needless to say, the cushions were in beautiful condition. Glad you were able to reach the man.

Re: One thrilled 90-year old!
 

29fordguy ......................
Beautiful story ! Thanks so much for sharing. We are now waiting for Chapter Two.
SSsteamer .....................
Too bad that your story wasn't appreciated by the other family. They were, probably, upset with the grandson and took it out on you. Thank you for sharing too.
MIKE :)

Re: One thrilled 90-year old!
 

great story
often wonder who first purchased my A from d dealer

Re: One thrilled 90-year old!
 

that would be a good thing if you dont waite un tell july as we never know i would be up donate to a travel fund to see you make it in time how about it guys lets make an old mans day it may give him a few more years

Re: One thrilled 90-year old!
 

:D Wow!! This was great my father in law is 90 and I know how it would affect him, so great work! Great car!!

Re: One thrilled 90-year old!
 

VERY cool.