[bobgrice]

My '40 5-Window Coupe was purchased from the original owner, a Winston-Salem farmer, in 1949. My granddad, looking for a daily driver, paid $75 for it. He and my dad (who was two at the time) got it started and drove it home. It was original and had some rotten floor metal in the trunk from the farmer's fertilizer.
When the original bumpers started looking rough, off to the junkyard to locate something that would work - '49 Plymouth bumpers. Not because they were 'cool', but because they were big and brawny and would fit over the original bumpers.
He drove it daily until my dad turned 16, at which time it was gifted to my dad. A couple of hottish flatheads and a 302 small block chevy later (and a few axles), my dad joined the Air Force and took it with him, along with my mom. I was born in 1971 and it was our family's car.
My dad was killed in a car accident in late 1973 (not in the '40), so the car returned to my granddad, who was driving a '41 at the time. He sold the '41 and began driving the '40 again and did daily until near his death in 2007. As the sole heir, I now have it. My granddad had installed the original flathead, which he had kept all those years, back around 2000 or 2001. It had so many miles on the chassis and body, that you couldn't call it original, but it had never been molested or changed in any way that couldn't be reversed.
I am currently restoring it, with the intent on putting my stamp on it. But, I will always keep the original motor for when I tire of it's current incarnation.
I grew up in this car. I used to sleep on the package shelf while we drove places (safety first!). I'm very much looking forward to getting it going again, hopefully before summer of 2013 if the cash is there to do it right! I won't be cutting any corners.