The Ford Barn - View Single Post - Friend bought his first flathead what do you think

HCO41 · 02-01-2014, 01:46 PM

If there's any chance you're not going to eat the next night, if a deal goes bad, then don't sign up. Most of us have gotten stiffed at one time or another.
A few years ago I bought my '50 from an ad on Ebay. The deal was made after the auction was over (dumb). A friend and I traveled 400 miles to Monmouth, N.J. to look at the car in a diner parking lot. The car owner owned two diners in Monmouth. He had had a friend list the car for him as "no rust ever" along some other accolades. We crawled around the car with little view of the underside. When started, the "detailed" engine had a miss. I figured plug wire or plug and didn't give it much attention. Bottom line, I let my emotions take over my common sense and bought the car. After I got it home and put it on the lift I found fender repairs, quarters replaced and it still needs the body supports replaced. Disappointed, I put the car aside until this year when I had to move it to make room for my '37 project. I tried to start it to no avail. I took a compression check and had one cyl. at 70, the rest were 30-40 and two were 5-10 (?).
Here's the good part; I had planned a trip to Maine to see Walt about an engine for the '37. After some discussion about the 276 Walt showed me a bone stock 8ba he had available. We struck a deal and now I'm back on track with the '50. Charlie NY has been another great help and supplies quality parts and service.
There's more good people in this hobby than there is dirt bags. And, believe it or not, there's not always an opportunity to check things out as indicated above. Keep the faith!!
Howard

02-01-2014, 01:46 PM	#44
HCO41 Senior Member Join Date: May 2013 Location: Lyndon, Vt. Posts: 462	Re: Friend bought his first flathead what do you think If there's any chance you're not going to eat the next night, if a deal goes bad, then don't sign up. Most of us have gotten stiffed at one time or another. A few years ago I bought my '50 from an ad on Ebay. The deal was made after the auction was over (dumb). A friend and I traveled 400 miles to Monmouth, N.J. to look at the car in a diner parking lot. The car owner owned two diners in Monmouth. He had had a friend list the car for him as "no rust ever" along some other accolades. We crawled around the car with little view of the underside. When started, the "detailed" engine had a miss. I figured plug wire or plug and didn't give it much attention. Bottom line, I let my emotions take over my common sense and bought the car. After I got it home and put it on the lift I found fender repairs, quarters replaced and it still needs the body supports replaced. Disappointed, I put the car aside until this year when I had to move it to make room for my '37 project. I tried to start it to no avail. I took a compression check and had one cyl. at 70, the rest were 30-40 and two were 5-10 (?). Here's the good part; I had planned a trip to Maine to see Walt about an engine for the '37. After some discussion about the 276 Walt showed me a bone stock 8ba he had available. We struck a deal and now I'm back on track with the '50. Charlie NY has been another great help and supplies quality parts and service. There's more good people in this hobby than there is dirt bags. And, believe it or not, there's not always an opportunity to check things out as indicated above. Keep the faith!! Howard