[blucar]

From time to time I have made comments here on the FB about a '37 Ford 4dr sdn that my brother owns.. The car is a very nice "survivor" which my brother has owned since about 1974.
When my brother bought the car it was in excellent shape, obviously it had been repainted an original tan color and the interior appeared to be fairly new mohair.. The engine was a 24 stud flat-head, appearing to be original. The one unusual thing about the car was the brakes, they were '39-41 with original '37 wheels and hub caps.
When my brother moved to another state in 1981 taking the car with him, a certification of the serial number revealed that the number on the frame, a correct '37 number did not match the number on the title. The number on the title was also a correct '37 number.
It was obvious that an undocumented vehicle had been matched up with a title from unknown sources.
As time has passed my brother has convinced himself that the car is an original "barn find" with a very special "factory optioned hydraulic brakes".
Now the rest of the story:
I was at a car show yesterday, the first of the season in the area. While walking around the show I encountered a man, "Delbert", that I had not seen for almost twenty years. The man is very well known in the area, he loves Early Ford V8's, that is all he has driven in the fifty plus years that I have know him.
I made mention that my brother still owns the '37 Ford sedan which my brother had bought from him. Without any prompting on my part, Delbert told me the history of the '37 Ford.
"Delbert" bought the car from a man that had bought it, the car was a very low mileage car with just 50K on the odometer. The man did some mechanical work to the car, installing the hydraulic brakes, repainting the exterior and installing new mohair interior.
"Delbert" paid $1000. for the car, which was less that what the upholstery work had cost. "Delbert" gave the car to his wife, a school teacher, she drove the car to work, etc., every day for many years.
After about 10K of use the engine developed problems so "Delbert" pulled it out, since it was an early 21 stud engine, "Delbert" said he decided to replace it with a rebuilt 59AB engine using earlier unmarked heads so that it would look like a '41 or earlier 24 stud engine.
The new engine worked very well, especially with the 3.54 gear ratio in the rear end. "Delbert" told me that he drove the car in excess of 70 mph on many occasions.
The only reason that "Delbert" sold the car was because my brother had a very nice '36 Ford pickup that "Delbert" wanted.. They traded cars.