The whole story of my 1936 Ford 3 window coupe "barn Find" and how I am preserving it

[Big Z]

We have all heard the story about the car sitting in a garage that everyone and their brother has tried to buy for years and years and it was never for sale. I too have heard it hundreds of times but never put much faith in the stories. I have an 81 year old friend Willie that has been helping me out a bunch on my Model a truck build. He has a great stash of flathead parts and misc. pieces that are tough to find or expensive to buy. He has a few projects and can always use some extra cash. I try to help him out and buy stuff of him that I can use. Years ago (like 1950) he had 6 36 Fords. The city got after his mother for having old junk in the yard and he got rid of them. The cut up the cars with an axe and took them to the dump. He kept some stuff and even built a 36 Ford 3 window which he later sold. I always liked 36 Fords and I thought I would buy up the parts he had laying around. I dug in the rafters and found a truck load of stuff. Paid him fair market value and we were both happy.






Word got out that I bought his 36 parts and I heard “How did you get stuff from him? He would never sell anything!” My friend Roger told me that he knew where there was a 36 Ford 3 window coupe in a city 30 minutes to the north of me. He would not tell me where it was just that it was real nice and was sitting under a roof covered in paper mill felt. He had tried to buy it but could not close the deal. He offered a low ball amount and the old timer said he was already offered more but did not want to sell it anyhow. Same old story. I never could get it out of him where it was and I let it go.

Fast forward 4 month. Roger stops by and tells me he could not take it anymore and that he had lied to me about the whereabouts of the 36 Ford coupe. He said it was in town and that Orville owned it but he would not sell it. I put it in the back of my brain and forgot about it.

I was out driving on Orville’s end of town on day in August 2012. I thought what the heck and stopped by and rang the doorbell. Orville came to the door. He is 81 years old. I asked him about his old cars and got the nickel tour of them all. He showed me the 36 Ford coupe all covered up under the roof next to the shed. It was not visible from the road and I had a tough time seeing what it was when I was standing next to it. It was covered up with a tarp that rotted away and then another which was rotting away also. There were all kinds of stuff piled on and around the car. I was climbing around it trying to see what I could and saw a 59ab engine, what I thought was grey primer paint, nice left front fender and that was about it. He said it was time for me to go. I left him with a piece of paper with my name and number on it along with a price.

I did not receive a call back so a week later I called and talked to his wife. I told her I had talked to Orville and I was interested in buying the 36. She said they may consider selling it. I thought great, here is my chance. I told her the price I was willing to pay and she said she would get back to me in 2 weeks. I gave her my number again.
I called after 2 very long weeks and she was still not sure about selling the car. She said she needed to talk to her sons about it. She would get back to me. I know her older son, he did some engine work for me. I called him and left a message to call me about the car. I called again the next day and left another message. He called back later that day. He wanted to know why I wanted the car and what I was going to do with it. I told him I wanted to preserve the car and enjoy it with my family. He was very stern about my not reselling the car to anyone else and that doing so would negate any deal. I then happened upon the other son at my work. He called looking for some info and I asked if his mother talked to him about selling the 36? He said yes and wanted to know what I was going to do with it and why I wanted it. I told him the same answer I told his brother and then drove my Model A truck to his site and showed him what I built. We had a great talk about cars and hot rods. He said he would talk to his mother about me buying the 36. I thought great this may actually happen!! Then it got weird, I decided to walk away from the car and see how things settle out.

So from the first time I talked to Orville the owner until now has been three weeks. Another week goes buy and I get a call form Orville’s wife on A Friday night: “I thought you would have called us back by now. Do you still want the car?” I say yes can I come over and take a picture of it the way it is sitting now? “Sure, come over Saturday morning but call first.” So I can hardly sleep that Friday night. I wake up and call her and I ask can I come over and take a few pictures? “no Call back Sunday” So I call Sunday and ask if I can come over and she says “ my son is here and he is digging out the car, I will call you later” Wow, it is going to happen I can’t believe it! So around 5 pm she calls and says “come and get your car” I said I will be right over! I hooked up the trailer and grabbed the winch and my dad and went to get it. On the way over I say to my dad you know I never really got a good look at the car, what if it is not worth it? I am already committed to buying it. He says “don’t worry, I will buy it if you don’t.” This is what we saw when we pulled into the driveway:











It was beautiful! I could not believe my eyes! I was the new owner of the beautiful car!

We loaded it up and got the story behind the car. Here is a picture of Orville and I:





Here is where it was sitting. They put the tractor in its place.

[flat-v8]

Wow what a story!

[Big Z]

Where did it go?
I get it now, All my posts need to be approved by a moderator first. Not sure why.

[flatjack9]

Read it on the HAMB. If I knew how to post a link I would.

[Big Z]

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/s...4722&showall=1

Here it is on the hamb. Not sure where it went here.

[Randy in ca]

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HAMB link below:


http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/s...d.php?t=764722

[coupe5w36]

Great story, great car.

[flat-v8]

Super cool! 3 window, Man you got a beautiful car!

[OLDTGUY]

Great story! Beautiful car!

[Big Z]

So here is what happened after I got it home. I determined that the engine was stuck and the rear axle was broke.

Monday September 24th 2012
Tore apart rear axle and found broken axle shaft





Tuesday

Go to Willie's and get a used axle from his stash and install in. I read about using a pipe wrench and a floor jack to loosen stuck engines. I was going to leave it jacked up overnight with the bores full of diesel fuel and transmission fluid but it broke free right away.



Wednesday

Drag car down driveway in gear to free it up. Turns over good now.

Thursday

Rebuild carb and put on new fuel pump.

Friday

Try to start it! It runs but only on a few cylinders.



Saturday

Pull heads and free stuck valves. Reassemble and it runs pretty good.






Saturday evening

I called Orville and told him to come over. I took him for a ride down the street.




Here we are talking flatheads:




Last thing of the day, I took him for a long ride in my Model A truck. When we got back his wife wanted to go so I took here next.

[Big Z]

Here is the history that I have uncovered so far. It seems all the old timers knew the car and I have talked to most of them. I had lots of visitors to the house who heard the the story and could not believe I had the car. I was told by several people that they were glad I got it and it could not have gone to a better person. I feel pretty humble.

As far back as i can find info on the car, it looks like Hildegard D. bought it used in 1947 and sold it in 1950. It was dark blue. Herb K. bought it and painted it grey and added the red and white interior. He sold it to Denny H. in 1960. All he did was drive it. He sold it to Orville in February 1965. The 21 stud engine was no good at this point and the car had 98,000 miles on it. Orville had a repair shop and on February 17th 1965 he installed a 3 3/16" bore 24 stud flat head that was a fresh rebuild. He wrote it on the hood with a grease pen.




He added fresh oil and put a sticker in the door jamb. It has almost 1000 miles on the engine since 1965!





So are you wondering why the axle was broke?

Here is the story I got: This was dad nice car. Older son was 16 and just got his license. When mom and dad were gone he would take the car out and cruise with it. The road behind Fleet Farm was fresh blacktop in 1976 and he would take it there and drag race other cars. He said it did awesome burnouts. He would do full throttle clutch dumps and as luck would have it, the axle snapped one of those days. They pushed the car home and got an ass chewing. Orville was pissed and said he would not fix the car because the boys were just gonna wreck it. So it was parked under the lean to roof in the summer of 1976 and was there until September 2012. 36 years it sat there. Also the car was parked in '76 and it is 76 years old. Kinda weird how the numbers work out.
__________________

[Fe26]

Man Alive!
If that were mine I'd just get the safety side of things sorted out and drive it. Cars like that are only original once. Once tampered with they lose their uniqueness and their historic if not monetary value.
Congratulations, on your acquistion, enjoy.

[FLA48]

Neat!

[NYfatboy]

Persistance and luck! I envy you! Enjoy the car-John

[chudm71]

What a find... Congrats..

[Big Z]

Here is more of the story:

Here are some interior shots. The moth balls must have worked. I could not believe there was no mouse nest in the glove box. I only found a few mice but they have been dead a while. There was some meds in the glove box for Orville.

[Brendan]

man that is a nice car. it sounds like you made a new friend, he has a big smile on his face, ear to ear!

[flat-v8]

That is one of the best stories I've read on here, thanks for the awesome storyline & pictures! I don't have a clue who owned my '36, it would be nice to know the history.

[Big Z]

I bought this car in September and was meaning to type this up back then. I seem to forget the details already.

This is the car in my driveway Sunday night when I got home with it. I did not have time to unload it so it sat on the trailer overnight.



I work 7-5 every day. I get to work and the phone is ringing. I answer it and it is my buddy & neighbor Dave.
Where the hell did you get that 36? he says
Orville I say
I was trying to buy it a month ago and they would not sell it. How the heck did you get it? says Dave
I have no idea. I guess they just picked me. It was like a month long interview for a high stress job. I reply
Well I am glad you got it, I don't know what I would have done with it. Probably sold it. Says Dave.

Dave was there Friday night when I got it running. He said all he wants to do is drive it. I let him drive it 2 weeks later.

This conversation was repeated almost word for word with several local guys that had tried buying the car over the years and were not successful. Orville told me over 40 people offered to buy it. One group thought it was a 5 window and said I paid too much and came over to look at it and said Orville never had a 3 window.

Oh I just remembered something. During the "interview Process" I told Orville I wanted to take the car to the MSRA Back to the 50's in June 2013. I want to cruise the fairgrounds with my family. They like the idea and I think that helped seal the deal. Back to my buddy Dave, He said he had never been to Back to the 50's but it was on his bucket list. I said if he shows up he can cruise with the 36. He will there he said.

[TJ]

Cool '36 3 window. It has all the goodies; banjo wheel , radio, and a glove box clock! Even has an aftermarket heater. Doesn't get any better than that.

[hombres ruin]

Just beautiful.what a amazing find

[Big Z]

I am one of the guys that runs the Meltdown Drags. We told John Wells we would be at the Iron Invasion in Woodstock IL. October 6th. I decided I would not take my Fiat drag car down there and was just going to work our booth. Well since I had the 36 I planned on taking it after talking to John about it. So I had less than 2 weeks to get it ready to go. So the first week goes by and it now runs. Second week starts and it is time to make it run better. It ran ok but when it got hot it would die. I swapped out the Holley for a freshly rebuilt Stromberg 48. No better. I put on a new fuel pump, nothing. I drained the tank and put in fresh gas and added a fuel filter, nothing. I put in new plugs, nothing. I finally took off the distributer and the condenser was no good. I called Flatjack here on the hamb and had him rebuild a distributer. The plan was to pick it up in Oshkosh Wi on the way down to the Iron Invasion. I washed the car inside and out loaded it up and we headed down Friday Oct 5th. We swapped distributers in the parking lot at Flatjacks and the car ran 100% better.

Here is the interior after I washed it up:



Here is the engine:



We stayed overnight in Union Grove and headed out early Saturday in a caravan of trucks pulling trailers. Here we are getting gas predawn:



We made it to the invasion and had a good time. My wife went along and was not happy with the cold windy weather but she fell in love the with the 36 and it very well working heater

Here it is parked at the show:





We had fun and I even bought a hubcap for the car. We hung out with friends and had a good time.

[Gumpy]

Very nice car and things have a way of coming around to good people,

nice find,,,,, gump

[juke joint johnny]

Great Car and Story !!!! Your a lucky Man !!! What are your plans for it ?

I would keep it like it is and use it !!!

John Cochran

[Big Z]

Here are the rest of the pictures from October. I really like these. This was near the end of the season. I still did not have the title and tags back yet so it did not leave the yard. I took David to the bus one day after the tags came but then I stuffed it into the garage for the winter.














__________________

[Fe26]

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This whole story just gets better and better. Congratulations...

[Big Z]

Thanks for all the comments everyone. My plans are as follows for the car:
It already runs and drives, so I want to make it run better, stop better, and be reliable. I don't plan on changing much, just fix what needs fixing.

So the first thing was to check out the brakes. They work but not perfect. I found a complete set of brakes here on the hamb that came off a restored 36. I was going to buy them if mine were shot. I finally had time and made room to jack up the car and get the wheels of of her.



When I pulled the rear drums I knew what I had from previously fixing the broken axle, so no surprises. When I pulled the front drums off, everything came apart really good because someone greased the hell out of the front brakes, not a bad grease seal, the brakes are greased. The only thing I can think of was the brakes squeaked and someone sold it and wanted them quiet many years ago. I am going to buy new woven shoes. Drums are great.



The kingpins are loose, spring bushing are shot, so I decided to pull the whole axle.



With it out I can adjust the steering box and fix the exhaust much easier.



I think I am going to clean it up and just put it all back together. I was going to paint it, but I think that takes away from the car.

Here it is sitting in the garage tonight


__________________

[Brendan]

I did a brake job on my 36 pickup, I just cleaned off 76 years of grease and took a wire weal to everything. then just sprayed it down with WD40.one other thing I did was take the spring apart and ground it down so it would move again

[Big Z]

Well I had a little time and I disassembled the front end. I made a list of what parts I needed and talked to my buddy Willie first. I borrowed his spring spreader again and his kingpin bushing tool.
I gave him this list for parts:
Brake shoes
wheel seals
king pins
spring bushings
brake levers
brake rod rubber bushings
This is what he had laying around:



I can't believe he has nos king pin sets. The rest of the stuff I needed I bought from Mac's



Here is a shot of the wear in the spring bushing:



All apart



Installing and reaming bushings





Spindles back on


__________________

[Conrad Rossi]

What a beauty! Congrats on the new car.

[Big Z]

I worked on the 36 some more this weekend. Sunday was a good day to be in the garage. It was below zero outside.

Since the axle was out I decided to fix a few more things like the exhaust and starter. The exhaust joint was rusted out and leaking bad. I took it apart and patched it with the base of a Ford 8n muffler pipe. Good enough for now. I will weld it later along with the holes at the joint.

I also turned the armature on the starter. It was in need of it badly.









I also finished the axle repairs. I spent 1.5 hours degreasing the axle assembly. I installed spring bushings, king pins, brake rod bushings and yoke ends. Now I need the brake shoes I ordered from Mac's to arrive.



Here it is back in:


__________________

[OLDTGUY]

Congratulations on the car, great story, nice car.

[Mart]

I like what you are doing to the car. I took much the same approach when I was working on my 33 recently.

Mart.

[hombres ruin]

Great progress.. What a fine ride . The 36 is such an icon. Well done on bringing back to life

[billylo]

Awesome story. Love the car!

[Mart]

I notice the lh perch has a gap to the axle - my 33 was like this, were you able to deal with it ok?

Mart.

[Big Z]

Originally Posted by Mart

I notice the lh perch has a gap to the axle - my 33 was like this, were you able to deal with it ok?

Mart.

Hey Mart, I removed the perch bolt and heated the wishbone and reinstalled it and clamped the axle tight. It seems ok now.

[fredshere]

Thanks for sharing the story good luck with the car

[fredshere]

Thanks for sharing the story good luck with the car

[nitrohonkey]

WOW what a great find and story! 36 3 window is my absolute favorite car!

[VeryTangled]

Hey Big Z, We're starving for another installment. Any progress in the last couple of months?

-VT/Jeff

[Big Z]

It has been a while since I posted about the 36 because I have not had any time to work on it much in the last 2 months. Just a little bit here and there. Here is 2 pictures of some of the cool pieces on the car.






Here is the tarp stuck to the body, go gone won't touch it.





I had the chance to buy these Edmunds parts and who know if I will use them, but they wont spoil.

[Big Z]

I measured the old airplane shocks on the front of the car and looked in the Monroe book and found these that were close to the same size.



I replaced all the yokes and clevis pins on the brakes. This is the rear clevis pin on the center bar:



I thought I had a after picture on this heater hose fitting but I can't find it. It cleaned up like new.



I did not have the wire looms but found this set-up in a junk yard this summer before I had the 36. Glad I grabbed it.



New and old hoses:



Making progress, new plug wires installed.



I looked all over for the correct size belt. No stores in town had them. I found this one new at my dad's shop in our belt stash. Should have looked there first. The old one is red rubber. I bought the belt sizer at the swap at Back To The 50's. Handy tool to have around.



The original front bumper is pretty rough. I got this with my load of parts in the very first post. It cleaned up ok with some steel wool. I like the grille guard. It must be a Warshawski accessory.







Here is how the engine looks now. I just cleaned up the wiring and made some copper fuel lines. I was trying to make it look neat and tidy and period. I straightened the choke and throttle rods and installed new grommets on them.



The windshield wipers did not work mainly because the hose was broke. I took down the header panel to find this:





I sucked out all the mouse carcases and nest and ran a new vacuum hose and the wiper works! I pressure washed the header and put it back in.



The rear window channel was gone and the window just rattled around. My old buddy Willie picked me up a new channel and I installed it. I am not sure why the inner panel was brush painted yellow. Willie also cut me a new drivers door glass because the original was cracked from a bb gun. I am sure nobody did it. He came over and helped me install it Saturday. I forgot to get his picture.

[Big Z]

I had a few ask what I did with the tires. The tires were new in 1965. The tread was great and they all held air. The bad thing is that they were egg shaped and a little rotten.



I bought a very used set of Coker Classic and installed them Friday. I could not justify the $800 or so price tag just yet. The Cokers match the look of the car and drive decent for being worn. I am happy.
I spent Saturday buttoning things up to take it on a test drive. Willie was over helping install some glass he cut. I got it out and picked up my buddy Dave. I let him drive me around. It ran and drove great. After sitting and idling it got warm and pretty soon would not run. I spent a few hours messing with it only to discover the coil is bad. I put the coil on from my Model A truck and took it out again. Skip will be getting it in the mail this week to rebuild it. I was stranded about a 1/2 mile from home because the car would not stay running. After pulling it back home with the helo of my wife I got it back in the garage. I figured out that the fuel line in the tank was plugged. I had flushed the tank last fall but it must still be full of crud. I ordered a new one from Bob Drake.

So in the last few months I fixed or replaced the following:
front axle i.e. king pins, spring bushings, repacked wheel bearing front and back
fixed exhaust leak
turned armatures in generator and starter
removed all battery cables and cleaned and greased connections, replaced lugs
new yokes and clevis pins on brakes
patched wiring harness, everything now works!
new radiator & heater hoses
new belt
plugs and wires
replaced old tires with old tires
drivers door glass replaced
rear window channel
wiper vacuum hose
and I still need to replace the gas tank, new brake shoe linings, rebuild ignition coil, door and trunk rubber, floor mat, and wiper blade.

__________________

[Big Z]

Here are a few pictures from my drive Saturday. The Cokers are on it here.

[Hamtown Al]

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Looks like you are doing all the right things. I hope you are enjoying the ride to the road to reliability. Sometimes frustrating but always interesting a pure joy when "mission accomplished."

Thanks for sharing. Great pictures... except Willie!

All the best,
Al

[Jake H.]

Beautiful car and story!

I love it when nice guys finish first. And a '36 3W is in my top 3 Fords, ever.

If you really want to get those tarp remnants off, try using "Rapid Remover". You can get it at vinyl sign shop supply stores. It's citrus based and won't ruin your paint.

Just spray down the tarp chunks with it, let it marinate about 20 minutes, then apply a little bit of low heat with a heat gun. They will come right off, no b.s. You can even use some of those 3M plastic razor blades, also from sign supply shops, for easy removal.

[Firepower flyer]

Looking great Paul!!!

[Big Z]

After the problems I had a few weeks ago driving the car, I decided to pull the gas tank. I was constantly getting rust in the fuel filter and sediment bowl. I figured it would never end. I bought a new tank from Bob Drake. I dropped the old one and I was amazed at the crud inside.





Apparently I was not the first person in the gas tank. I would assume the bottle corks were not factory installed



Here is the new tank in it's place for a test fit. It is a match to the original. side note, I wish I had the whole sign used here. I think it is Orange Crush.



My buddy Willie said I had to remove the fender to get the filer neck out. I did not want to disturb the fender so I cut the filler and used a 2.25" id hose as a coupler. I brazed the ends so it could not leak between the filler neck and the nut.



I also ran new 1/4" steel line. I matched it up to the original as best as I could.



Do you remember that the front brakes were greased? Well the car stopped worse as the brakes heated up so I bought new woven linings from Mac's and borrowed Willies rivet tool to install them:





They turned out great. I cleaned and primed the shoes and lubed the rollers. The brakes work very well now.

[al's28/33]

Great pictures and thanks for posting your story. I wish I had 1/10 of your knowledge!! Best!

[Big Z]

Thanks, I don't have knowledge, just no fear to tear stuff apart and fix it myself.

I had coil trouble and sent the original to Skip to get rebuilt. I got it back the other day and installed it. Here are a few pics of it. On the right is the 2 year old made in china coil that does not work anymore.



This is the coil from my 1950 F1 that works great still. It was a temporary fix.



And this is the rebuilt by Skip coil. It looks brand new!

[vonpahrkur]

Great car! You're doin it right!

[FHFD]

Thanks for sharing your story..another fan of your '36.

[OLDTGUY]

The 36 is a great car, enjoyed the story, nice work getting her roadworthy again. Thanks for posting all the pics.
JJ

[woodiewagon46]

Dude, you didn't hit a home run, you hit a GRAND SLAM, and you are doing the right thing with the car, make the necessary repairs as you are doing and drive the wheels off. Oh by the way where can I get brake grease, wow!

[Nodakwalleyer]

Wow, Fantastic story and car, I will look for you and the 36 at Back to the 50's, good luck!

[V8COOPMAN]

Another very similar bumper accessory guard, interestingly, also on a '36 3-window. Note the rare accessory trim bars around hood. Loving YOUR '36! DD

[Big Z]

I took some time on Saturday to make a quick floor patch so I could install the rubber floor mat.
I made a cardboard template, cut out a piece of sheet stock with the grinder and screwed it in for now until I can weld it in later. Then I put in the new floor mat I bought from Mac's. What a difference that makes. Plus the water cant splash up on me anymore.

[VeryTangled]

Hey Big Z, enjoying the thread! Very cool heater.

While sorting out the brakes on our '36 we found an amazing amount of improvement by straightening even the smallest bends in the brake rods. We've also seen a lot of badly worn brake cross-shafts, I know a guy who refurbishes them.

-VT/Jeff

[Richard]

cool 1936 ford

[40Ford!!]

Big Z what a neat story. I just picked up a garage find 35 Tudor and will post my story here shortly.

[Tommy Gun]

What a wonderful story! Great score and best of luck with the new ride!

[Fat deuce]

Awesome story!

[justindwright]

I love this find! I would drive it just as found (looks wise). So cool!

[OLDTGUY]

Big Z,
Great story, and a great car.
JJ

[Big Z]

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I have been driving the 36 as much as I can. A few weeks back I took my son to Boy Scouts with it. When we got out it was getting close to dark. We hopped in the 36 and started to leave the parking lot, turned on the lights and blew the fuse. I tried the parking lights and same thing. I knew the wiring was frail but I was hoping it would be ok. So I decided I needed to replace the lighting harness. A few days later the right hand water pump started leaking bad enough that I did not want to drive it, so I bit the bullet and bought pumps and the lighting wiring harness.






When I removed the harness from the column I realized just how bad of shape it was in.




I removed the horns and cleaned the contacts and replaced the leads. They actually work now. While had the horns out I changed the pumps right away. I drained the water and pulled the pumps off.



This is how the block looks. Pretty clean.



I painted them quick and threw them on. I used Indianhead gasket dressing to seal things up.





I spent 2 hours replacing the pumps and all day Sunday replacing the lighting harness. Naturally the parts I bought were not as good as the originals so I reused what I could. I had to find the plastic piece in the tail light socket that was missing and found it on a 39 parts car I have. It is handy to have parts when doing this type of stuff.

I then took the car for a ride down the highway. It was the first time over 45 for me in this car. It drove and handled very well. I was pleasantly surprised.

[Big Z]

[columbiA]

Great car you have!.Back in 58 I bought a 35 3-window for $175 that was in similar shape to yours.It ran well,but I bought a 37 sedan for $50 with a broken 2nd gear,but had a factory rebuilt engine with only 1,200 miles on it.That engine was so well balanced that you could stand a nickle beside the intake and it would take about 10 seconds before the fan blast would knock it over.
When I sold the car to a 16 year old kid,the first thing he did was to hack-saw the top off it for the convert effect.The body lost its structural integrity and the doors would not even stay closed.Idont think he drove it long after that!

[Firepower flyer]

Looking good man!!!I can't beleive how clean the inside of the block looks after sitting as long as it did.

[Big Z]

I had the pleasure of visiting with Jean and Orville tonight. We talked about the 36 and about life. Orville did not want to go for a ride but Jean did so we went for a 10 minute ride. Then we went for a walk and stumbled upon the missing hub cab for the 36! How lucky was that? They are happy with what I am doing with the car. Jean thinks I should paint it. I told her the paint is the cheap part, it is the chrome and the weatherstrip and body work that are expensive. If I was going to redo it it would be 100% and I don't think I can do it to the car. It is fun the way it is.


__________________

[Bruce in southern OH]

Great information and story, first time I had seen thread, thanks Bruce

[Mike in AZ]

very cool...glad you got it going and on the road....enjoyyyy it the way it is....Mike

[oldtin31]

Great story! I have almost the same story on my 36 3 window. I havent picked it up yet, just gave him a deposit till i can scrape up enough cash to complete the deal. Wish mine was as nice as yours, but its pretty nice, just been a little bumped up and needing a right rear fender. So i am on here looking all the time

[ss34coupe]

Great story and great find! Congrats!

[Wingnutz]

I've found that as soon as you paint it you'll not enjoy it like you do now... so don't you dare repaint it... No Kidding!

Keep it in a controlled state of decay and everything will be ok!

[cuzncletus]

There's one thing that rarely gets mentioned and then almost never positively. Sometimes I feel like Al Pacino in "the Scent of a Woman." Old cars smell of dust, mold, grease, mouse droppings, and rot. To me it's a strong sensory experience. It can't be replicated.

One of my good friends is the area's recognize best "old car guy." A very talented builder, he has a couple of nice original cars along with a constantly changing string of show worthy street rods. His ride of choice? An original 33 pickup with an updated drivetrain only, that only after the death of the early engine. Those creaks, rattles, and smells are all part of what draws me to love old cars.

Then again, I'm the guy that inhales deeply, then sighs contentedly when I smell a dead skunk on the highway.

[Ken Bull]

I love your story--my 36 Cabriolet was a big nightmare at times(did the.. bought it all apart & stripped of alot of parts thing).. Lucky you...when I saw the interior & noticed the Clock (I dont have & is pricey and unafordable now that Im retired) & noticed you have the "RARE" Waterfall Trim in center of dash. Congrats!

[Wingnutz]

Originally Posted by Big Z

Where did it go?
I get it now, All my posts need to be approved by a moderator first. Not sure why.

Probably the reason I only have one post!

[MN Stumpjumper]

Big Z, I saw the 36 at BTT50's. Very nice! Did you drive it there?

[Big Z]

Originally Posted by MN Stumpjumper

Big Z, I saw the 36 at BTT50's. Very nice! Did you drive it there?

No, We trailered it and camped in the campground. We had a blast there and cruised the grounds quite a bit.

[hemifalcon]

Great story.. I'll be on the same path in short order with it's 12 year younger brother..

[36 conv sedan]

Great story. Congratulations on your car and the way you have done everything, the deal, the repairs... and visiting Orville and wife so much speaks wonders about yourself.

[Wingnutz]

Hey Paul... have you done anything to this car lately?