Is your car planned or Fate?

[jim1932]

So my current car is definitely fate, I wasn't in the hobby, wasn't thinking about the hobby, had never owned an old car. It just showed up in a way I couldn't refuse.

Now that I am hooked. (and since it is winter) I have thought about what the next car might be and have planned a few out. So I was curious,,,, do you find a car of convenience, then decide what to do with it? Or are you a hunter and plan it out, then go find what you need.

[TStiles]

Interesting question.
in the late '70's I ran across a '53 F100 and fell for it. The result was a truck that was pure stock outside (except for stance) and pure rod underneath (all ford, mind you). That was fate. Sold it in the 80's and put cars on the shelf for awhile.
The present was planned. I'd been looking for a '48-'52 F1 for years and finally found an ideal candidate. This one is stove-stock, an occasional driver, and used as a truck. Love it. My son will likely inherit it some day down the road.

[Peterooster]

In the ninties I went looking for a 1935 pickup to rod, found a 1932 complete with three hoods. When I brought it home it was found to be complete in every way and decided to restore it even though it was very rusty. Pete

[VeryTangled]

Hi Jim, Thanks for asking a good question. I'm sorry if my answer is a bit long and seems to be about ME, ME, ME! (Readers, feel free to skip to the next post after the photo.)

I have to go with FATE. The short of it is, Dad bought a car and made me a partner.

Here's the longer story, and I guess it explains my sickness a little. I'm 53. Some of my first car memories are polishing Model T hubcaps and other safe things, never a lamp or radiator. At one time in the mid '60's there was a disassembled T in our house. For a while, also in the '60's, we had a gorgeous Black '06 Stanley with a surrey top and a mother-in-law seat. I sure wish was somewhere that I could go visit. When I was a kid we'd go to shows at Skyline Drive, Hershey, and we'd ride in the Cherry Blossom parade. Mom's daily driver when I was 4-5-6 was a '31 A Roadster, and we'd take crap from the kids in the neighborhood about riding in the 'trunk.' For all I knew, that stuff was what normal people did. Dad flipped cars as a hobby for a while, I think I heard him say in the '80's that he'd owned over 85 through the years. We had great fun with cool cars like '66 Mustangs, 68 Cougar Eliminator, Pantera, Catalina, MG-TD, boat-tail Riviera, and just one Caddy and just one '67 Chevelle. Other hobbies took the place of old cars for many years (aviation, Bluegrass, motorcycles, RV'ing).

About four years ago, having been out of the hobby for a decade or so (the most recent car being, I think, a '12 T picked up at Hershey) Dad scratched an itch and bought a '36 Convertible Sedan. He really wanted an Phaeton because he likes the look, but somehow got the CS. I didn't really know he was itching that badly, and was delighted to have another hobby we could play with together. Shortly afterward he did a deal for a Phaeton, and then again shortly after, the CS was shipped away. For the last 3 1/2 years or so I've been playing old car games with the Phaeton, the V8 clubs, and participating here and on a couple of the Bashes.

We've concentrated on mechanicals and reliability to get the car to the point where we could drive it when and how far we wanted with confidence. It was a nice car before we started, but had been sitting for ten years or so. We drove it over 500 miles this fall in Maine, and the only issue was a blown fuse from a frayed wire, she even handled the interstate! Cosmetically we've worked on the bumpers and the windshield, and are in the middle of a top rebuild. Mechanically we've gone through about everything but the engine, and we've got a spare one of those. We've done the rear-end gearing, rebuilt tranny, refurbed both springs and shackles, extensive brake system refurb, generator, starter, coil, dizzy, carb, fuel pump, swapped the '36 steering for '37, put Wzorek shocks on, NOS fuel tank, sender and gauge, grounding, light wiring, installed floorpan stiffeners. It's all been grand fun!

Just finding the community here at the FordBarn has been a tremendous blessing. Gives me a chance to puff up my chest, like this pompous post, and to help where I can, and learn about stuff I'm clueless about (like your '32).

Along the way I've had a chance to meet many Barners, V8 club members, and a lot of other car people. Some of my favorite friends are frequent contributors here. I see CecilWV and JM35Sedan frequently on the road and at the local club meetings, they are both officers in our local Regional Group. I know I'm forgetting to shout-out a lot of really helpful and friendly people like Don Rogers, and DavidG, and Walt DuPont (please forgive me for even starting to name-drop). I've had a chance to meet many of the fellas mentioned in the LUNCH thread, and many of the people from the northeast that post here.

Highlights include being invited to the 2011 Greenwich Concours, attending V8 national meets in NY, NC, IN, GA, Barn events in Florida and Maine, Hotrod shows like the Billetproof, Streetrod Nationals, and the East Coast Hotrod Nationals, and the Jallopy Showdowns at Lattimore Valley. Don't forget the last 3 years at Hershey, OMG. We were invited to, but narrowly missed out on attending, the first Celebration of Wheels car show at Indy in 2011. On the plate right now are plans to get to Tahoe in June.

So, I imagine I'll be playing with this '36 for many years to come. FATE has been very, very, good to me!

If there ever were another car, well, I shouldn't have visited the ACD museum in Indiana because I'm forever wounded by the Auburn Boat Tail Speedster. Not that I could afford one, or even drive it much if I could. For a car that I'd consider a daily driver, a '34-36 Pickup, or maybe a '50-53 Crestliner or Mercury.

-VT/Jeff

Photo: 2011 EFV8 ENM Saratoga Springs, NY, on the epic, 150 mile, "First We Drove 'Em, Then We Judged 'Em," stop-steam-and-go, tour! You can still see the mark on my shin from that trailer hitch!

Video Links: Compare Phaeton & Convertible Sedan
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nV5fz6nuj7g
Our car on the Charlotte Motor Speedway
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ziw3ajlISM

[jhaas63]

Stumbling is the wrong word as it makes it sound like it was unplanned and disorganized. I am always looking for deals and there are tons of cars/trucks that I would want to own. I'm a firm believer that the cars find us anyways.

[Vic Piano]

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I've always loved convertibles and I've spent a lot of time looking for them. However, most of the ones we have, found me. On each occasion the planets were in alignment and everything worked out in my favor... I've missed out on a few, but I've also gotten lucky a good number of times.

[jim1932]

VT/Jeff .... how is it we haven't met? We belong to same damn regional! Of course I have only made a few meetings as something always comes up the day of the meeting, and the annual show I am usually in Vermont with my daughter's horse. I was at Saratoga, but only on Monday and without the car. In fact that is where I met Cecil. Guess I need to make more meetings.

I think my next car will be a planned one. I knew my dad's first new car was a 57 chevy (4 door). Ant I had heard of several other cars, but now that I pay more attention to fords, I found out his first car was a 40 ford tudor with skirts, I'd love to build one with him.

[Mart]

Actually the element of chance extends beyond cars, to my whole life!

Mart.

[VeryTangled]

Jim, I'm going to the meeting on the 19th. Maybe we can chat then. Bring pictures.

Be real careful about missing meetings, I did that and got appointed to get the permits for the car show!

If I had to pick something newer maybe a Solstice?

The wife is really bugging me hard about a Camaro or a Challenger. Both seem to be crap to me but her first boyfriend was a gear-and-chirp kind of a driver and she's never gotten over it! He used to carry a spare diff with him, that's the way he drove!

-VT/Jeff

[trainguy]

Fate? Someone keeps abandoning early Ford V8's in my garage!!My wife wishes they would stop! Phil

[Old Redneck]

Most of my cars I stumble on them except the 39 Conv. and the 50 Ford Crestliner. Everytime I seen one my heart went crazy and wanted one. Then I seen one for sale and went to see it. Made a bid and got it. I really love them all. Always wanted a 32 and 40 maybe someday???

[Rowdy]

Definately fate. If it weren't for 3 facts coming together my Delivery Sedan would still be sitting in the hills rotting away.
Fact one: A good friend I worked with was the nephew-in-law of the lady who owned the property the body was on and he used to work for her on her ranch. Her late husband was insistant the body never be sold. My friend tried for several years to get me to go look at the body, I told him it was likely just a tudor sedan based on the pic's he drew of it. Finally I reluctantly went and looked.

Fact two: My Grandma and Grandpa were very good friends with the people who owned it and I was treated like family. After a long discussion I found out her late husband and my grandpa had gone to school together and had ran around together, so that likely made them knowing each other since the mid 1920's. My Grandma and here also spent alot of times making quilts and other things together in the 50's and 60's. Also I found out she was one of my substitute school teachers when in Grade School. I vaguely remember her teaching a handfull of days, but not many. Needless to say I was well accepted and got the family and friends treatment.

Fact three, has more to with the chassis and title. Dad was working a job at the West end of the state and ran across a guy wanting to sell a fordor sedan in pieces. We went and looked, decided to buy it. When we got the title it had been titled with the Briggs body tag and not the Chassis/ Engine number (which were matching original numbers). Since the engine/ chassis numbers had never been registered in the state I used them and the running gear and got a bonded title with no problem. just a couple of weeks of assembly and fitting with other parts I had.

Rod

[blueblood]

i stumbled on to the pre war car thing.then i was looking for a 35 coupe 3 or 5 window.i got an old bone but i will keep it and work on it when time and money permit.i've always been into cars just not the really old ones

[ford38v8]

I wasn't in the hobby, but admired prewar cars with rumbleseats. Seeing a '39 Ford Convertible Coupe in the Hot August Nights Parade, I knew I had to have one one for myself ...So, I guess kinda both plan and fate, because I found my '38 Convertible Coupe first!

[CJ Meyers]

Fate for sure. My '50 Crestliner adventures started with Dad's attempt to just 'dump money' into his car which turned into a disaster. Once the 'professionals' had their turn in butchering the restoration effort, I thought Dad should have taken leagal action against them but he refused. Although I had some experience working on my 80's daily drivers, I really had no interest in making antique cars a hobby. I convinced him to turn the Crestliner over to me and I've spent the past five years trying to make it right. Now I'm immersed in the hobby.

[jim1932]

what is with the Crestliners all of a sudden? I recently came accross a photo of my Father-in laws first new car, a 50 red two tone crestliner. Ant there are two of them on this thread.

[cuzncletus]

Planning, kinda. Ever since I was a little kid I had decided a 39 or 40 Ford was the ideal car. I also remembered a few flathead powered hotrods around Austin and had always lusted for a flathead since the old "Car-toon" days where the hero ran a flathead fueler. A flathead powered 39 or 40 coupe or tudor was always my dream car. I had two as a young man but had neither the time, money, or ability to fix them up. When an old car buddy mentioned one of his high school pals selling a 39 tudor that had been garaged since the 70's, I was in. (Traded it for a boat I hadn't used in 3 or 4 years!) The car had been hotrodded sometime in the 60's, judging from what was left of the upholstery. Now it sits on a dropped axle, has a fullhouse flattie, T5, and drop dead gorgeous paint with new chrome. Some new upholstery and an exhaust system...I'm on the road.
Some was happenstance, but I'd been planning for a car like this for at least half a century.

The next car will definitely be planned as I assemble parts for an A-V8 roadster. Anybody got a good Model A frame around here?

[Chris Nelson]

My first two cars were fate. They just popped up and I jumped at the opportunity, or was it insanity. The 46 Ford Conv. took 8 years and the 36 Ford took 10 years. They both turned out great, but wow, what a lot of work & money. This time I planned and searched for exactly what I wanted and after a year, I found it. When I got married I had a 57 Olds hdtp. I found a 57 Olds Hdtp with a J-2 triple carb engine. The process starts all over again.

[Seth Swoboda]

The last one I restored was fate. I bought my Grandpa's house and in the shed was an unrestored 1939 Ford pickup that I decided to just restore it and get it back on the road. My other cars are planned. So to answer your question, mostly planned and one I fell into.

[TonyM]

It was both for me. I spent a year looking for a black 1937 Ford DeLuxe Fordor Touring (humpback) in original, unrestored condition (planned). Instead I found a black 1937 Ford DeLuxe Fordor (slantback) in original, unrestored conditon (fate). I am very happy how it all turned out.