What $15 bought in 1961

[tubman]

I just returned from my 62nd high school class reunion. I escorted the widow of a good friend and car buddy to the event. She brought along this picture and gave it to me.

In 1960, this friend and I decided we wanted to go drag racing. I acquired an NHRA rule book at the GSTA show and decided that a car in the "D/Altered" class (flatheads and sixes) would be the best way to go. In the spring of 1961, we acquired this car from Carmichel Auto Parts in Excelsior, MN for the princely sum of $15. We added a '42 Merc with some go-fast goodies, the proper safety equipment, and ended up with a functional drag machine that would pass tech and we had a lot of fun that year at "Minnesota Dragways".

Oh, the good old days!

[CHuDWah]

Neat story! That $15 is about $150 now - still an awesome deal.

[cas3]

Darn !! you beat me to it. I started shopping at Carmichels just a few years later. My old man would not have allowed that "wreck" brought home anyways. He always said we would get a model A to fix up, never happened until I bought my own.

[Kube]

Man, you are old!

[Pech33]

In 1964 my friend and I stumbled on a 37 Plymouth four door next door to an old woman we were delivering wood to and asked the neighbor if it was for sale, it was, $35. It needed a battery, my Dad wouldn’t let me own half because of liability with teenage drivers so my buddy bought it and he drove it all year to school, games, etc. He sold it to another guy when he graduated and he put a Hemi in it. Never saw it again.

[Elmo Rodge]

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Pech33, believe it or not there's a '37 Plymouth 4 door for sale a few blocks from me. I don't think 15 bucks will cut it.
Wayno

[tubman]

Do I really have to remind anyone here that a '37 Plymouth 4 door is not even in the same universe as a '36 Ford coupe?

[fordor41]

I bought a ready to register '57 ford wagon for $5 in '68

[mercman from oz]

tubman and friend bought this great 1936 Ford Five Window Coupe for $15 in 1961. What a great find. No wonder that they were snapped up and used to go Stock Car Racing in the Sixties.

[cas3]

Well, after mercman blew it up, I see the tires are pretty bald, maybe you got jipped. still much better than the plymouth sedan though

[V8COOPMAN]

.


Despite being able to "see the air INSIDE" that front, right tire (WHITE WALLS no less), that coupe was a DeLuxe! Check-out the chrome windshield frame!

Coop

[mfirth]

Hey tubman, what eventually happened to that 36 ? Did you trade it for your 67 Vette?
l o l

[Ricosan]

It was the summer of 1961. I bought my first car. It was a ‘29 model A sedan for $50. I was 16 years old and the car wouldn’t run and it was located over a hundred miles away. I was spending the summer with my cousins. I don’t know how I did it but I talked my aunt into pulling the car with a length of rope for a hundred miles behind her car! I had to hold the clutch in for the entire trip. We made it back in one piece and got the car running. It was the best summer of my life.

Richard

[tubman]

Originally Posted by mfirth

Hey tubman, what eventually happened to that 36 ? Did you trade it for your 67 Vette?
l o l

Luckily, we were drag racing, not circle-jerking, so the only permanent change done to the car was the welded in roll bar. We sold the car to a guy who was going to put it back on the street. We got $150 for the car without the engine, $100 cash and a stereo amp to be held until he came up with the final $50. After about 6 months, I had the opportunity to sell the amp, which I did. A year after that, the buyer showed up with his $50 and was really pissed off at me because the amp was gone. Because of that, I never heard from him again so I really don't know what happened to it.

I like to think that this story has a happy ending.

[blucar]

I paid $125. for my '36 coupe in '52. Original owner, dead stock with 51k on the odometer.
The original owner had bought a new '52 Ford, was going to junk the '36 because he thought it was unsafe with the mechanical brakes. I convinced the owner that I would convert the brakes to hydraulic which would improve the safety of the car.
The '36 had a Meyers-Welsh Ford rebuilt engine in it, which I removed when the odometer showed 103,k, did a valve job at 90 k.. Total cost to have the valve job done by a local shop was $35.
Of course one must keep in mind that good wages in 1952 was $1.50 per hour. I was a Journeyman Tile Setter in 1954, made $100. per week, $80. after deductions for taxes etc. Who ever said, Oh for the good ole days have no idea what they are wishing for.

[tubman]

Originally Posted by blucar

I paid $125. for my '36 coupe in '52. Original owner, dead stock with 51k on the odometer.
The original owner had bought a new '52 Ford, was going to junk the '36 because he thought it was unsafe with the mechanical brakes. I convinced the owner that I would convert the brakes to hydraulic which would improve the safety of the car.
The '36 had a Meyers-Welsh Ford rebuilt engine in it, which I removed when the odometer showed 103,k, did a valve job at 90 k.. Total cost to have the valve job done by a local shop was $35.
Of course one must keep in mind that good wages in 1952 was $1.50 per hour. I was a Journeyman Tile Setter in 1954, made $100. per week, $80. after deductions for taxes etc. Who ever said, Oh for the good ole days have no idea what they are wishing for.

Please note that in my original post, I did not say "FOR". It may seem like a minor point, but it really changes the meaning of the statement.

[petehoovie]

Originally Posted by blucar

I paid $125. for my '36 coupe in '52. Original owner, dead stock with 51k on the odometer.
The original owner had bought a new '52 Ford, was going to junk the '36 because he thought it was unsafe with the mechanical brakes. I convinced the owner that I would convert the brakes to hydraulic which would improve the safety of the car.
The '36 had a Meyers-Welsh Ford rebuilt engine in it, which I removed when the odometer showed 103,k, did a valve job at 90 k.. Total cost to have the valve job done by a local shop was $35.
Of course one must keep in mind that good wages in 1952 was $1.50 per hour. I was a Journeyman Tile Setter in 1954, made $100. per week, $80. after deductions for taxes etc. Who ever said, Oh for the good ole days have no idea what they are wishing for.

[frnkeore]

Originally Posted by blucar

I paid $125. for my '36 coupe in '52. Original owner, dead stock with 51k on the odometer.
The original owner had bought a new '52 Ford, was going to junk the '36 because he thought it was unsafe with the mechanical brakes. I convinced the owner that I would convert the brakes to hydraulic which would improve the safety of the car.
The '36 had a Meyers-Welsh Ford rebuilt engine in it, which I removed when the odometer showed 103,k, did a valve job at 90 k.. Total cost to have the valve job done by a local shop was $35.
Of course one must keep in mind that good wages in 1952 was $1.50 per hour. I was a Journeyman Tile Setter in 1954, made $100. per week, $80. after deductions for taxes etc. Who ever said, Oh for the good ole days have no idea what they are wishing for.

Bill,
My dad could have re-built that engine, in your '36. He worked for Meyer & Welch, re-building engines, from after WWII, until '52, when we moved to Orange Co.

This is a picture of the '39, that my dad bought new, in KS. He put a rebuilt '48 Merc in it, sometime before this picture was taken, in '50. It's the only picture that survives

[frnkeore]

Regarding the OP's $15 car, those deals are still readily available today.

It was 25 years old, what is a 25 year old car worth, today, in that condition? Could you get one for the now inflated price of $150? Sure, you could probably find someone, to pay to have it hauled away, right?

My first year of HS ('58) my buddy (we were both 14), bought a '36 coupe, for $10. It was complete but, did not run. He had big plans for it

We had room for it at my place so, he asked my dad if he could keep it there, for a while. It was still there when we moved, about a year later.

[petehoovie]

Originally Posted by frnkeore

This is a picture of the '39, that my dad bought new, in KS. He put a rebuilt '48 Merc in it, sometime before this picture was taken, in '50. It's the only picture that survives