Searching 4 clues, '33 Ford coupe, USMC, El Toro, CA, Chicago...

[Randy]

I've shown some pics of this '33 here before, but I typed this up for the h.a.m.b. and thought I would post it here as well.




This '33 5W is in the condition it has been in since 1953 or earlier. It is not a radical hot rod but not a stocker either, but was treated to common upgrades of the period with a '40 flathead, '40 brakes, and a '36 trans. A 1953 or so Ford pedal assy. and master cylinder were attached to the firewall and steering column. The master cylinder was bolted to the pedal bracket with the firewall sandwiched in between so it still thought it was in a '53 Ford. The '53 swinging clutch pedal had a rod that went through the wood floorboard and connected to the top of the cut-off stock '33 clutch pedal underneath which still pivots on the '33 bracket and operates the '36 throwout fork as normal.




The thing that interests me about it is that it shows clues to someone's life, as they all do, I guess. If they could only talk! As a guy who appreciates our military, those who have served, and our military history, I'm captivated by the fact that this particular someone was a US Marine serving at Marine Corps Air Station, El Toro, CA, at least around 1953-54.




A couple of documents came with the car, including the 1953 California pink slip title and the 1953 and '54 registration receipts. It has 1951 California plates with a little white 1953 corner tab over the year for the 1953 registration, which also has a number on it that is printed on the title as "tab number".

Also included were two envelopes that fit the registration receipts. They were both mailed from the CA DMV in Sacramento, posted DEC 26, 1953, 3 cents postage stamp. One of them is stamped on the back as received DEC 28, 1953, "CO SOS-1, U.S.M.C.A.S. El Toro, CA". The other one is stamped on the back as received DEC 28, 1953, "Santa Ana, CA, MARINE CORPS AIR STA." and it has another stamp next to it "U.S. NAVY, DEC 29, P.M., 1953, UNIT 1" and one other stamp with only the date DEC 30, 1953. On the front of this one is a separate printing of "SOS-1 CRASH CREW" which is circled in pencil and a written date of 12-28-53 along with the initials D.S., and then just below in hand print "MABS15", "MAG15", 12-28-53, and initials that appear to be CNP.

The address on the title and registration is printed as "SOS-1 Crash Crew, El Toro". The California title and registration show the car as first sold in March of 1933. I'm surprised it would have that info, unless maybe the car was originally sold in California? I've heard they have good title records. According to the serial number it was produced in February of 1933, so it didn't sit in the dealer's showroom very long.

I did a google search on the previous owner's name and found him in his squadron picture at El Toro in 1953. He's listed in the picture as Corporal Richard Boudnek. I learned there that SOS stands for Station Operations Squadron. I'm guessing that Crash Crew means he may have been in a crew that responded to aviation crashes?

The car has a neat old USMC sticker in the rear window along with a 1953 NASCAR sticker and a Farragut High School sticker. It has a Balboa, CA sticker in one quarter window and a Newport CA sticker with a character named "The Skipper" in the other quarter window. Farragut was a naval hero of the Civil War and the first Naval officer to rise to the rank of Admiral in the US Navy. The original Farragut School was a primary school which opened in Chicago in 1894. It evolved over the years into a junior high school and then finally to a senior high school in, coincidentally, 1933.




The Farragut sticker contains the image of some kind of sailing vessel, the Balboa sticker contains the image of a sailboat, and the Newport sticker has "The Skipper". I guess the guy was into sailing, that's cool. Under the seat there's a big pile of beach sand and there's a small hitch bolted to the rear bumper, like maybe the guy pulled a small sailboat down on the beach (back when you could drive on them) on his days off and went sailing.







The 1953 NASCAR sticker is really cool so we know he was a car guy! It's got an old Philco radio bolted into a precise-fitting hole in the dash and there's an old antenna bolted to the driver's side cowl.




The odometer reads around 80,000 miles. There's an old Veedol sticker in the door jamb that shows an oil change at around 67,487 miles on Sept. 4, 1952, at Bill Gaspar Associated Service in Long Beach, CA. I've attached a picture of it. The sticker is on top of the green, so I know it was painted prior to that.




The car also came with an old leather folding key pouch. An original key to the car is in it, a key to the locking gas cap, an old skeleton key and, the coolest part, a P-38 military-issue can opener that is dated 1951.

The car itself is in really good, well-used condition. It has one repaint of green over the original black underneath that shows in places. There's one fender break that's been crudely welded and covered in a military green paint that leads me to believe it was done on the base. The stock headliner and kick panels are in the car but the door panels, front seat and rumble seat have all been covered over in red oxblood vinyl, I guess, plain and smooth, no pleats, but a little off-white piping. The top insert has been filled with a piece of sheetmetal that was leaded in after the green paint job as it is in primer.




I've tried to research the previous owner but haven't found much. I found a death notice in the Chicago Tribune in 2009 for someone of the same name, aged 84, from Berwyn, IL, but it doesn't mention anything about military service. I found a home listed as owned by someone of the same name in Marquette Park, IL, in 1996. The obit stated this person died at Meadowbrook Manor in La Grange, IL, after a long illness. The age could be about right and MCAS El Toro was at one time considered one of the nation's most contaminated military installations. Among the contaminants were polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and trichloroethene (TCE). In my research I've read of many people who lived and served there who have had related illnesses, so that makes sense as well.

Anyway, that's what I've found about him. If anyone has any other info that relates to this car, the Long Beach service staion, any of the stickers or this marine who owned it, I'd certainly appreciate hearing it.

Since I've become the current caretaker, I have just gone through the mechanicals to get it running again. My first time to show it off was at the Revolution, here in Austin a few weeks back. I put a set of 3.54s in the rearend when I rebuilt it so it's highway ready. It's running good, got my TXTAG on it today, and it seems ready to hit the road once again.

[Hoop]

Randy,

Thank you for saving this spectacular car and preserving its history. This is a terrific example of how fulfilling the hobby can be.

Your car cannot be duplicated. Glad you appreciate it and that you have so much respect for Richard Boudnek.

[TomT/Williamsburg]

This is one cool "save", Randy - my hat's off to you for saving this piece of history!

[19Fordy]

Randy, That is really cool. Thanks for saving it as it was "back in the day."
Little did the Marine who owned it ever think it would become such a great piece of hot rod history for others to cherish and enjoy over half a century later.

[Randy]

Thanks guys. That tells us something, leave clues about your life in your cars! Someday, somewhere, someone might think it's really cool. It's a way to leave a legacy I guess or at least give someone something to talk about!

Originally Posted by Hoop

Randy,

Thank you for saving this spectacular car and preserving its history. This is a terrific example of how fulfilling the hobby can be.

Your car cannot be duplicated. Glad you appreciate it and that you have so much respect for Richard Boudnek.

Originally Posted by TomT/Williamsburg

This is one cool "save", Randy - my hat's off to you for saving this piece of history!

Originally Posted by 19Fordy

Randy, That is really cool. Thanks for saving it as it was "back in the day."
Little did the Marine who owned it ever think it would become such a great piece of hot rod history for others to cherish and enjoy over half a century later.

[FL&WVMIKE]

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RANDY .......................
You are lucky to have so many clues to chase down the previous owner.
Wouldn't it be nice to have "HISTORY DETECTIVES" of the PBS Network to take that on ?
SOMEBODY, out there can answer your questions. The problem is, finding them.
Good luck and don't change a thing.
MIKE

[Randy]

I've attached some pics of the Veedol sticker. The first number on the address is hard to make out and I'm not sure it's "100", but it's something like: "Bill Gasper Associated Service, 100 E. 10th St. & Olive Ave., Long Beach 13, CA, Phone: LB 70-9236".

I bought a MCAS El Toro 1953 Yearbook online and just got it in the mail today. It's got a picture of the previous owner in his squadron, the same picture that I found online. He was definitely on a fire response squadron as the picture is taken in front of some serious fire trucks.

There's lots of old cars in the background of some of the pics, but didn't see the '33, wishful thinking! There were some F4U Corsairs there, which is cool to see.

There is one picture showing maneuvers that has a picture of a fire response crew putting out a fire. The caption reads:

"Asbestos-clad Leathernecks close in on the source of a fire during a "dummy" run at the Marine Corps Air Station. Practices are held weekly under actual conditions. A strip-down fuselage of an obsolete aircraft is saturated with high octane gasoline, ignited and the crash crew combats the flames."

Keyword being "Asbestos-clad". Geesh, makes you think!

This Yearbook is also for MCAF-Santa Ana and I know some of the postal correspondence with the car was stamped Santa Ana. I haven't looked at a map yet, but I guess Santa Ana is right there? Is that the same Santa Ana as in the dragstrip? I was reading Ryan's post about the Santa Ana Drags opening in 1950. I'd love to find a picture of this '33 in the background somewhere of the drags. You know this guy would have been there!

[Randy]

I thought I'd share this update on the really neat turn this story has taken. The 1st picture below is from the Hot Rod Revolution in Austin, TX, in 2010. The pictures that follow pictures are from 1952-53 on the base at US Marine Corps Air Station, El Toro, CA, and were recently contributed in a post on the h.a.m.b. by the daughters of the former owner, Cpl. Richard Boudnek. They remember playing in the car as kids and found this post thanks to a distant cousin of theirs who was searching the internet for information on her own grandfather. At first their cousin, Angela, thought this car was her own grandfather's car, who is also named Richard Boudnek and was also a car guy, but after correspondence and research she discovered he had a cousin of the same name. She made a connection with her distant cousin, Leslie, who knew the car and who has now led me to Carol and Nancy, the daughters of the right Richard Boudnek that was the previous owner of this '33. Carol posted on the h.a.m.b. and shared a few pictures and some memories and Nancy has just contacted me and provided me with some additional pictures and has also sent me a neat plate that was on one of the Crash Crew trucks that her Dad was involved with.





Comparing the two pics above, I can see a few changes that have occured since this picture was taken. The grille was painted body color or black and is now painted silver. The headlights are the same but the bezels are now stainless and not painted. The trim rings are gone but the car did come with the '46 hubcaps, I put the '41 caps on because I prefer them, but I will now put the '46s back on and find some trim rings. I can also tell that the upholstery had already been changed in this picture as I can see the white piping on the rumbleseat cushion and that the door trim panels are not original. The same welded-up split in the LF fender is obvious, but I can't tell if the army-green paint was on it or not. The bolt on antenna is still in place and the right windshield wiper arm is still missing.










A big public thanks to Angela, Leslie, Carol and Nancy, for the trouble they went to and to Nancy and her husband, Kevin, for sending me this Crash Crew plate that had to be a very dear memento of their father's life yet they decided it should be with the car:



Thanks to the Fordbarn and the h.a.m.b. for the forum that enabled this connection to be made!

If you're interested in seeing how it played out on the h.a.m.b., here's the link:

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/s...d.php?t=539066

[Fordors]

A terrific find and a fine ending to a great story Randy, and a huge thank you must go to Carol and Nancy too. This makes me realize how fortunate we are to have the internet in our lives.

[hbleadsled]

Randy,great pics of your 33 and a great story and follow-up in finding the family, you did a great job, well done. put it inside the car some where. Harold central coast Ca.

[1931 flamingo]

Nice story. Lots of history.
Paul in CT

[FL&WVMIKE]

RANDY .......................
What a great story !
That is absolutely GREAT that you were able to track that down !
Thanks for posting your story.
MIKE

[Highboy34]

Great story, Randy, and fine research. If only our cars could talk!

[raceron1120]

Great story! It is very difficult to trace the history of many things and especially cars. Seems one of the first things people do when they get a used car is to remove any traces left by previousl owners - stickers, decals, etc. I'm guilty of doing it but after realizing that those things are so much a part of the car, I'll think twice before doing it in the future.

You are so lucky to find such provinance for your coupe, thanks for posting!

Ron

[Brendan]

that is a kool car!

[svm99]

Thanks for the post of the history of a great condition early Ford. I appreciate your statement of "I'm the current caretaker" of the '33. The preservation of the interior, decals, service tag in the jam and "cracked fender" all add to the neatness of the car.
Paul J.

[Ken/Alabama]

Originally Posted by Randy

Thanks guys. That tells us something, leave clues about your life in your cars! Someday, somewhere, someone might think it's really cool. It's a way to leave a legacy I guess or at least give someone something to talk about!

Back about 7 or 8 years ago while installing new upholstery kit in a friends 40 sedan who is a retired Air Force Officer,he wrote on the back of one of the door panels that reads, If you can read this thank a teacher and if its in english thank a soldier ,then signed it. I guess someday someone will read that long after we are gone.

[felix37]

Awesome Story!! I think we all wish we could find out about who used to own the cars that we know own and love. Yours is a special story for it to come full circle. Neat!!

[FlatheadTed]

Nice post, Behind every old car is a story if we could only know ,

[Ray Parson]

this story is what makes the BARN the barn thanks