 1940
model, four cylinder Indian Chief
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Except for the
whitewalls and custom seat, this bike is exactly
like the one I owned in 1954. Did some
modifications and raced it several times at the
Santa Ana raceway. It wasn't a barn burner, but
it handily dusted off the competition, mostly
Harleys.
One
Sunday at about 115 mph it blew a rod. It took a
good (rough) quarter mile to stop. It was a close
call. After that I hauled the bike back to Santa
Rosa and later sold it to a Harley dealer for
$125.
I
walked in twenty five years later and he still
had my old Indian, still disassembled.
|
 When
I was a teen, I'm sure that everytime my mom saw
me driving up the driveway, she must have heaved
a sigh of relief whenever she saw I wasn't
dragging home another old car.
|
 I bought three of
these 1942 Fords, a four door sedan, a club
coupe, and a business coup, for $135, used the
four door for parts and restored the other two.
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 This
is what the stock bodied on looked like when I
sold it. The only midifications beyond body work
and black paint was a 48 Mercury engine, tranny,
and added a passenger seat. Business coupes from
the factory had no seat behind the driver.
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 While I was working
on the coupes, I bought a 1947 Ford convertible
for transportation. Drove it in primer for
awhile, then painted it the standard factory
color, maroon. Rebuilt the stock engine and
fabricated an oak yoke to replace the old one
that rotted where it attached to the windshield.
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 Stock
1949 Oldsmobile 98
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Got tired of being
cold in winter and traded the Ford to a friend
for a sick 1949 Olds 98 and $200. The Olds 98 didn't
seem to be a prime car for customization, but I
had to do something. All extranious chrome was
lost. Kept door locks, hood orniment, logo and
name.
Removed door
handles, installed solenoids, added fresh paint,
new grill and the famous "Moon" wheel
covers.
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| This
WWII US Army Duck is a strange vehicle to be
featured on this page, even stranger to be
restored, and even still stranger to be
customized. When my cousin Joe
came home from the marines, he took a welding
course. After that he bought a surplus army duck
(landing craft) for $450.
Next to our
garage we fired up a old carbide welder and began
to remove excess sheet metal. Then we formed and
welded angle iron braces and brackets to the
Dodge frame. When we finished, it was a strong
flat bed truck with all wheel drive.
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 1942
Army Duck on a Dodge truck frame.
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 1949/50 Studebaker
Champion
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This
searies of little cars by Studebaker to me always
had a "toy" look, but they were ahead
of their time.
Featuring
great gas mileage, I drove one that was painted
forrest green all during the time I was in the
army up to 1962.
It
was very dependable and easy to work on. We
crisscrossed the country several times and put
about 200,000 miles on the car.
When
it finally quit, we discovered that it had six
cracks in the block. I sure liked that car.
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| When
the Studebaker quit we purchased a 1954 Dodge
Coronet. It was, "bad news bears."
First it caught on fire. After I fixed that, the
engine blew up. Then we bought the
White Mist. It was the best all around car we had
owned. Aside from mild engine work and custom
exhaust, it was stock.
The car was
eventually T-boned at an intersection and was
subsequently declared totaled. No one in the car
was seariously hurt.
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 1960 Plymouth
Belvedere four door.
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 At least most of the
pieces were there.
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 1937/38 Hudson
Terraplane.
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| Two
friends and I found this old car inside of a
collapsed shed in the middle of a farmer's field.
Trying to act and look older than we really were,
we knocked on the farmer's door and asked him
about the car. He took one look at
us and laughed. He told us the car belonged to
his son who died in the war. The car reminded him
of his lost son, so he was willing to make a deal
for us.
If we would
disassemble the shed, remove the nails and stack
the lumber, he would sign the car over to one of
our parents. None of us were old enough to have a
driver's license.
We did a
good job with the shed. The only trick was
protecting the car while removing the shed.
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We
worked the remainder of the summer of 48 on
finding and installing parts. We replaced two
windows, duel intake manifold, a fender, two
carburators. throttle linkage, new voltage
regulator, bumper, two wheels and four tires Even our fathers got
into the act and helped us with the sheet metal.
When school started we moved the car to our
autoshop for detailing.
Our shop
teacher was really good with sheet metal. We
sprayed four coats of black paint, blew fuel
lines, bled the brakes, drained the fuel tank,
lubed and oiled it, put in a battery and, after a
short time, it started.
Except for
the license plate and fog lights, it looked
similar to the one pictured above.
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 1964
Chrysler 300 convertible.
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After
the Plymouth was wrecked, we wanted a real muscle
car. So we bought the baddest car in the land. It was a 1964
Chrysler 300H, standard with a 435 HP
hemi-engine, white hardtop over a red body. Just
like the picture except that it was a hardtop.
We didn't
have a safe place to run it out except the
airport. It had terrific acceleration and two
time we wound it out, it surged passed 120 mph
with plenty of top end left. It was scary to
drive.
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| I
bought my Champion from a retired bus driver in
1965. It showed 35,000 miles on the odometer. The paint had been
polished so many times that is was worn through
in spots. It was a second car so I had no big
plans to change anything. But the paint bugged
me, several other things didn't work right. I
decided to make some changes.
I installed
a black similated vinyl top complete with two
similated vinyl seams. It was imbossed and looked
authentic. Then I sellected a color of paint
called, "Big Bad Green." After that it
was difficult to miss and impossible to ignore.
|
 1953
Studebaker Champion
|
 1925 Model T Ford
Pickup
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Sadly,
I never owned a 1925 Model T. In 1925 my father
owned one like the picture. I have a picture of
his to post, but have to find it first. Second reason to post
this Ford: In 1968 my brother-in-law and I bought
what was left of a 1927 Model T Pickup.
It was fifty
buckets of rust, but we figured we could restore
it. Replacement parts were hard to find and
expensive, so we decided to turn it into a dune
buggy.
Before we
could start, someone stole our rusty T bucket. We
just hope that whomever stole it has restored it
to original condition.
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| The
last old car I owned before 1970 was a 1964
Thunderbird, same color scheme as one displayed
only hardtop instead of ragtop. It was pretty much an
underpowered sled, having the small V8 engine,
but it was comfortable and my wife loved driving
it.
When gas
prices skyrocketed and we spent hours in line at
the gas station, we traded our beautiful bird in
on a 1972 Toyota Station Wagon. What a bust that
was.
|
 1964
Thunderbird Convertible
Ours
was a hard top with a 283 engine
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| Check out the
Engines section Click Here
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