Thread: Great car/part finds? Any stories?

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treekiller's recent thread sparked my thinking on this. Anyone have any stories of finding that rare part or car which you got a good deal on or traded for, etc?

Here's mine. Earlier this year was looking for a stock 390 to put in my truck, as I was planning to pull the built 390 from it and slap it in my Cobra. I looked in the buy & sell and found a guy listing a couple stock 390's and gave him a call. Through the conversation I asked him if by chance he had any 428's, to which he replied "I've got one better".....Ok, I'm thinking a 427, and sure enough he says he's got a standard bore 427 sideoiler with stock dual quad intake & carbs. Oh geeeez....I'm kinda excited now.....How much are you asking for it? He says, well, I want to get 5k out of it. Hmmm....My father in law (CHR member Larry) and I went out to this guys house out in the woods somewhere and started tearing it apart. Little dirty, but good heads with 2.09 valves, cylinders are perfect and measured 4.23 all the way down the bores and virtually no wear ring along the top of the cylinders (very low mile).....Didn't really want the dual quad set up and offered him 3k for everything except the carbs and intake.

Done deal. Standard bore blocks alone on ebay go for 4000-7000, so it turned out to be a pretty good deal. Sounds nice in the Cobra by the way!

This isn't amazing But, it made me happy . 2 years ago I was look'in for a 454 block, around here they go for around 400 bucks," just for the block!" . Well, a buddy told me a old man was willing to sell "one" he had. I called, set up a time to meet. When I got there he said, I would have to take the whole truck ! I told him that" I didn't want any more" junk" sitting around at my house!' He said "either the whole thing or nothing!" Well , WE"LL see? we walked behind the barn, AND there SHE was! covered in road dust & full to the cab with old feed sacks. He said "I'll get a battery", I looked at my wife in surprize " Because I thougt I was buying just a block For 400 bucks" ! He kicked it right over! I drove her home. The next day I had a buddy put her on a lift and I rebuilt the carb,& I was on my way."It's my work truck that I drove 2 work & back since " I'm just waiting for something worthy of the """454"""". Maybe a 51 Fleetline, Or one like (Stu Cools )" I love his ride!! ? ) ?I think I've been hanging around here to 2 long!

Small part stuff for me = interesting what you can find on ebay. I had broken a visor bracket on my 41 Chev. The old Chev parts houses do not list any for a 41 - must be something unusual about them. Lo and behold I found a pair one night on ebay - brand new - and paid $45 for the pair. I wonder how long it would have taken me to find a pair if the world of the Internet was not available.

I was looking for an engine core to build up for a friend's Connie'. I went to a little salvage yard in the country because they said they had lots of Ford engines.

The pulled a 460 out of a MarkIV, and I saw the block was cracked at the water jacket.

They called the next day, they had pulled three more engines for me to look at.

I looked at the first, a 460; the second was an FE, and the third was a Cleveland.

The 460 turned out to be a 429 Thunderjet whick we rebuilt and installed in his Connie.

The FE was a 406 side-oiler from a '64 Fairlane that I sold to finance the third engine...a 351 Cleveland 4V that I stroked and put in my f100.

oooohhh...394 cubes of big port, big valve, heavy breathing FORD.

Anyway, that yard closed and all the remaining cars were crushed. What a huge loss to all gearheads. Dammit!

Well Big B, there are a few, but this one was fun.

So one day I'm talking to the guy I was sharing my office with. He asks if I need a windshield for one of my Hudsons. I ask "Why?". He says he has a buddy in Yakima with a glass shop and he found one in his loft. So the next time I'm in Yakima I stop by, introduce myself, and ask about the windshield (actually they were a two piece, so it should be windshields). Turns out he had 23 SETS, mixed, tint and clear. At $25 bucks a pop I take them all, still in their shipping boxes. Ran ads for a few months selling them for $100 each piece all over the country. One even went to New Zealand. Great way to fund the hobby!!

My all time best deal took about 27 years to bear fruit. In about 71 ,I was walking down to a family friends commercial fishing shanty on the Fox River. The walk went be what was an old bus garage. The overhead door was open. I barely knew the owner, my dad did and my younger bros. hung arount his main shop. I'd seen the car inside once or twice walking home from school. I walked in and gazed at the really neet old car. Twas an old Auburn had 2/suicide doors and a sedanish body painted a blue suede. I called around in the shop for the owner, no answer. I went over to the car opened the hood WOW , when your a teen it looks real neet. It had some sort of flat headed motor in it.That was it, I didn't see the car up close until about 27 years later. The old guy had passed away. I kept calling Tom, he had built the car. His Dad was up until the mid 80's one of the oldest Auburn dealers. He had kept the old lics. His dad sold the car to a man in Milwaukee.He gave it to hes daughter, she was a school teacher.Some time in its life it died. The father gave it back to the dealer,Tom and his sister were to get it going and use it as their school car. They did getthe old six going for a while,it died for good. Tom frabricated a steel adaptor plate to mate a flat head ford /new Monkey Ward rebuilt motor to the Auburn 3 speed wich went to the columbia 2 speed rear he also installed. After all the waiting and the I'm going to restore it when I get time calls. Tom calls in the fall, This is Tom if you want the car I'll be at the beach house. Tom lives in a chicago burb. Turns out the car never left Green Bay. If you want the car its $1500.00 I'll be there tomorrow.Do you want the car? Instant reply YES I drained and cleaned the tank, blew out the feul line, the inside of the tank was shiney galv. added gas put in a battery and away we go PURR!! An old unrestored original hotrod . Not to shabby of a find !

Monkey Ward...I recently found a real nice 25HP M/W outboard for free that was sold new in 1958..Tiller handle with electric start..Now thats rare...It was made by OMC..(Johnson/Evinrude)....I also recently found an owners manual for a 5HP M/W outboard that was sold new to a now deceased friend in 1970 in Poulsbo Washington...I think Mountgomery Ward went belly up about then.....Al....

Concerning finding car/truck parts I am one lucky guy in that area..I come across stuff all the time by pure chance,,In fact too much to write about.. BUT....One story goes like this..A number of years ago a drinking buddy and I are tearing down an old logging road in an old beater Ford .. The road is over grown with alder trees about four to five feet high..We crash head long onto something BIG!!!...We didn't get hurt but spilled our beers all over the place..The Ford shoved the object about ten feet but didn't seem to hurt anything much..We had to chop a bunch of tree out of the way to see what the hell we hit..Turned out to be a Doodlebug...A Doodlebug is a homemade tractor of sorts made from most anything...This one was 1929-1932 Chev in the front with a Model TT Ford rear..A second transmission behind the little Chev three speed had an extra sprocket that held a chain that extended up to another tranny that ran a winch from a half of a rear end from some GM type car..Anyhow we drug it back to the shop and got it running..My 1929 Chev US Mail truck had no engine so I detailed the engine from the Doodlebug up with gray paint and planted it in my old truck..At least I can still move it around under it's own power..What luck!! A fifty year old engine not froze or stuck...My truck is now going on 74 years old...Man!!!! makes me feel older than Jack Buck Benny !!...39 that is.. Al...

I have two Doodlebugs (not running)..One is mostly a 27 Chev..The rear end is a large Chev truck (looks like 1950) thats upside down and shortened..Some 1950 or so Ford dashboard parts etc..The other is an Overland (not Willys)..The radiator looks to be aluminum with square cores..Not honeycomb...Square...Amazing what the old timers come up with to make a tractor...There is a Doodlebug club that has meets/picnics etc and pull offs...They hotrod a lot of Model A Fords and Chev/GMC inline sixes.........

As for Doodlebugs- I've seen a few around East Tennessee. We had an old one with the front of a T or an A. The thing has been setting for years and I haven't paid it much attention, as most of the roof has fallen in on it.
As for finding stuff, I seem to have a knack for it- esp. on ebay. I found a set of three original bumperettes and the chrome bars that go in between them on ebay. These are something you just can't find. I bought them. A while back, I was searching for info and pics of 1960-1963 Chevrolet trucks. I ran across a guy with a 61 3/4 ton, who was bastardizing it. He wanted a set of 62 3/4 ton emblems. Now, these emblems were unique to that year and model. I searched our junkyard and others around ET for those emblems and parts for myself to no avail. He must have been looking for those emblems for 3-4 years, never finding them. Just on a lark, I did a search for 62 3/4 ton emblems. I found a set of nearly NOS ones. Emailed the guy about it, and he had them bought within an hour. He said he couldn't thank me enough.
Lets see. A good find was a set of 1939 Nash headlight lenses, nearly NOS for $15.95, $29 shipped. Usually retial for $130 a set, plus shipping. Some unfortunate things happened to them, though. Got them home to find out they were broken, and only insured for $50. Made me sick. At least I made $21 in the deal, but I would have rather had the lenses. My best find would probably have to be a good 1939 Nash LaFayette inline 6 engine. Had to drive to Manassas to get it, but I think for a total cost of $300 (total cost of trip up there and parts), I got an engine, trans, bumpers, radiator, brake parts, some hubcaps, and a handful of promises he'd send me some more parts. Also the 1960 GMC 7000 B model I stumbled upon after my uncle had searched for it for 20 years, and we got for $250.

I had another find, but I'm still not sure if I got ripped a new rear end on the deal. I bought a 1939 Nash Ambassador 6 street rod for $1,776. Plus a ~$500 trip to go get it. It does have a good steel body, and a built 351 Cleveland, C6, Mustang 9", Mustang II front. You all tell me if I got a good deal. The pics of it are in my gallery.

A number of years ago I was searching for headlights and bar for my 29 Chev truck...Vintage Auto Parts north of Seattle was new at the time and just got in a 31 Chev sedan. The center of it's roof was completey gone and they were chucking 29-31 radiator shells thru the hole..I started pulling a few out looking for any emblems that were any good...The car had sat under a fir tree for a long time and the floor must have had five inches of needles laying there..But I noticed a couple of matching humps that were amongst the layer of needles..I almost passed it off figuring it must be the headlights from the car..BUT!!!..It turned out to be truck !!!..The lenses were laying on soft material and in perfect shape.Only a small pin hole in one of the buckets...Got it all for $20 bucks !!!...They exist today on my 31 Mail Truck...Lets see...thats been thirty three years ago!!!...

Before I moved out west, I bought 14 hard to find or rare Fords from a lot of about 600 cars on a old farm in eastern Missouri (about 70 miles south of St. Louis) The guy who owned it was a Notorious old pack-rat who would not sell ANYTHING ! He died and the wife, daughter and son-in-law decided to sell everything quick. I gave a 91 merc. Capri conv (w/a bad head) and 600 cash for all 14 cars (unrestored I sold 12 of them on E-bay for $22,611) All I did was haul to my place and arrange shipping for buyers. The kicker is: When I picked out the 14, I spent 4 weekends walking the property (I got first shot at the fords) and research every car that I thought was worth while. When I was almost done hauling all of my cars out, the Son-in-law sold all the remaining cars, which people like me weren’t interested in, to a junk yard (about 180 cars). The junk yard was loading a Tractor trailer load of cars up on a Sunday and I was talking to one of the workers, we where leaning against an old 1962 Galaxie 4dr station wagon that I had climbed over more than once to get at cars on the other side it, It was Pea green, rusted and very ugly. I was leaning against the driver door with my arms on the roof when I noticed the old wagon was heater and radio delete, had a bench seat and a 4 speed on the floor !!!!!!! ????????? When the guy walked away and went back to work, I tried to open the hood but the hinges were rusted tight. I decided to take a chance and buy the car from the junk yard owner for 75.00 (I told him it was for parts for another car I bought) After I dug the big boat out of the ground, changed all 4 flats, broke a winch cable loading it on my trailer, any got it home, I went to work getting the hood loose. Under the hood was a 406 w/ three duces. I have the car on moth balls back in Missouri now and am still researching the build, but it looks like its 1 of 1 and was built for someone with extremely good connections at Ford back in the 60s.

I know of a car in a field that may be a 1969 convertible 'vette with a 427, 4-speed, and side pipes. I wish I had somewhere to put it, so I could tow it away.