Thread: Goodbye to a friend.

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Hi Don,
I have been on a much needed vacation the past few weeks and didn't miss the internet much at all. Now log back on and I find the 3K T that brought me to this site is moving on. Well just as long as you don't move on as well. I think we all have at least one car that we wish we had held on to. Mine was a 77 vette that my dad and I had worked on together. At least I still have his 52. Good luck finding a driver. I would trade my Titan truck for anything (except maybe a new one).

Don, I enjoyed reading all these posts. The pictures of the car are timeless. Do you think it will disappear or will the guy drive it around. I watch my neighbor across the street build a 23 t-bucket from scratch I mean making the frame from steel he bought from a steel distributor and hand making almost everything till 10:00 each night. 3 years of work and a show car emerged. Tall top, corvette rear, brass lights, supercharger, matching trailer. Drove it everywhere for another 3 years. One day,back in 86, he flopped a for sale sign on it @ York, PA Eastern Nats. Someone walked up with the cash amount on the sign, Bob bought tickets on a plane to fly him and his girl home, and no one has ever seen the t-again.

Rick, nice to hear you came aboard because of that thread, that makes me feel really good. I did find a replacement for the dead Honda, so I am mobile again.

Heatwave, I hope the new owner gets as much enjoyment out of it as I did. It never left me down and I would look for any excuse to jump in it and drive it.........like running errands, etc. I do like the idea that it is far from here, it would be a little tough to see it driving around locally, I think. Plus, sometimes you stay married to a car if the new owner is close enough to keep coming by or calling you about things. Best to just cut the cord and have it go away.

Don

Originally Posted by Itoldyouso

Heatwave, I hope the new owner gets as much enjoyment out of it as I did. It never left me down and I would look for any excuse to jump in it and drive it.........like running errands, etc. I do like the idea that it is far from here, it would be a little tough to see it driving around locally, I think. Plus, sometimes you stay married to a car if the new owner is close enough to keep coming by or calling you about things. Best to just cut the cord and have it go away.

Don

Probably better for the new owner, too. Around Ft Meyers it will always be "That's Don's car, isn't it??", but for him it will be "That's the car you bought at the Nat's?" Loses some of the ID being farther away...

That's true, Roger. This way he can tell people he built it and no one will be any wiser.

When I was in my teens I built a bugeye sprite with a 289 Ford in it. When I went into the service I sold it to a buddy of mine. About 5 years later I went to see a guy who was selling a tripower setup for a Pontiac and there was my old sprite sitting in his shop. It was exactly like it was when I sold it, except they had put a narrowed Chevy rear end under it (I guess they got tired of twisting the stock sprite axles off every so often ) I told the guy that I built that car, and he said "No, I bought it from the guy who built it (it was my buddy) He told me how he fabricated every bracket and how he put the Cobra goodies in it." I laughed and told him my buddy couldn't change the oil in his car without a manual, so I assure you, I built this car.

Unfortunately, the guy didn't want to sell the sprite, and I wonder what ever became of it.

Don

Originally Posted by Itoldyouso

........... and I wonder what ever became of it.

Don

They fed it some steroids and the it grew to a REAL engine.......

I can't imagine how they shoehorned that Mopar in there, Bob. Even the compact 289 was a challenge. I bet it is nose heavy too, I know mine was.

Don

Here's more info: http://www.modifiedhealeys.org/Photo...ian/Marian.htm

Next to last paragraph deals with weight distribution. Doesn't seem plausible, but........

That's hard for me to believe too, Bob. They did a really good engineering job getting all that stuff in there, and I know what he means about a 6 inch driveshaft, mine was 7 inches long. I'd like to say I built a better car than the stock AH, but it really wasn't. It was nose heavy, plowed through turns somewhat, and rode like a truck. But at 80 mph you could kick the Holley open and light up the tires.

I never really had a chance to dial it in or correct some of the issues with it before I had to sell it, so hopefully the 3rd owner did some of that. The Chevy rear end had to be an improvement, I was twisting stock AH axles off so often I was buying them 3 at a time from the local wrecking yard ($ 10 a piece in those days) I started scribing a line on the axles and would pull them every so often so I could see how far they were twisting. When they got to a certain point I would toss that one out and put in a new one. It saved a lot of work fishing the broken stub of the axle out when one snapped.

Don

You sold your " T " wait a minute that was my car...........LOL

Hi Brad. Funny you should post that, I was thinking the other day about our conversations way back when I was first done with it and us joking back and forth about you buying it for $ 3K. Haven't heard from you for a while, hopr you have been well.

Don

Hi, Don,
Had my pacemaker replaced so I'm doing better. Coming down for Turkey run again hope to see you there this time.
BradC

Glad to hear you are doing better, Brad. Please look for us, I should have my 27 and Don will have his blue 23 T. Hope we hook up for a change.

Don