I told you not to leave your bike laying around..

GoldenMotor.com

2door

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Sep 15, 2008
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I don't have the magazine anymore but there was a photo much like that in Street Rodder several years ago. Instead of a bicycle it was a complete 1932 Ford 5 window (coupe).
The tree had grown up through the floor and out through the roof leaving a near perfect Duece body but with no way to retrieve it save cutting it in half.

Cool pic, motorhead. Thanks for sharing.

Tom
 

motorhedfred

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Jul 31, 2009
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I'm afraid the tree would get cut in half long before the deuce would. Since this is "The Tavern" I'll sort of drift towards what you're talking about.

My dream rod would be a channeled, fenderless, angle chopped 33-34 5 window coupe with a layed back windshield, the quarter windows swapped side for side an rotated 90 degrees with a deuce grill shell. The chop requires long hours of metal work, but the results are stunning.

My brother inlaw to my oldest sister (I'm the youngest) took me to thier club garage when I was about 12. They were knee deep in the chopping process on one and explained it all to me while I watched them making relief cuts, fabricating filler pieces and leading them in. Later, they also filled the roof with a piece cut from a Ford station wagon roof. If I recall correctly, they removed the rear window and welded it back in without chopping it because the owner didn't want the "mail slot" look for the rear window.

I got to see it in all it's channeled, candy green over metallic gold basecoat, pearl white naugahyde tuck and roll interior, chrome reverse with spider caps glory the next summer and it was gorgeous. A few months later it was totaled and parted out before the remains got crushed (per the surviving family members request).

I've always wanted to replicate it but in '55 Buick "Titian Red", and minus the Y-block mill....I'm a Pontiac guy at heart.

MHF
 

2door

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Top chops on anything after 1931 can be a thrill. The later the car, the more work involved. I've always had a lot of respect for a man who can effectively chop a late model body. Those compound curves that require sectioning and grafting in steel to keep the original lines flowing and make it look like it came from the factory that way; now there's a challenge.

I've chopped three duece coupes, two 5 window and one 3 window. I've never tackled a 33/34. My 30 sedan has a 3.5 inch chop and comparitively it was a snap to the 32s.

I'd say go for that chopped 34 project. You only live once and if it's a dream, you should live it. Good luck. Let me know if you do it.

Tom
 

fasteddy

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Feb 13, 2009
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I started buying and selling old cars when a good running Model A two door was a $100 and you had to work to find someone with $125 so they could be the new owner.
On one of my travels I saw a 1928 Buick 4 door in a field at the end of a farm driveway as if it was for sale. Nope,the owner was going to restore it and just put it there to get it out of the way for the time being.
The car was showroom mint condition and we all watched it disintergrate over the years until it was a pile of rusted metal and rotten wood of no use to anyone.

Found out years later in a chance conversation with someone who knew the owner that he took it out of the building it was stored in to mess with the old car guys who might want to buy it. He got his jollys from watching people plead with him not to let the car rot.

Just a twisted, miserable person.

Steve.
 

2door

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Steve,
That is a common situation. I've heard similar stories for years. I knew an old guy who had a mint 49 Chevy sedan delivery. It sat, rusting away in the same spot for twenty years. His story was the same, "I'm going to fix it up someday". He died and the Chevy disappeared along with tons of scrap laying around his house.

But here's one for you. Back in the mid sixties, when I lived and going to collage in Miami FL, we had a small hurricane come through. It flattened some tall saw grass in a field that I drove past every day. With the grass laid flat it exposed the roof of something setting out in the a field that I knew was something old and neat. I stopped and walked out to discover a Fiat Topolino coupe setting on duece rails and obviously set up for drag racing. Old rotted slicks on the rear end which was an Olds and engine mounts that I knew were for a small block Chevy. It took some time but I found the owner of the field. He was in a hospice and dying of cancer. He sold me the car, with a title, for $100.00.
I was going to make it a street rod but the Vietnam war came along and I went into the Air Force and had to sell the thing before I got it running. Too bad. It would have made a great little street machine that would have had the look of a drag racer. Rats!
I'll dig around because I have pictures of that car and a very young me. I'll post it here later.
Tom
 
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fasteddy

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Feb 13, 2009
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Tom,

We saw the end of those days. I left my photo album with my family when I went wandering and when I got back it was no where to be found so all my photos are gone.

When my brother and I talk about what we had over the years for cars and motorcycles we narrow the, wish we still had it, down to my 1939 Cadillac-LaSalle hearse.

Talk about a fun machine that never stopped giving. It had 22,000 miles on it in 1965 when I bought it for $150. I would have to sit down and tell you the stories about it but picking up hitch hikers was a ton of laughs. They really wanted a ride but once they were in their eyes kept going to the back of it to see if there was anybody there.

One quick story and a personal favorite.. I hung out with a character by the name of Mario Cardella. Big guy and about as droll as they come. Funny as H*ll but always sad faced even when he was telling a joke. The perfect undertaker look.

I had, had a severe car accident just before Christmas 1965. In the spring I'm still in a cast and Mario is driving us through the city. We see a guy with his thumb out and a big back pack on and Mario pulls over and since the two of us are in the only seats the kid is in the back. This hearse has two side doors that open up to 8 feet.
Kids in looking around with the usual weird look like he's not to sure that he want's to be there and off we go.

Were moving at city street speeds and after a half mile Mario says, with out turning around, where are you headed because we have time before the next pick up. Now we're doing maybe 15 mph and we hear the side door close and I look out the passengers mirror just in time to see the kid picking himself and his pack off the ground and take off up the street like the Hounds of Hades were at his heels. I mean Usain Bolt would have been choking on this kids dust.

Mario just kept on driving and never said a word. I on the other hand was very glad I had a fresh pair of pants in the hearse left over from a camping trip because I was laughing so hard the tears were running down my pant leg.

Steve.