[blucar]

A true experience from the shadows of my brain..
When I was a kid growing up in Idaho Falls ID, the was a auto garage in the downtown area that served as a parking structure, auto repair, and service station.
From the fuel island one could look into a big window and see a Washington Blue '36 Ford 5 win coupe.. The car belonged to a man that was a janitor at a local school. The car was maintained in perfect condition, always clean and waxed. The owner would only drive the car in perfect weather. In 1952 it only had 14k on the odometer.. The spare tire was original, probably never out of the mount. The interior was like new, the only mark was an area above the left arm rest where the knapp was depressed from coming into contact with the drivers elbow.
Knowing several of the guys that worked in the facility, from time to time I would go into the storage area, open the left door and fluff up the door upholstery above the arm rest.
In 1952 a friend of mines father told us that he had received word that the '36 Ford was going up for sale.. He had been notified about the sale because he worked for the local Ford garage, and had done most of the work that had ever been done to the car.
I told Mr Merrill that I would really like to have the car, what with only 14k on it, it would be a great car.
Mr. Merrill told me that it was not a good car, from lack of use the engine had been replaced three times with Ford rebuilt engines..
The car faded from sight.. In the mid 1970's the car was found in a barn to the west of town.. A cousin of mine, a local car dealer with a reputation regarding collector cars was contacted to document the low mileage car, still showing 14k on the odometer.
The car was auctioned off for a very high price. Sometime after the auction I told my cousin that the car was not an unaltered original car.. Of course Mr. Merrill was long gone, and I had not known about the auction until after the fact.
The point to this true story is that when it comes to old cars, even cars that have been under the same ownership for many many years, may or may not be what they appear to be..