Leave It To Beaver...'36 Coupe'

[flatford8]

Saw an episode of this old show the other day. His brother Wally bought a '36 Coupe' (thruout the show they pronounced it "Coo-pay", which I know is the proper pronounciation.) for $25. His father wanted it out of the driveway and he couldn't get it running, so he started selling parts off it. It looked like he sold about half of it for $37.50. Then paid a guy with a tow truck to haul off the rest for $15.
During the parts sale they showed a lot of flathead parts. At one point the fathers car was shown and I think it was a '61 Plymouth.
Does anyone remember if parts and complete cars were actually those prices at that time?..........Thanks, Mark

[Tinker]

Wally's Car

Episode: 159 | Aired: October 21, 1961

Wally buys his first jalopy for twenty-five dollars. The car lasts long enough to get Wally back to his driveway, and then it dies blocking in Ward's car. Now he has to figure out how to get the car out of the way so his father can get out and go to work.

[roadster36]

I remember it but it was a bit before I was able to act on it. When I was in my teens during the early 70's I was working at a local service station and driving a tow truck for AAA while going to school. One day I was asked to tow a '37 club coupe for a man. I did the job and enjoyed seeing the old iron. A few months later the guy came by the station and asked me if I knew anyone who was interested in the car. No one responded. A few months passed and he came by the station again, this time with his '56 Chevy truck and camper shell loaded to the gills. He told me he was headed to Alaska and that the car was mine if I wanted it, the pink slip was in the glove box, and the car was in the driveway. Itried like hell to find a place to put that car but since I already had 2 others it was not possible. The landlords had it towed and I never heard anymore about that car again. No rot,no rust and mostly complete. So to answer your question - YES !!!

[Kube]

Originally Posted by flatford8

Saw an episode of this old show the other day. His brother Wally bought a '36 Coupe' (thruout the show they pronounced it "Coo-pay", which I know is the proper pronounciation.) for $25. His father wanted it out of the driveway and he couldn't get it running, so he started selling parts off it. It looked like he sold about half of it for $37.50. Then paid a guy with a tow truck to haul off the rest for $15.
During the parts sale they showed a lot of flathead parts. At one point the fathers car was shown and I think it was a '61 Plymouth.
Does anyone remember if parts and complete cars were actually those prices at that time?..........Thanks, Mark

In the early 60's, yes, cars were THAT CHEAP. Remember, the old car hobby was not on too many folks "radar" and for the most part, old Fords, Chevy's, etc. were simply "old cars".
I started in this hobby on a "serious level" around 1970. At that time (for example) a guy could buy a NICE 40 coupe for $700. Didn't want a black one? Then go a few miles and buy the maroon one. They were all over the place back then for very reasonable prices.
Prices started to skyrocket around 1974. That $700 coupe in 1970 was now around $3000.
Prices continued to skyrocket through much of the 1970's, slowing down (but still escalating) throughout the 80's.

[V8COOPMAN]

Beautiful wagon, July '62! NO Bob Drake parts. DD

[Vic Piano]

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When I was in High School in the mid '60's, I bought my first car, a '48 Ford TuDor Sedan that had been "cosmetically restored" , it had an Earl Scheib paint job and a Sears rebuilt 59A Flathead. I paid $100.00 for it. In my Junior year in HS ('67) my friends and I would cut school and drive "out east" on Long Island where we could find running Flathead Fords for as little as $25.00. I can't remember how many we destroyed... Sure wish I had them all back now...

[toby]

Bought a rusty Black 1953 4dr Chevy for $15.00 in 1965. We washed it down with Comet cleanser and brush painted it Green. Sold it for $25.00 two years later.

[Ralph Moore]

Talk about low prices, the American Graffiti 5 window was bought to use in the movie for somewhere around $1500, and afterwards was for sale but didn't have any takers.

[Bassman/NZ]

In the 60s I bought a 37 sedan for $3, a 38 standard coupe for $25, a 36 sedan for $20 and a mint 36 coupe for $85, which I later swapped for a 34 coupe.

[JM 35 Sedan]

I believe it was '59 when I bought my first old Ford. A very nice '35 3W Coupe with a freeze cracked original 21 stud engine for an outrageous price of $75.00. As the saying goes..."sure wish I still had that one"

[B-O-B]

I purchased my first car in 1950 & towed it home. I was still a junior in high school. All summer I worked as a hod carrier & go-fer building a cement service station. I don't think I received over $20.00 a week & my lunch which usually was a 3 course meal. The car was 1931 sport coupe that had a blown head gasket. I repaired that & drove it most of my senior year then sold it & bought a 37 willys coupe.

[Mike in Mass]

THE most x-rated phase ever said on TV (back then) "WARD,DON,T YOU THINK YOU WERE A LITTLE HARD ON THE BEAVER, LAST NIGHT ? sorry couldn,t resist.I first heard that one in 4th grade mp

[wisbangman]

My first 4 cars, bought between 59 and 62, 53 Merc hardtop $100, 40 Ford Standard 2 door $40, another 53 Merc Monterey $100, and a 54 Olds Super 88 Convertible for $95. They were all drivers and they were all maintained as well as any teenage boy with $5 or 10 bucks a week - maybe, could maintain them. Cars like this were all over the place. My best friend at 16 , talked his mother into buying a 54 Corvette for $1200. She was a single parent. He said it was a 6 cyl. and had automatic so it would be good on gas!

[mfagan]

In 1963 we bought a one owner, 18,000 mile
39 Deluxe Tudor for $25. Got in a bind in 1965 and
Sold it for $100. Thought I made out like a
bandit!

[HCO41]

In 1959 I got my first car. I didn't care much for the looks when all the lucky guys had a coupe or convertible. It was a mint '48 Mercury 4-dr., black with excellent upholstery. My father and I split the $80 purchase price. The "wonder bar" radio worked, clock didn't. I beat it up pretty good, putting 8, yes 8, transmissions in it. The last two or three trannys were floor shifts from '39 Fords. Just change the clutch release shaft, cut a hole in the floor and I was all set 'til the next one. Recently I paid 4 times the price, I used to pay for a whole transmission, for an empty 78 case and a top that needed a rebuild. Sign of the times. There will never be days as good as those!
Howard

[Bolts]

Somewhere around 1963 (Beaver was pretty big then, I think) a friend of mine picked up a fixer '46 woodie for me from his local gas station for $20. It had been abandoned there.. He already had one, so I gave him the $20 and used some of the trans parts to fix his. It was down hill from there. You could get old Fords for practically nothing then. I canabalized many nice cars to get that one going. I loved (and hated that car). Put an Earl paint job that didn't look too good. Later I painted it myself- came out much better this time. Had it for many years, changing literally everything that would unscrew or bust off. It was my family car until I sold it to a different friend many years later.
Whoever had it before my friend bought it from the gas station had put a sticker over the windshield, "This car runs on 100 octane and the driver runs on 90 proof."

[BrianCT]

1961 I bought useable 47 Delux conv. for $65.
In 1965 I sold it for $100 so I could buy a running , driving and registered
34 phaeton for $750.
Foolishly sold that in mid 70's for $3400.

[flatheadfan]

Yup, by any measure they were cheap even back in the '50s and '60s. In 1957 (senior in HS), I bought a '40 coupe with a mint body for $65. Sold it 5 months later for $75. In 1958 I bought a '35 coupe (19K miles), for $200 (big bucks at the time). In 1959 I bought a '37 2-door for $10 and drove it home. In 1960 I bought a '33 three window coupe (mint interior), for $75. I bought a used engine for the '33 for $10. I shortly found a multi-carb intake and aluminum heads which I bought for $10. Put everything together and the '33 ran like a tiger. I sold the '33 about 6 months later for $175. I still have nightmares to this day about selling it.

As for the '35, I still have it (40K miles).

Tom

[ford38v8]

In 1955, I got taken to the cleaners on my first car, a '49 Ford ragtop. The used car lot got a total of $263 out of me for that wreck. It had no spare tire, sloppy steering, shook wildly at 60mph, and had a tear in the top. I got even, though, I blew the engine and put in an Olds with an Hydromatic. All backyard stuff, never got it running right and finally junked it. I never trashed another Ford, I promise!

[Walt Dupont--Me.]

IN 1950, I was 14, bought a 28 Chev the last of the 4cyl for 20 bucks and drove it home, started didn't work but had a stem winder sticking out the front, next was a 35ply, big bucks 50, then 35 Pontiac, straight 8 coupe, then 34 Chev, then 34 Ford roadster with blown engine for 20 bucks, ripped the fenders off a put in a 37 engine, put a glass gal jug of gas under my feet where the batt supposed to go, put the batt on the pass floor drove all over the country roads. Then I turned 15, got my license, bought a 38 tudor 21 stud, The garage that I was playing around, the owner showed me how to do a valve job, did my first valve job when I was 15, then did my buddys 39 valves. Then into the wholes engine. And I haven't stopped yet, 2014. Unbeliveable. Walt