Flathead storys from the past lets have them

[FlatheadTed]

I am sure there are plenty of storeys from your misspent youth involving flat heads.

[FlatheadTed]

Welllll no takers so far should ,I tell you about the time the cops chased me in my 35 coup .?

[Brian]

Is that when it had the zephyr 6 in it?

[blucar]

During the days of my youth, the late '40's, early '50's, gas was cheap, in the .20+ per gallon range which sounds like one hell of a bargin compared to today's prices, of course wages were also low, a dollar an hour was pretty good money. In 1952 I was paid .65 an hour working in a gas station.
Our method of obtaining fuel for our cars required everyone to chip in, those that did not feed the fuel kitty... the ash tray, walked. A second option was to siphon fuel from someones tank using an "Oklahoma Credit Card"... a five foot piece of garden hose and a five gallon gas can... If you were smart you always parked your car heading in a different direction from the car you were siphoning the gas from, then they had to turn their car around, giving you a head start, if they tried to chase you.
The Ford flat heads were infamous for having poor fuel pumps, they would act up at the worst possible times causing vapor locks or a complete failure. Quick fixes required the removal of the fuel pump and the cutting of a piece of leather from your belt or shoe tongue, the leather was placed in the recess of the pump where the push rod went. The pump would usually work for awhile, hopefully getting you home.
In 1952 I landed a job working for Standard Oil in a company INC. station. The starting wage was $1.25 per hour plus commission... a princely wage. One catch, I had to attend a three week training school in Ogden Utah at my own expense, upon graduation I would be paid for my time and expenses.
The school was located 200 miles from where I lived, not a problem, my trusty '41 Ford would get me there. Since I had to report to the school at 8:00 AM I had made arrangements to stay with a cousin in Ogden. I left my home in Idaho in the afternoon to beat the summer heat for a pleasant evening drive to Ogden. Everything went well for the first 75 miles then the Ford started to act up, in short order it quit... bad fuel pump. I walked about five miles back to a small town, since it was after 6:00 everything was closed except for a local beer bar. An inquiry revealed that the closest garage was another twenty miles away. The local gas station could fix the car but they did not carry parts, they would have order a pump from Pocatello via the Greyhound bus which would arrive the next afternoon.... My new job was about to be lost.
I walked back to my car to see if I could make a temporary repair, no luck... I was frantic, what to do? Since I was in a farm area I thought if I could find a piece of farm machinery with a Wisconsin V4, they used the same fuel pump as the Fords, I could "barrow" a pump.. Filling my pockets with a few tools I went looking.. As the night got later I got more frantic. Not finding a "donor vehicle" I walked back into town... everything was pitch dark except for the beer bar.
Sitting in the shadows of the bar was a '38 Ford V8.. I carefully turned the hood latch, raised the hood and in a wink of an eye I had a fuel pump. I ran the five miles out to my car, hopefully I could get the pump on my car and be gone before the owner of the '38 discovered that he had a problem. I installed the pump, lit the Ford up and was sailing south towards Ogden.
I got to Ogden with time to spare... I completed Standard Oils school with flying colors... Yes from time to time I think about stealing the fuel pump, maybe when I get to the Pearly Gates of Heaven, St. Peter will send to the other place, of course I will have plenty of company, the Ford guys will be use to the heat after nursing their ERV8's down the road.

[FlatheadTed]

Thats was a good one Bill .

[37slantback]

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It was about 1971. I was 14 years old when a farmer came knocking on my door asking if I wanted to work. I said heck yes but I was too young to drive (legally) and had no way to get back and forth. He actually lived in town as his Dad still lived on the farm. He had a 50-51 Ford with a Merc flathead in it that used to be his car in younger days. He said just walk over, drive to and from the farm and leave it at his house each night. I remember the sound and the power of that flatty with my knee in the carburator. I am sure he knew because you could hear it coming a mile away, but he never said anything.

I have had many cars in the past years but I remember that car specifically. So, I now have a built flathead that I am putting in my flatback. I could have done a SBC but sometimes you have to go home again.

[BrianCT]

Sometime around 1960 I went to a farm auction with dad. For some reason he bought a 37 4dr original gray and decent for $35. and a black 2door slant back a little rougher for even less. Hired a friend to haul them home in a silage truck. We stored them inside but finally sold them for around $100 each. Never even thought enough of them to take pictures. The 4dr would probably be triple rouge today.

[Brian]

A few years back I was driving the old 35 from Wellington up to Auckland and
vowed that I'd pick up any hitchikers along the way to give them a bit of the
old flattie experience. Anyway, about 1 1/2 hours into the trip I spy this guy
with his thumb out so pull up along side. The conversation went sort of like
this-
me "Where're goin?"
-I'm going to Auckland
me "jump in"
-I wanna go to Auckland
me "I'm going to Auckland, jump in"
-But I wanna go to Auckland
me" I'm going to Auckland, get in"
-Where are you going?
me- I'm going to Auckland, do you wanna ride or what?, get in

Can you see where this is going? Pity I'm a slow learner, I persevered and
finally got this nerd in my car. And man, did he stink!! I think he'd been on
the road for a coupla weeks and hadn't seen a bar of soap in that time!!
Anyway,every coupla miles he'd ask "How long till we get there?' or "what's the
next town we're coming to?", or "What's the last town we went through?" or "How
long till we get there?' or ...I think you get the message by now. This guy was
obviously a coupla sandwiches short of a picnic!!

His constant verbal drival was driving me nuts!! And still I put up with him!
[Like I said, I'm a slow learner]. At one stage further along, I picked up
another hitcher, mainly to give me some respite, the idiot gabbled on non-stop
to someone new, unfortunately, the 2nd guy got out shortly after! Then the nerd
wanted to drive my car. by this stage we were on the desert road, a high
volcanic plateau located in the center of the North Island, so, being the slow
learner I am I pulled over and swapped seats. This clown thrashed my car, drove
it foot flat to the floor, yelling out "yeehaa- I'm driving a V8, yeehaa, I'm
driving a V8" repeatedly. Well after a few miles of this abuse my old car spewed
a vast quantity of coolant out the radiator, this signalled the end of his
driving, I was starting to get a bit more abrupt toward him in my communication
with him. I resumed the driving, and limped along until I came to a stream so I
could top up the radiator. Mt Ruapehu, an active volcano up on this plateau was
going through an active period at this time, the water running in that
watercourse reeked of sulphur, great for ally heads of course, but it's all I
could get!

Hours later we're getting close to Auckland, and the nerd asks if I'll take him
to Kaitaia, which is another 5 hours north of Auckland. Of course I told him no
way, I'd drop him off at a bus terminus. Then he asks me 'Why don't you put a
Chev in this?" "What for?" I reply." More power!" is his answer.
Listen here you f******** i*******, this is a FORD V8, it's got you all the way
up from Palmy in style and comfort, don't you dare use that 4 letter word in
this car or I'll kick your f******* ass right outta here, you f*******!

Shortly after I took an offramp and drove to a bus terminus. "What are we
stopping here for?" he asked. I pointed to the bus terminus and said "bus". The
nerd leapt out the door, slammed it behind himself and disappeared into the
night. Whew!!

[danliveshere]

I was 19 when I bought my 35 roadster in my avatar back in 1986. My friends thought I was crazy when I came home with this strange looking car with no motor or transmission. They all had the fastest and greatest Aussie cars of the late 70s and early 80s. When we used to go out on weekends there would usually be 3 car loads of us, 3 designated drivers who kept an eye out for the others in our group. Funny how my roadster was the first to fill up with passengers for the hour drive to town once I got it on the road. Back then it had 59A with offenhausers and twins and dual stainless exhaust. Those were the days!! One night we changed night clubs around midnight. Somehow, 12 of us went the 2 kms(1.2mile) to the other side of town in the roadster!!??? when I think about it today I'm so glad the police didn't see us but it still brings a smile......

[Stretch Cab]

I found a 41 vert in the woods near home when I was a kid and bought it for 50$. Spent a long time dreaming about what I would do with it but sold it for 100$. Sure wish I still had that car! I do have the 36 fordor I had at the same time. Car never would start on it's own, had to push it off.