The whole story of my 1936 Ford 3 window coupe "barn Find" and how I am preserving it

[Big Z]

We have all heard the story about the car sitting in a garage that everyone and their brother has tried to buy for years and years and it was never for sale. I too have heard it hundreds of times but never put much faith in the stories. I have an 81 year old friend Willie that has been helping me out a bunch on my Model a truck build. He has a great stash of flathead parts and misc. pieces that are tough to find or expensive to buy. He has a few projects and can always use some extra cash. I try to help him out and buy stuff of him that I can use. Years ago (like 1950) he had 6 36 Fords. The city got after his mother for having old junk in the yard and he got rid of them. The cut up the cars with an axe and took them to the dump. He kept some stuff and even built a 36 Ford 3 window which he later sold. I always liked 36 Fords and I thought I would buy up the parts he had laying around. I dug in the rafters and found a truck load of stuff. Paid him fair market value and we were both happy.






Word got out that I bought his 36 parts and I heard “How did you get stuff from him? He would never sell anything!” My friend Roger told me that he knew where there was a 36 Ford 3 window coupe in a city 30 minutes to the north of me. He would not tell me where it was just that it was real nice and was sitting under a roof covered in paper mill felt. He had tried to buy it but could not close the deal. He offered a low ball amount and the old timer said he was already offered more but did not want to sell it anyhow. Same old story. I never could get it out of him where it was and I let it go.

Fast forward 4 month. Roger stops by and tells me he could not take it anymore and that he had lied to me about the whereabouts of the 36 Ford coupe. He said it was in town and that Orville owned it but he would not sell it. I put it in the back of my brain and forgot about it.

I was out driving on Orville’s end of town on day in August 2012. I thought what the heck and stopped by and rang the doorbell. Orville came to the door. He is 81 years old. I asked him about his old cars and got the nickel tour of them all. He showed me the 36 Ford coupe all covered up under the roof next to the shed. It was not visible from the road and I had a tough time seeing what it was when I was standing next to it. It was covered up with a tarp that rotted away and then another which was rotting away also. There were all kinds of stuff piled on and around the car. I was climbing around it trying to see what I could and saw a 59ab engine, what I thought was grey primer paint, nice left front fender and that was about it. He said it was time for me to go. I left him with a piece of paper with my name and number on it along with a price.

I did not receive a call back so a week later I called and talked to his wife. I told her I had talked to Orville and I was interested in buying the 36. She said they may consider selling it. I thought great, here is my chance. I told her the price I was willing to pay and she said she would get back to me in 2 weeks. I gave her my number again.
I called after 2 very long weeks and she was still not sure about selling the car. She said she needed to talk to her sons about it. She would get back to me. I know her older son, he did some engine work for me. I called him and left a message to call me about the car. I called again the next day and left another message. He called back later that day. He wanted to know why I wanted the car and what I was going to do with it. I told him I wanted to preserve the car and enjoy it with my family. He was very stern about my not reselling the car to anyone else and that doing so would negate any deal. I then happened upon the other son at my work. He called looking for some info and I asked if his mother talked to him about selling the 36? He said yes and wanted to know what I was going to do with it and why I wanted it. I told him the same answer I told his brother and then drove my Model A truck to his site and showed him what I built. We had a great talk about cars and hot rods. He said he would talk to his mother about me buying the 36. I thought great this may actually happen!! Then it got weird, I decided to walk away from the car and see how things settle out.

So from the first time I talked to Orville the owner until now has been three weeks. Another week goes buy and I get a call form Orville’s wife on A Friday night: “I thought you would have called us back by now. Do you still want the car?” I say yes can I come over and take a picture of it the way it is sitting now? “Sure, come over Saturday morning but call first.” So I can hardly sleep that Friday night. I wake up and call her and I ask can I come over and take a few pictures? “no Call back Sunday” So I call Sunday and ask if I can come over and she says “ my son is here and he is digging out the car, I will call you later” Wow, it is going to happen I can’t believe it! So around 5 pm she calls and says “come and get your car” I said I will be right over! I hooked up the trailer and grabbed the winch and my dad and went to get it. On the way over I say to my dad you know I never really got a good look at the car, what if it is not worth it? I am already committed to buying it. He says “don’t worry, I will buy it if you don’t.” This is what we saw when we pulled into the driveway:











It was beautiful! I could not believe my eyes! I was the new owner of the beautiful car!

We loaded it up and got the story behind the car. Here is a picture of Orville and I:





Here is where it was sitting. They put the tractor in its place.

[flat-v8]

Wow what a story!

[Big Z]

Where did it go?
I get it now, All my posts need to be approved by a moderator first. Not sure why.

[flatjack9]

Read it on the HAMB. If I knew how to post a link I would.

[Big Z]

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/s...4722&showall=1

Here it is on the hamb. Not sure where it went here.

[Randy in ca]

Sponsored Links (Register now to hide all advertisements)

HAMB link below:


http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/s...d.php?t=764722

[coupe5w36]

Great story, great car.

[flat-v8]

Super cool! 3 window, Man you got a beautiful car!

[OLDTGUY]

Great story! Beautiful car!

[Big Z]

So here is what happened after I got it home. I determined that the engine was stuck and the rear axle was broke.

Monday September 24th 2012
Tore apart rear axle and found broken axle shaft





Tuesday

Go to Willie's and get a used axle from his stash and install in. I read about using a pipe wrench and a floor jack to loosen stuck engines. I was going to leave it jacked up overnight with the bores full of diesel fuel and transmission fluid but it broke free right away.



Wednesday

Drag car down driveway in gear to free it up. Turns over good now.

Thursday

Rebuild carb and put on new fuel pump.

Friday

Try to start it! It runs but only on a few cylinders.



Saturday

Pull heads and free stuck valves. Reassemble and it runs pretty good.






Saturday evening

I called Orville and told him to come over. I took him for a ride down the street.




Here we are talking flatheads:




Last thing of the day, I took him for a long ride in my Model A truck. When we got back his wife wanted to go so I took here next.

[Big Z]

Here is the history that I have uncovered so far. It seems all the old timers knew the car and I have talked to most of them. I had lots of visitors to the house who heard the the story and could not believe I had the car. I was told by several people that they were glad I got it and it could not have gone to a better person. I feel pretty humble.

As far back as i can find info on the car, it looks like Hildegard D. bought it used in 1947 and sold it in 1950. It was dark blue. Herb K. bought it and painted it grey and added the red and white interior. He sold it to Denny H. in 1960. All he did was drive it. He sold it to Orville in February 1965. The 21 stud engine was no good at this point and the car had 98,000 miles on it. Orville had a repair shop and on February 17th 1965 he installed a 3 3/16" bore 24 stud flat head that was a fresh rebuild. He wrote it on the hood with a grease pen.




He added fresh oil and put a sticker in the door jamb. It has almost 1000 miles on the engine since 1965!





So are you wondering why the axle was broke?

Here is the story I got: This was dad nice car. Older son was 16 and just got his license. When mom and dad were gone he would take the car out and cruise with it. The road behind Fleet Farm was fresh blacktop in 1976 and he would take it there and drag race other cars. He said it did awesome burnouts. He would do full throttle clutch dumps and as luck would have it, the axle snapped one of those days. They pushed the car home and got an ass chewing. Orville was pissed and said he would not fix the car because the boys were just gonna wreck it. So it was parked under the lean to roof in the summer of 1976 and was there until September 2012. 36 years it sat there. Also the car was parked in '76 and it is 76 years old. Kinda weird how the numbers work out.
__________________

[Fe26]

Man Alive!
If that were mine I'd just get the safety side of things sorted out and drive it. Cars like that are only original once. Once tampered with they lose their uniqueness and their historic if not monetary value.
Congratulations, on your acquistion, enjoy.

[FLA48]

Neat!

[NYfatboy]

Persistance and luck! I envy you! Enjoy the car-John

[chudm71]

What a find... Congrats..

[Big Z]

Here is more of the story:

Here are some interior shots. The moth balls must have worked. I could not believe there was no mouse nest in the glove box. I only found a few mice but they have been dead a while. There was some meds in the glove box for Orville.

[Brendan]

man that is a nice car. it sounds like you made a new friend, he has a big smile on his face, ear to ear!

[flat-v8]

That is one of the best stories I've read on here, thanks for the awesome storyline & pictures! I don't have a clue who owned my '36, it would be nice to know the history.

[Big Z]

I bought this car in September and was meaning to type this up back then. I seem to forget the details already.

This is the car in my driveway Sunday night when I got home with it. I did not have time to unload it so it sat on the trailer overnight.



I work 7-5 every day. I get to work and the phone is ringing. I answer it and it is my buddy & neighbor Dave.
Where the hell did you get that 36? he says
Orville I say
I was trying to buy it a month ago and they would not sell it. How the heck did you get it? says Dave
I have no idea. I guess they just picked me. It was like a month long interview for a high stress job. I reply
Well I am glad you got it, I don't know what I would have done with it. Probably sold it. Says Dave.

Dave was there Friday night when I got it running. He said all he wants to do is drive it. I let him drive it 2 weeks later.

This conversation was repeated almost word for word with several local guys that had tried buying the car over the years and were not successful. Orville told me over 40 people offered to buy it. One group thought it was a 5 window and said I paid too much and came over to look at it and said Orville never had a 3 window.

Oh I just remembered something. During the "interview Process" I told Orville I wanted to take the car to the MSRA Back to the 50's in June 2013. I want to cruise the fairgrounds with my family. They like the idea and I think that helped seal the deal. Back to my buddy Dave, He said he had never been to Back to the 50's but it was on his bucket list. I said if he shows up he can cruise with the 36. He will there he said.

[TJ]

Cool '36 3 window. It has all the goodies; banjo wheel , radio, and a glove box clock! Even has an aftermarket heater. Doesn't get any better than that.