Car Talk: That First Car
For the past 50 years, despite having to work for a living, I have loved and tinkered with cars. I started when I was 12 years old, so you have some idea of where I am now.
The first car was a ’38 Ford coupe. This was the one with no back seat. I don’t even know if Ford made one with a back seat in 1938. It was in a state of disarray when I bought it. Yes, cheap in today’ world, for $25.00 and that was a big chunk of change for a 12 year old in 1957.
The engine was out of the car and gone. The radiator, grill and miscellaneous hood and side panels where off as well as the front fenders. In this great deal was a 1940 Ford flathead V8. Only problem was we needed to get it into the car without any form of hoist. It took five of us, four on the motor and one trying to line up the transmission spline, transmission bolts and just keep things moving. And, of course, we did not have a clutch alignment tool, so we left the pressure plate just snug enough to move the disc without it falling down on its own, and jiggled and jiggled. Finally it was altogether and my cousin put some of the extra parts in his trunk; the rest went in the ’38, inside and in the trunk. We hooked it to his 50 Ford sedan with a loose log chain and pulled it home. Brakes were not exactly a working part so keeping from rear-ending the tow car was fun. Let the clutch out a little with the car in low. At least we knew the ’40 mill turned over.
I worked on this car for about a year, got all the parts back on and fitted pretty well and put in new plugs checked the points. Fresh oil and it seemed it should start, if I could afford a battery.
About this time I spotted a 1928 Ford model A sedan that could be had pretty cheap. I was offered $50 bucks for the ’38 and the Model A was $10.00. How could I pass it up and besides the ’38 now was going to cost some real money for tires, maybe paint and of course getting the old flatty running good.
More on the ’28 Model A later.