Under construction....

About 35 years ago I traded a Triumph TR-4 car for a basket case Ford model T, and some assorted Model A parts.At the time I was renting an old carraige house next to an old apartment building I was living in at the time. A friend of mine refered to it as "The Barn". It was a two story tall main building that was very barn-like with three attached garage spaces. It had a wood floor with a covered pit-area. The stalls had concrete floors, and were probably a later addition. At one time it probably did house carraiges with a small pasture area out back for the horses. Like a lot of the older buildings in that neighborhood it is long gone now...torn down to make dorms for Law students....

I had acquired the TR-4, (wanna say it was a '64), in a three way trade. I got the TR-4 from the former owner who ended up with an  old Studebaker pick-up that had been converted to run on propane. The former owner of the Studebaker ended up with my old '65 Ford Pick up. Yeah, that's how it went. It was a pretty even trade all around, each vehicle had it's problems....but I think everyone was ready for different challenges. I drove the Triumph for awhile, loving the sound of it's tractor like four cylinder motor. It had overly wide wheels and tires that amplified problems with the suspension, it had a pretty hard former life, as each wheel seemed to be pointed slightly askew...Final straw was when the fan belt expired and the ten dollar price at the parts store outraged me. This was of course outrageous to a fella who had paid no more than $2.50 for fan belts for his 1960 VW....

One day while riding my old 1971 Honda CB 500 "Cafe Racer" by one of the local colleges in a sort of upscale neighborhood I saw it. A Model T mocked up on a front yard with aluminum foil on the headlight buckets, bailing wire holding all the various parts together in an approximation of a Model T Ford. Love at first sight...

I was storing two complete model T's that belonged to someone else. One was a "C" cab truck that was apart,but in remarkably good shape. The other was a hodge-podge of early car parts, but enough to cobble together a complete car. There was a "Ruckstell" 2 speed rear end assembly and a bunch of other neat aftermarket parts in the stash...of course, I was storing them for free with the 'understanding' that I had first dibs if he decided to sell... Long story short, soon after I had made my trade for my basket case, his stuff disappeared from the back yard where it had been stored neatly on pallets-under heavy tarps. It semed he owed someone some money and they decided to 'take-payment'.

Of course I was blamed for there disapearance, until the real culprit fessed up. Which reminds me of a 1940 Ford 2 door coupe I stored for another fellow with the same 'understanding'...I was out bid by a Lawyer with a lot of money, beginning to remember why I developed a dislike for that profession...

So, for all these years I've managed to hang on to my heap of rusty parts...which look a lot like the picture above which is not my car, but one I found on the web which is about the same year. Mine is missing the 'turtle-deck' and hood. It also did not come with a motor or trans. The original wooden spokes are long rotted away. Did I hear someone say rat-rod...? I suppose a lot of people might go that route. I had thought about that from time to time...but have decided to stay away from that 'genre'...uh, did I say that?

A car I've always liked is this one.

The 'Isky' T

I'll be getting back to it with some more info and a pic or two. Yeah, it's fenderless...but it was actually raced as well as driven on the streets. 'Isky' is of course, Ed Iskendarian of racing camshafts fame. More on him and this car later.

Another car I've liked is this one.

The Black Widow

Not full fendered, but with minimal cycle type fenders. I'll get back to this one as well with more info and pics.

About the time I acquired my basket case T, a friend of mine told me that most of the Model T's had been scrapped during the wars....to make tanks and aircraft carriers, I suppose. Well, since then it seems a lot of them managed to escape the crushers and recyclers. When I was a small child, folks in Southern California, and other parts.. were still driving cars with wood spoke wheels. This is the early 50's we are talking about. My fathers first car was a WW2 surplus jeep, that he actually bought for the proverbial 50 bucks. He traded up to a Model A, which had more room. Drove this for awhile, not to be 'cool', until he bought his first new car...a Henry J. Which was powered by of all things, what was basically a Jeep motor. 

Model T Naysayer

Picture taken of the infamous Mr. Marx (as I call him) hanging around about 40 years ago, at the Marquis of the long gone Thunderbird drive-in theater in Rancho Cordova. I took this picture with my fathers old Rollei. I've promised Mr.Marx that I will embarrass him from time to time by publishing this photo. Actually he likes it so much, he has adopted it for his Facebook page...much to the consternation of his wife I imagine...he was hanging over about a 40 foot drop...yeah, Mr. Marx and I had some interesting adventures back in those days.

Henry J, once again, a pic borrowed from the web.

While down at my mother's this Christmas I found this old photo of my parent's with their brand new 1952 Henry J.

This pic was snapped by my Uncle Howard nearly 62 years ago. This was the car I rode home from the hospital in after my birth. (yeah...I'm getting old.) This is at his old house in Long Beach California. He worked for Union Oil, which gave him credit for the time he was away in Europe during the war in Army Artillery. He was able to retire in his 50's and is still here and driving cars. 

My mother is still here and driving. My father is gone since 1995...succumbed to Agent Orange related cancer. My mother told me a little tale about how my dad talked his way out of a speeding ticket in the Henry J. They were out for a drive and my pop decided to see what she'd do and he got pulled over (probably for going 60 or 70...it was basically a jeep motor in there...). My pop had the gift of gab. He told the trooper that it was his first new car and he kinda got carried away....he was let off with a warning.

My father used to tell me this was the original 'fast back', the styling is what grabbed him. The motor, not so much. When I was less than a year old we were stationed at a base in Washington state. He said  that on trips from there to Los Angelos he would stop and change a head gasket each way. He got so used to it that he carried the spares and tools he'd need for every trip. Eventually he did get tired of it and bought his second new car, a 1954 Ford Station Wagon. By this time my sister had arrived and more room was needed.

But, I digress. This blog will be primarily about the model T project...but I'll probably ramble on about other cars and stuff... 

I'll get some pics taken of my assortment of rusty sheet metal and put them here...and then maybe launch this blog......

I started the motorcycle blog as a way to motivate myself to get cracking on bike projects....soooo maybe I will launch this thing here in the new year....and see if it will re-spark my interest in this old project....

push the publish button.....