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EFV-8 Club Forum / General Ford Discussion / Nicest car in high school

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Posted By Discussion Topic: Nicest car in high school -- page: 1 2     w1spurgeon 01-31-2010 @ 2:54 PM reply profile send p.m. New Member Posts: 165 Joined: Dec 2009 At the high school I attended we had students from both sides of the track. In my senior year my Dad bought me a '57 Chevy convertable, 283 w/power pak. It was king of the hill until another kid showed up with a brand new '62 Chevy convertable, 348, 4 speed. We constantly went back and forth about which was the better car but it turned out to be a moot point. One of the less priviledged kids showed up with a '29 Ford pickup with a small block built by his Dad, a mechanic and a custom naugahyde interior sewed by his Mom. Gave both of us Chevy owners a lesson in humility. Stroker 01-31-2010 @ 4:40 PM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 1460 Joined: Oct 2009 I drove a 1940 Ford "Ton-and-a-half" to High School (1954-58) This was in So.Cal., where supposedly everyone drove 32 3-windows, or roadsters. The teacher's parking lot had the nicest cars, and the Principal traded up to a 57 Chev. with a "Blue-Flame" 6. Most of the regular kids drove 30's-to 40's Plymouth's, Chevy's, and whatever they could get their hands on. I was delighted when my older sister passed the family 38 Wagon to me, and while it wasn't a 32-3-window, it sure beat the 40 truck. I recall that our attitude towards the "new factory hot rods", such as the 57 w/283 was pure lust, but no high school kid would even dream of anything like that. The only classmate I had that anything new was McCoy, who's dad sold his model airplane engine company to Testor's Corporation, and probably needed a tax write-off. He had a 1956 Ford Crown Victoria, which really looked out of place in the parking lot. Later on, I built-up a 32 Ford pickup with a ported and relieved 3/8ths by 3/8ths, 59A with triple carbs, Potvin Eliminator cam, chopped flywheel, DuCoil Zephyr ignition, and 4:56 gears. My highpoint was being able to out-accelerate 57 283 Chevy's at least for a city block, after which they would pass me like I was bolted to the nearest utility pole. If it hadn't been for good people like yourself, we would have had nothing to strive for. tierod 01-31-2010 @ 8:26 PM reply profile send p.m. Member Posts: 73 Joined: Oct 2009 THE COOLEST IN MY HS WERE FENDERLESS 32 AND 34 CPES, BOTH CHOPPED. THEY HAD FLATHEADS BUT I DON'T REMEMBER IF 3 OR 5 WINDOW. MY CLOSEST BUDDY HAD A CHOPPED 46 CPE AND I DROVE A 50 CONVERT. NOSED, DECKED WITH SKIRTS AND DUALS. COULDN'T AFFORD ANY ENGINE WORK. THOSE WERE THE DAYS. ford38v8 01-31-2010 @ 9:18 PM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 2758 Joined: Oct 2009 I had 3 Fords in my High School days, the most memorable was my '39 Tudor. It had bigs & littles and a dropped front axle. My rear window was like a moon roof. Banjo painted white, moons, and dark grey primer. Stock engine. The rake made it hard to turn a corner, but it was fine! The late model cars on campus were all brand X, the finest of those was the shiny new "58 Impala Convertible. Daddy's little rich kid. Alan wmsteed 02-01-2010 @ 9:13 AM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 613 Joined: Oct 2009 From the 10th grade to the 12th I spent everything I earned working for my father either on cars or girls. As most of us know, if you had a nice car the girls followed suit. In the early '50's the Chevy V8 was not even on the horizon. The stove bolt six and/or Plym six was no match for a Ford V8 in stock form or one that had been warmed up a bit. When I was a junior, 1951-52, I bought a '38 Chevy 2dr sdn that had a dead engine. This was not my first car, I had three cars prior to this one. I paid the grand price of $50. for the '38, it was in great shape, arrow straight with a good interior. The paint was a little thin but that was OK because I need to lay low for awhile. The '38 I had before this car was all fixed up and drew to much attention. Since I had a pocket full of money from the sale of my car I went looking for an engine with a little more omph than the original 6. I had hoped to find a Power-glide engine which had 105 HP, no such luck but I did find a GMC 270 CID which was in a truck that had been hit by a train. Without to much difficulty I figured out how to put the Jimmy into the '38, I added a few performance upgrades, Mallory ignition, headers and larger carb. There was nothing in Eastern Idaho that could catch the Chevy. I was king of the hill for quite awhile until I blew off a '36 Ford coupe from Pocatello. The car belonged to the son of the Ford dealer in Pocatello. A month or so later the kid with the '36 Ford coupe came looking for me. Finding a quiet country road we went at it.... The '36 blew my doors off... that is when I found out that the kid went crying to his father about me out running the '36. The father solved that problem by installing a new '52 Olds Rocket engine in the '36. The day of the overhead valve engine ruling the road had arrived. It was not long after the big race when a guy offered me a lot of money for the '38 so I sold it to him. I purchased a '41 Ford convertible that was a piece of junk. Through a chance encounter, I was able to buy a '36 Ford Deluxe 5 win cpe which belonged to one of my HS school teachers. He had bought a new Ford and wanted to get rid of the '36. The '36 had 51,k on the speedo and was in great shape. I paid the grand price of $125. for it. During my senior year I was on short rations. My parents developed a big drinking problem which I found hard to deal with so I moved out. Fortunately the '36 was in such good shape that I did not have to spend much money to keep it going, however, I did accessorize it. I added hydraulic brakes, a column shift, solid hood panels, a smooth bullnose in lieu of the V8, twice pipes, '37 Desoto bumpers and I lowered the car. I was cool.....I still have the '36. Bill 36 5 win delx cpe Stroker 02-01-2010 @ 3:26 PM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 1460 Joined: Oct 2009 Bill: While I was a died-in-the-wool flathead fan, We had 2 GMC pickups w/228 motors (50&51) at the ranch. They weren't real impressive, having only 88 hp, but they were tough. My first exposure to the potential for these motors came from an old sprint car driver who was a neighbor. He had a 49 Ch*vy coupe with a 270 w/dual carbs, a home-made split header. He would regularly clean our clocks in 1/4 mile contests. Later, a local group of drag racers "Jackson's Garage" out of Fontana,CA dominated their class with a 302 with a Hilborn-injected 302 with a Wayne 12-port aluminum head. This car (in the late 50's) would outrun many a Chrysler 392-powered competitor in the 1/4. I stumbled upon this car again in the late 70's at Bonneville, where it was being campaigned by the Tone Brothers, and it was then setting land speed records. Long before the OHV-V8's obsoleted our beloved "flatties", the Jimmys were showing the way. Thanks for the memories! Dan wmsteed 02-02-2010 @ 9:09 AM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 613 Joined: Oct 2009 In spite of the fact that I have kept my '36 Ford 5 win for close to 57 years, from my earlier posting you can see that I was never overly in love with the flat head Ford. In 1951 a group of us from Eastern Idaho took a '40 Buick Century coupe to Bonneville. The car was powered with a Buick 320 CID straight eight that had 5 carbs on a home made manifold. The guys from So Cal really laughed at us with a BUICK and lic plates that said "World Famous Potatoes"... They were singing a different tune when the car set a record for it's class. The November 1951 issue of Hot Rod Magazine featured a big article about the '40 Buick. In 1954 I did re-power the '36 with a highly modified 59 AB engine... The original engine had 103,K with only one valve job. I was working for a company in Salt Lake City that required travel throughout the Western US, the original 21 stud engine never let me down in over 50,K miles through howling blizzards and 100+ summer temps. By the fall of 1954 I was in Las Vegas working as an assistant to a general foreman on the Riveria Hotel. Money was flowing into my pocket faster than I could spend it so I purchased a '50 Olds 88 2dr fastback. My '36 became a weekend toy which I would take out to the local drags on the weekends. My involvement with the Chevy and Jimmy 6's has never really ended.. A few years ago I had a '37 GMC with a built GM 292, 6 cyln that put out over 300hp. The GMC had Jag suspension under it so it stuck to the road like glue. A guy offered me twice what I had in the truck so I sold it. I have a friend in Idaho that has a 40 GMC 1/2 ton with a 302 Jimmy, Wayne head, headers, ignition, etc. The truck has not been run in almost twenty years. I have been trying to buy the truck for over ten years.... Maybe some day I will catch him in a weak moment. The attached picture of my '36 coupe was taken in the spring of 1952... My mother and her friend are standing next to the car.. The black primer on the rear fender/trunk is the result of damage to the rear by a minor rear end collision. A young lady got the brake and clutch peddles mixed up on a '50 Merc. Bill 36 5 win delx cpe bigvince 02-27-2010 @ 2:14 AM reply profile send p.m. Member Posts: 60 Joined: Oct 2009 I still own my first car I had in high school - '67 Mustang Convertible that I've owned for 40 years! I always dreamed about a Woodie Wagon and wanted to work on a flathead and bought a 48 Ford Woodie about two years ago. Can't wait for a high school reunion. I will have the coolest car in the parking lot! 37 Coupe 02-27-2010 @ 3:35 PM reply profile send p.m. Member Posts: 362 Joined: Oct 2009 A kid that was a year ahead of me in high school got a brand new 63 Corvette split window coupe for graduation,always heard at the time he was not very happy with it because he wanted a blue one.Funny thing is the guy really took care of this car and still has it,he had it repainted quite a few years ago white but with a blue set of racing stripes on it,he doesn't drive it much because his interest is Mustangs and motorcycles. Back then the Corvette was about as far away from me as the 37 coupe I wanted,the $500 asking price was also out of reach,finally got one in 2004 for a lot more but actually better shape then the one I first saw in 1961,both black naturally. carguy 02-28-2010 @ 6:30 AM reply profile send p.m. New Member Posts: 167 Joined: Oct 2009 In my city, Columbus OH - 1955, a friend of mine had a chopped and channeled bright red '32 coupe with a Cadillac V-8 engine and another had a '34 primer highboy 3 window with a Chrysler Hemi, these were very nice but I still liked my chopped and channeled primer '31 coupe with a 3/4 race 59AB. Sure wish I had that car back today. Any other old Strokers hot rod club members here?

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