11 years ago, when I retired and being a nut and bolt turner all my life, I rolled over my 401K into an IRA and begged my wife of 40 years IF I could hold out enough cash to buy my high school dream car. A 1939 or 1940 Ford street rod. Well, after looking at a few, she would not let me buy a sedan like I saw in a "Cartoon" with a '40 sedan jacked up in the rear with the guy saying to his buddy "Well, at least I don't have to bend over to get the spare out!". She said a sedan was an old mans car. When I found the dream car in Florida off we went because I never drove a "street rod" version but a good buddy of mine, who work with Tommy Ivo back in the day, told me what to look for. Well it was a picture perfect '40 Ford coupe that was 100% done with the correct American Mags and the right flame job but everything else was wrong. Luckily I knew what a 400 SBC was about, I turned bearings in one because, well, I just don't know how to drive nice even today, and it had a straight axle under it, too. There were a few other things that just made this car a coffin for us IF I drove it home but the problem was not the car. It was my right foot. When we got home, there was a voice mail from my buddy, who was at a big car show with a car corral not more than 40 miles from us. He gave me the info, I drove it the very next day and we both agreed. It was in my driveway by the end of the week and it cost about 1/2 of what the car in Florida would have cost. It is a 1939 Ford Deluxe coupe with a stock 350 SBC, 350 AT, Mustang II FA with rack & pinion PS & PB. It is like driving a big over sized go cart. Well, 11 years later, everything has been up graded, improved,replace and all the latest creature features are in it. We have put over 20K miles on it and it has gone to St.Paul "Back to the '50's show" at least 7 times, to car shows all over Wisconsin, Indiana and Michigan. We love this toy. Check out the photos and see if you like it as much as we do. Thanks from Grumpy and his squeeze.
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