Car Screeches to Halt for 1949 Chevy in Field

Larry went out Saturday on his own since I had to work on the websites. He found this 1949 Chevrolet and after talking to the owner, discovered that it still ran. The same owner also had a 1941 Chevrolet Special Deluxe sedan, a 1951 Chevy 2-door rolling chassis but had lots of chrome script, a 1954 Chevrolet 4-door solid but rolling chassis as well, and a 1964 Studebaker Daytona.

Every one of these classic project cars were parked willy nilly in the field next to the owner home. If you are interested in these project cars, visit our website for complete information.

We Never Know What We Will Find

We were just taking a short cut over to the other side of Pomme de Terre Lake when due to too many turns on unmarked gravel roads we got lost and lo and behold saw this Gypsy-looking wagon. I fell in love with it but there was no one around to talk to and this is as close as we got. Not a project car I agree but so much more. If we can get lost again and find it again, we'll let you know the story behind this great old wagon.

Between a Rock and a Hard Place

We had a big rain. The gravel was soft. This truck was being backed out of the garage bay on the right. Larry knew to back out and stay to the left and he tried but the drive gave way and the truck slid sideways and landed precisely between the big oak tree and the cement porch foundation (the white rectangular area).

When I say precisely, I mean you could put a piece of paper between the front bumper and the cement foundation but that is all you could put there. The same exact thing is true of the tree and the back bumper. But to both our amazement there was not a scratch on the truck. Would that be true by the time we winched it out of there?

Larry tied a winch to a tree about 20' directly opposite the truck and due to a serious shoulder injury Larry could do nothing strength-wise so I had to do the winching -- up and back, up and back, and inch by inch with the use of strong boards, cement blocks, and other contraptions we got the truck free. It took about two hours. The truck never got a scratch. Which is wonderful since it was not our truck.

1939 COE

Larry located a 1939 COE and wants to turn it into a car hauler. I like the idea myself. We want to put the cab of the COE on a mobile home chassis. I think that's what Larry said. We dream of fixing it up as a car hauler with Vintage Tins of the Ozarks painted on the doors. We could deliver the cars we sell to the folks who buy them.

So far all of our car buyers have been from out of state (Michigan, Illinois, Nevada, Georgia). We could make good money delivering these project cars. But first things first. First, we have to buy this project COE and then buy a chassis for it to go on. But like all things in life, we'll just take it one step at a time. Step one was to take the pictures.

The Lost Pocket Watch

Larry's pocket watch was his motivation, his incentive, his pride and joy but he doesn't have one anymore because I washed it. So now without fail, every time we head out somewhere to see a project car, he complains about not knowing for sure what time it is. "We're going to be late, " he grumbles. But I ignore him since we have a nice bright digital clock in the car, our cell phones show the time on the face, and the radio DJ tells us what time it is every ten minutes but I don't say anything. I am keeping my eyes open for the right pocket watch, I already tried to buy him a $12 one at a discount store but he said it didn't have the "feel" of the old one and so I returned it. I knew better than to buy the junky one anyway. It has been almost a year now and still no pocket watch but we never take a trip but what it isn't brought up. There was something about the feeling he got when he pulled it out of his small watch pocket in his Wranglers that made him feel right with the world.

Coming Around the Mountain

We were driving around last summer and ended up way down in the boondocks when we came upon this old road. We tried to drive down the road but just around that bend the road deteriorated into a wagon trail.

No sign of life anywhere, not human life that is. The trees hung over the trail as we proceeded and made it dark with shadows and eerily quiet. We had visions of coming upon an old deserted farmhouse with a Dusenberg parked inside in mint condition, but instead we came upon cows and lots of them. We're not exactly at ease in a herd of cattle, especially when every one of them stopped what they were doing to stare at us.

All Larry could say was "Do you see a bull anywhere?" One cow, then two, started our way and away we went. Sure this entry had no great barn finds in it but thought you'd like to know how dangerous a job we have as we scout around for classic project cars to save for posterity by taking pictures and putting them online for wonderful renovators like you to restore to life once again.

Scenery Makes Our Job Pleasant

While we drive around the country here in the Ozarks looking for project cars and trucks, the scenery keeps us happy between barn finds. We usually take a hot thermos of coffee and a cooler to hold my coffee cream and maybe a snack. We don't have any particular destination in mind, but we do have a certain region we want to explore. Here we are headed up near Lake of the Ozarks. We veered southward because we've heard about some old project cars in that area. We kind of know the whereabouts of a 1941 Jeep delivery wagon (and pre-war vehicles are always wonderful to find). However, we did not find the place in the backwoods with the pre-war jeep and we didn't find anything else either. There are no street names in this region, unless you go into a town. But we plan to go back to find this vintage truck or van or wagon this Spring.

The Ones That Got Away

One day about six months ago Larry and I towed a 82 Volvo to the Crusher (Scrap) Yard, the price of metal was higher than ever so it seemed right and was right. We received over $200 for it. But then we couldn't resist just walking around the huge (but ugly) scrap yard. We saw amazing antiques (wagon wheels, cast iron potbellied stoves, plows) which had not been crushed and since they were separated from what was going to be crushed, the scrap yard likely sells them to a collector which is better than destroying it. What is not good is how often vintage antiques find their way to a metal graveyard. And we know for sure some vintage project cars including classic car and truck chrome and script is in that heap as well. While we were there we watched the old Volvo as it was crinkled, trunk popped open by the guy operating the forklift, roof pounded in, then he picked it up and drove off to a huge pile of crushed cars and lifted it up high and placed it on top of the heap. I had tears in my eyes. What an emotional experience and one that I highly recommend if you've never seen it happened up close and personal like that. Especially if you love cars.