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Bridge to Nowhere and Back Again
Larry and I have to cross a lot more of these type of bridges than one would think. Most of them have been demolished and ugly cement bridges with solid cement on the sides making it impossible to glance lazily down into the lazy river below.
The people in the area fought the destruction of this bridge and won. I try to take all visiting relatives across it. It is so entertaining. City folks freak out and want to get out and walk instead of going across in the car.
It is covered with snow right now but without snow, you'd see two wooden plank lanes drivers use to get across. It creaks sometimes. I love it.
But it is scenes like this that make our job of locating project cars interesting and we never leave the camera at home.
Bonnie and Clyde it Ain't
Also thought you might enjoy this old photo of some Missouri folks back in the 1920s visiting family in the Ozarks. Because of movies and so on, I was under the impression that only gangsters and bank robbers sat on their cars for photographers.
This beautiful touring car, convertible no less, made a statement back then, but it would make an essay today.
Five New 1939 Dodge sedans $7534.09
I knew the man who bought these five new Dodge cars. He was an old man when I met him in a coffee shop in Preston MO. His name was Tuck King. He died a rich old man.
But as a young man in 1939, he saw the opportunity to be the first person to open a new car lot in this little Missouri town. The cars arrived by train in Bolivar MO. He and some friends drove the cars back to his new car lot from Bolivar, about 40 miles.
One day when I was having coffee and writing in my notebook in the cafe, he came walking in, slowly because he was in his 90s, and sat down opposite me in my booth.
He gave me this piece of paper and said he thought I'd find it interesting. I did and now I can share it with you. Tuck passed away several years ago. I've had this information since just before he died.
Classic Hudson Grills Gone Wild
These three late 1940s or so Hudsons (we think they were all Hudson), have grills worth more than the car itself. If Larry and I had someone to invest in us, we could do so much more. As is we had to let them go to the crusher because the owner would only sell the whole car or nothing.
With the economy so bad that businesses are shutting out their lights and closing for good all across the states, you would think our project car business would also tumble but that is not the case and we are surprised.
Business is picking up. All we can figure is that it makes good economic sense to purchase a project car and make it into an electric car or solar powered car and sell it for a fortune. Whatever the reason, we are okay with increased business.
Back to the original point of what I was talking about here: these fascinating old heavy full chrome grills -- talk about a lost opportunity.
Project Truck Heartbreaker
If your heart doesn't tug just a little when you look at this photo Larry took, then you're not a lover of old classic trucks. Maybe it's just us but this picture elicits a feeling in me that makes me want to restore this old work horse. (pic got deleted somehow).
I'm won't. Larry won't either, unless he really, really wanted to. This beautiful old beast is gone. Hope someone loved it and bought it to bring it back to life again. This project car business is rough sometimes. We want to restore nearly everything we come across, but that is not possible. The most we can do is find someone who can restore these old trucks and project cars.
Broken Street Rod Dream
Larry and I were traveling south of here taking left and right turns on gravel roads just looking for old project cars. We stopped in here because of the sad deserted street rod alone on weeded lot. The house looked vacant but we left our card and asked the owner to give us a call.
Then we stopped in at a place about a mile down the road and asked those folks about the street rod and who we might call to ask about it. "He's a truck driver," said the chubby but sweet farmer, "gone most of the time. Just got a divorce, you know."
No, we didn't know. But these pictures speak a thousands words about how life takes big turns and dreams are knocked down. Whoever the man was who worked on the street rod, we could just tell he loved doing it. We could see his broken heart and dying hope as we stood there silently by his unfinished project.
But it was getting dark and we, as usually, we basically lost, which never bothers us because who cares? All we do when we get lost is head the car in the general vacinity of home and push the gas pedal.
Rare Kit Car For Sale
This long-nosed roadster sits in a huge barn with a roof about to fall in on it. A husband and wife team drove this roadster in parades for years and took home the blue ribbon on several occasions.
But then the husband died. The wife called us and asked us to come and see her rare kit car and sell it for her. She lives about an hour from our place so from us. When we got there we instantly liked her.
Now, this roadster just sits under its cover in the garage about twenty feet from the house. She was asking too much for it for one thing: $12,000. She priced the car with her heart instead of her reason.
This happens so often we're no longer surprised when it happens.
Forgotten Zepher
We tried to buy this Zepher but the Crusher man bought it instead and wouldn't let it go, not even for $5000. These was one of the hundreds of old cars and trucks an old man had collected over the years starting around 1940 or so. The only real problem with his collection is that he parked them in long rows out in the weather in a rolling meadow.
But both Larry and I will always treasure the days we were able to wonder around through all these magnificiant cars and trucks. You can go see all of these photos, over 100, at Picasa. see project cars and trucks
1952 Mercury Monterey Barn Find
Larry and I were driving to a distant little town south of us to look at an old Easy-Go golf cart. We made lefts and rights and lefts on gravel roads until we were completely lost, but is often the case, when we get lost we find treasures. We are taking this photo from the inside of the car on the road. That's an old 52 Monterey coupe sitting undisturbed in the pole barn.
We contacted the owner who happens to be a truck driver. Yes, he'll sell it if we can find a buyer and he named his bottom dollar. The classic car is in surprisingly good condition.
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