demigodofa
- Reaction score
- 4
- Thunderbird Year
- 1955
This car was owned by a gentleman that had it for 45 years, on this forum his handle was @fordrodsteven. His wife joked that it had more miles on it without an engine than with. It went to California, then to the Carolinas, to a family members house to his house. His dream was to restore this car upon his retirement. He worked at and retired from G.E. at 60 years young. Three years later he built a beautiful shop, new car lift, a rotisserie for the body and various tools etc to make his dream come alive. In (I believe late) July of 2019 he was
diagnosed with cancer after having lost some weight and not having the urge to eat. His life unfortunately was not to be long after that. He declined in health rapidly and ended up only living 2 months after his diagnosis. Our paths crossed when I saw a blurb on Facebook as he was trying to sell various items.
I didn't know any of the story until I met him on Sept. 19th 2019, although he was frail and in a wheelchair he perked up when telling me his ideas for the car and parts he accumulated.
Two days later I sent an offer. He counter offered but I had no more $ to give.... I'd have given him triple his asking price if I had it, but... You know how that goes. Plus I had a 1931 Model A I was elbows deep into.
9 days later I received a message from a family member. Steve had accepted my offer but had forwarded the message to the wrong person. With a heavy heart I accepted the families (Steve's posthumous) offer .
And that's where the story begins....? Ends....? Continues...? Depends on which character in the story you are.
I have done a couple of GM cars but am not tied to one brand. This is a car I think I will keep... the story and the car are just too dear to me. I will need to lean on members here and will be a frequent thread/post searcher because I didn't take the car apart and I'm not in Ford engineering's head yet like I was with the GM cars having owned a few while growing up and wrenching.
I am going to severely mess up posting, ask redundant questions etc. But I will get through this project. I told him I could do it while looking it over. It is in dire need of metal work all over and has a 302/C4 tranny mocked up in the frame, not one screw, clip, bolt, shim is in place so it isn't a teardown/rebuild situation unfortunately. It's a kind of "see what I got" situation. He also mentioned some different touches he wanted that I don't oppose so I will incorporate them into the car.
First things first, shake out what's here and get my garage space back. Took 2 loads of truck and trailer to get all of the items.
Thanks for having me.
-Kevin
diagnosed with cancer after having lost some weight and not having the urge to eat. His life unfortunately was not to be long after that. He declined in health rapidly and ended up only living 2 months after his diagnosis. Our paths crossed when I saw a blurb on Facebook as he was trying to sell various items.
I didn't know any of the story until I met him on Sept. 19th 2019, although he was frail and in a wheelchair he perked up when telling me his ideas for the car and parts he accumulated.
Two days later I sent an offer. He counter offered but I had no more $ to give.... I'd have given him triple his asking price if I had it, but... You know how that goes. Plus I had a 1931 Model A I was elbows deep into.
9 days later I received a message from a family member. Steve had accepted my offer but had forwarded the message to the wrong person. With a heavy heart I accepted the families (Steve's posthumous) offer .
And that's where the story begins....? Ends....? Continues...? Depends on which character in the story you are.
I have done a couple of GM cars but am not tied to one brand. This is a car I think I will keep... the story and the car are just too dear to me. I will need to lean on members here and will be a frequent thread/post searcher because I didn't take the car apart and I'm not in Ford engineering's head yet like I was with the GM cars having owned a few while growing up and wrenching.
I am going to severely mess up posting, ask redundant questions etc. But I will get through this project. I told him I could do it while looking it over. It is in dire need of metal work all over and has a 302/C4 tranny mocked up in the frame, not one screw, clip, bolt, shim is in place so it isn't a teardown/rebuild situation unfortunately. It's a kind of "see what I got" situation. He also mentioned some different touches he wanted that I don't oppose so I will incorporate them into the car.
First things first, shake out what's here and get my garage space back. Took 2 loads of truck and trailer to get all of the items.
Thanks for having me.
-Kevin
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