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Click on
these links to see photos of our vehicles
1939
Chevrolet
1948
Ford
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Our old
vehicles
We are now the prowd owners of 2 most interesting
vehicles from a previous era. Robin's is a 1939
Chevrolet and mine is a 1948 Ford. We plan to keep
the Chevy on the road until the Ford has been
renovated. Robin has christened the Chevy 'Mavis'!
I'll probably just call the Ford 'The Auld Pig'!
The '39 Chevy has had a cosmetic job done on it at
some point in the past. The interior is reasonable if
not original and the purple paint speaks for itself!
Other than that, the car is remarkably
original.
The engine is a straight 6 unit, mated to a three
speed manual transmission. It pulls strongly, keeping
up with modern traffic, but doesn't exceed the speed
limits on interstates by very much! Before I became
used to the column shift, I managed to do a hill
start in 3rd gear, which isn't a bad feat for a car
of this age and weight! The column shift is taking
some getting used to but we are both improving
rapidly.
the car came with it's original hydraulic brakes,
coil springs on the front and leaf springs on the
rear.
The car has no turn signals or reversing light but
we do plan to fit these as most modern drivers seem
to be ignorant of the system of hand signals used in
this country! Hopefully we can find suitable period
parts for the job.
The choke and hand-throttle cables are broken but I
have sourced replacement items. It starts quite
happily without the choke if you give it a couple of
pumps on the gas pedal!
We suffered from a complete failure of the brakes at
quite an early stage. I eventually found the
reservoir under the floor and was surprised to find
that the fluid level was ok. I traced the fault to
the driver-side rear wheel and adjusted it to match
the others. Robin carried out the first test of the
brakes by standing on the pedal when a car pulled out
in front of us. All 4 wheels locked solid and we may
a wonderful skidding noise, taking a couple of years
off of the lives of some passing teenage girls!
The gear change was a little sloppy, to say the
least, so I also stripped and rebuilt it. The quality
of the engineering and components used in those days
makes working on it most enjoyable. Like many of the
car's problems, the gear change had suffered at the
hands of it's previous owner. He had obviously done
his best and to his credit, has done very little
damage. With a little tinkering, I soon had the
shifter working properly with an easy to find
neutral! Driving it is now less of a challenge than
it was!
We will keep these pages up to date with any work
done to it and our adventures in it............
The '48 Ford will take more work to get it
roadworthy. It has never been restored as one look at
the interior would show to a blind man on a galloping
horse! It has no exhaust system on it but the engine
runs remarkably well.
The paintwork will need to be completely redone as
will all the interior upholstery. The gear change is
much the same as on the Chevy. It differs
substantially in the suspension department. It has
transverse leaf springs at each end, which should
make it lean considerably when cornering, if my
British '53 Ford was anything to go by!
It was delivered by a guy named Scott, at about 8:30
in the evening on Wednesday the 3rd of October. The
trailer used for delivery was a monster, as was the
truck towing it. It's arrival was heralded by the
flashing lights of 2 Wausau Police cars. They seemed
keen to get the proceedings finished as soon as they
could and even dragged a bunch of drunks from the
local bar, to move their vehicles! Thanks to all
involved, it was a trip!
The car had to be pushed off of the trailer as we
were unable to get it going. This was probably just
as well for when I did start it , the next day, it
made a sound that can only be compared to a
drag-racer! There is no exhaust on it at this time! I
eventually started it by pouring a coffee-mug of neat
gas down the carb'. Once going, the engine purrs -
Very Loudly!
Work will begin as soon as spares arrive and the
wife lets me!
Stay tuned for further tales..........
Two new arrivals are now gracing our drive: A pair
of Ford Rangers, one is a 1987 and the other a 1984.
The 87 has a reasonable engine but the body is in
poor shape to say the least! The 84 has no engine yet
but does have a very nice body. It wont take a blind
man on a galloping horse to tell you what I have
planned. If all goes well I may well be painting the
resulting vehicle in purple camo next summer! Stay
tuned for more details!
For day to day use we have a 1997 Suzuki Sidekick.
It is ultra-reliable and very economic. It is black
and is named 'Betty'.
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