The ’37

I’ve been wanting a sedan for quite a while, and kept sending links to various “deals” to my dad, telling him that “we” ought to buy it (ok…I should buy it, and he should help me finance it!), and have the adventure of driving it home. I sent him the listing for this ’37 Ford sedan, and he called my bluff! So…now…it’s time to put up or shut up!!!

I made a phone call to the owner, told him that I was really interested, made the arrangements for a deposit, but that I was a few weeks away from being able to come out and pick up the car. I have never bought a car long distance, sight unseen, other than photos, and I was a bit concerned about it. Likewise, the seller, Mike, was very concerned with how to best handle it. I looked at having the car shipped, but wasn’t comfortable with that, how to handle the funds, etc. Mike and I worked out the deal, and then it was the waiting game to get to New Mexico!

Dad and I got the logistics worked out on the travel, and he drove down to Springfield, we hopped in my ’40, took it to Doug’s shop (where we are going to do some work on it), and then Doug and Lori dropped Dad and I off at the Branson Airport, with our one way tickets to Albuquerque!

We arrived in Albuquerque on Wednesday evening, spent the night at the Quality Suites near the airport, and Mike and his wife, Ann, picked us up in the morning. We rode out to their house and got to see the car for the first time, and also got a great tour of their house, and Mike’s artwork. It was a very cool time getting to know them better and Mike gave Dad and I a print of a painting that he did of Jesus.

After taking care of the paperwork at the bank, Dad and I took off on our adventure of getting back to Springfield! The main tag line that I have used on StreetRodder.Net has been “The FUN is in the RUN!!!”, and I absolutely believe that.

Since Dad and I live about 200 miles apart, and don’t get to spend a whole lot of time together, some “Hot Rod Adventures” have been some of my great memories with Dad. Growing up in the back seat of his ’34 sedan, I guess it was kind of inevitable. 😉 Dad has been on the “big adventures” in my ’40 with me. The first “road trip” up to Jefferson City, MO, after I had already thrown a harmonic balancer off the old 283, and then discovered that we had a fuel delivery issue. My first trip, and the 30th anniversary trip to the “Street Rod Nationals” in Lou’vul, KY. How could I get the ’37 without having Dad go along, and how could we make the most of our 2 planned travel days along the Route 66 corridor?

Since pictures are worth a thousand words, I will let them tell the rest of the story. The non-illustrated version goes like this…we took off from Albuquerque, stopped in Santa Rosa, NM, Tucumcari, NM, Amarillo, TX, Groom, TX (broke a rear shock mount), limped in to Shamrock, TX to spend the night. Removed the broken shock in the AM, and took off for home (thanks Jesse), stopped in OkC for lunch and realized we broke the other rear shock mount, stopped at Auto Zone and bought wrenches to remove the shock, and took off again. Started to have some suspected fuel delivery issues (dunno if it’s a venting issue or fuel filter issue), and sputtered from OkC to Joplin.

Stopped by Red Oak II, Missoura, just north east of Carthage, MO, met Lowell Davis, the artist and creator of Red Oak II and got a tour of his house and personal showing of his artwork. His house was the birth home of the notorious Belle Starr (read your historybooks, folks!). From Red Oak II, back over Route 66 into Springfield, the ’37 ran like a charm!

Enjoy the pic’s. Some are from my iPhone, others (the ones with the finger in the way) are Dad’s!

4 replies on “The ’37”

  1. Bret, NICE 37!!!….. and a great story about takin’ a trip with your Dad in an untested (by you), unknown, mystery hotrod. Real adventures don’t get any better… “did you feel that sudden shudder in the rear-end?”. ” What is THAT lying in the road behind us?” … You’ll BOTH be re-living that trot for months. Yes it’s true…. “The Funs in the Run”. Safe travels, Fred

  2. LOL. It’s a blank canvas. If you are interested in laying a stripe or two, I would be all for it. Lemme know if I need to run by the art supply store for whatever color cans of 1shot you need.

Comments are closed.