John Byrd
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Posts posted by John Byrd
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Amen on the Hess trucks paying off ! I had never heard of Hess (East Tennessee at the time), but bought about 35 of them at a primarily furniture auction one time, all still in the boxes. I spotted a couple for sale at the big Nashville, TN. AACA Swap meet one year, and brought mine to it the next year... Wow, were they popular ! I sold several individually for what I paid for the whole bunch, and let folks just make me an offer, on what they wanted, didn't price them myself !
Now, to turn that "lucky story" around, when we discovered the Hallmark car ornaments, I bought the Mustang since we had one. It was the 2nd in the series and cost 12 or 14 bucks seems like, but that sent her on the search for Number ONE..... She paid $125.00 for the 1st one in the series (The red and white Vette in my pic above) from a lady in Nashville that had bought them all up from every store she could. GULP ! I've bought real, driveable cars for less than that, ha !
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Guess I'm lucky since I've had several of my "Affordable" dream cars..... does it count if I want one of them back instead of something else that I don't know about yet ?
If I could get one back exactly like I had it in the 67 through 71 time period, it would be this little rusty, funny looking Ranchero with the Econoline front axle, 9 inch 57 Ford rear end, various transmissions, El Camino bucket seats, tin snipped rear wheel wells, behind the absolutely wonderful 289 Hi Performance Shelby engine we had balanced and blueprinted and used a couple of different cams in . More fun than a barrel of monkeys ! It really made people with "nicer" cars mad when I beat them drag racing back then. We put that little engine in 5 different cars from 65 through 2010. Oh, Affordable ? I gave a guy $60.00 for the engine minus the heads, but got some for free from a friends wreck. After buying the truck for $325.00, selling the 6 cylinder stuff, buying misc parts and "fixing it up" with friends, I seriously doubt if we had more than 5 or 600 bucks in it . It ran low 13s and high 12's drag racing, hauled all our belongings from East Tennessee to Fort Worth, Texas and then back 2 years later, was our daily driver, and used for everything we and anyone else could think of. Those days are gone for sure, and luckily we're not because it was ....uh, quite unprofessionally or carefully built, ha ! Loved it !
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Better be careful Gunsmoke, those little rascals are habit forming, ha ! Here are some of our Hallmarks...and we have the boxes they came in too... oh me.
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I still want the same car I seen on the road in 1966 for the 1st time..... one of the 1st, small block, Ford GT-40s. Totally impractical, way too expensive, but easy to maintain,engine-wise. Yep, still in love with an untouchable. Oh, by the way....never try to catch or keep up with one of these when you are 18 years old and in your 63 1/2 Falcon Sprint, ha !
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This is either my grand-dad or one of his brothers in the Turpin family of East Tennessee.
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OK Victorialyn2, here is Karen and I with our 55 Studebaker..... the 63 Mini has flames, so it might get boo'd off this group, ha !
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Trini, thanks. Another gent has posted on the private message part, and with all you guys help, perhaps Ian can get his old buggy running. He is still not back from SEMA, but I dropped by the shop anyway and the old car really looks neat. It almost looks like it has never been restored, but if it was, it was long ago, but still looks good.
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Jon, thanks so much for the info about the old crumbly Marvel carb for my friends Essex. He is a mechanic (and a good one), so he should have no trouble adapting something.
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Jon, thanks so much for the info about the old crumbly Marvel carb for my friends Essex. He is a mechanic (and a good one), so he should have no trouble adapting something.
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Trini, I hope you don't mind, but since Jon the carb king is already on here, I have a question too. Jon, I have a pal over here in Hawaii that is trying to find a carb for his Essex. I believe it is a 38 model, but not 100 % sure. He is at the SEMA thingy right now, but would you have info to help him ? I will tell him about you when he gets back. Oh, he says his carb is cracked....???? I'll check back in later, thank you sir...you too, trini !
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Victorialynn2, try the Classic Tractor Fever website and Aumann's Auctions, they are some good people and there is a lot of interest in some of the older John Deeres. I sold my 420 without a bush-hog in '08 for $2500.00 and it didn't look near as nice as yours. Here is a site with some values too.
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LarryCarol and Tinindian.... from Aug.
of 63.
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OK Tinindian, here ya' go from Feb 64.
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Vermontboy, I suppose the thing that got me started in my "car life" was getting to go to work with my Dad so many times. He worked at some Studebaker dealerships and I was absolutely fascinated with everything about the places ! I became sort of a "helper" to a couple of the guys when they knew it was something I wouldn't get hurt doing, and I loved every minute of it all. I had surgeries almost every summer from the 5th grade through 12th for polio problems, so I got to go to work with him quite a bit. I always asked for magazines or model cars for all normal kid events like birthdays and Christmas, and haven't let up yet, ha ! Best life ever for a poor kid from East Tennessee is my take on those years. I ended up with so many books, magazines, dealer folders, and newspapers about automotive stuff that I helped re-stock a flooded book store in Nashville, TN. when we started selling things and down-sizing to move here to Hawaii...... then what do I do ? Started over, ha ! ( been bringing home hundreds of books and magazines from a really good, but older than me, friend that is now down-sizing ) "Car" people are the best, and my car-people-wife thinks so too.
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My 1st memory of a car change scene was an early "Highway Patrol" TV show starring Broderick Crawford. he nearly always drove a 55 or 56 Buick in the shows I watched ( I was a kid then ) and in one scene he was chasing a big dark car that I remember looked like a limo, and when it went off the cliff in a sharp curve, turned into a Studebaker starlight coupe ... Daddy told me to never mind, it wasn't real when I asked him about it as it happened. We had a 50 Studebaker at the time, so I was upset, ha, ha !
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Surely everybody over 50 has a Mimi pic or two ! From the June of 65 issue.
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Nick, the opening of my garage is 17 feet back from a rock wall, the available space inside is 10 feet, my Studebaker is right at 18 feet long, and I can only back it in, and it almost always takes two "moves" to get it straight. My wife won't even try it. That was all I had to work with, and thankful for it, but it is more than a little trouble. Oh, the rock wall doesn't have any "give", ha !
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Matt, there is a fellow over here with one of the old straight 8 Spitfire engines, and his lettering is really faded red. However, I have seen one that had yellow letters too, but the only V-8s I have seen that were detailed had it in red. In some of the early "hot rod" type books, the black and white pics of road tests of new cars usually have dark letters which I would assume to be red. I'd go with it, ha ! By the way, your car is gorgeous !
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1st date ever, my parents 60 Studebaker Lark wagon. 1st date with my 1st wife, my 63 1/2 Falcon Futura. 1st date with my "now" wife, my 61 Falcon Ranchero street driven gasser looking truck. (straight axle and slicks). Married my "now" wife by driving my 56 Studebaker Sky Hawk with a HUGE hole in the floor in July of 75 around North Alabama trying to find some place that would marry us. It worked, still have her, ha !
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Hey Keiser31, did you remember that Ghia did the Pantera bodies too ? Mine had a small Ghia badge on the right front fender.
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Keiser31, they are a LOT of fun ! We had ours for 11 years and it was a hoot every time we started it or drove it ! If you are very large, have a stiff back, or have a left leg, they can be a bit crowded tho, ha !
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AC Cars Ltd., formally known as Auto Carriers Ltd.
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I like Paul Dobbin's answer best, ha, ha ! I always wanted to be a parking lot attendant !
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Looks like Liberace to me ...
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How about a picture of YOU with a car?
in General Discussion
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OK Victorialynn2, here is the pic of our very non-stock painted Mini that Karen now claims is her car, or as she said when I mentioned selling it a few years back..."NO, it is FAMILY", ha !