For Sale: 1936 Ford Model 68 4dr Sedan - $15,000 - Parsippany, NJ - Not Mine

[58L-Y8]

For Sale: 1936 Ford Model 68 4dr Sedan - $15,000 - Parsippany, NJ

1936 Ford Model 68 Sedan Manual Restored Clean - cars & trucks - by... (craigslist.org)
Seller's Description:

1936 Ford Model 68 Sedan Manual Restored Clean, (posting for a friend who is not online) Advertisement on 36 Ford
1936 Ford Model 68, On-Body Restoration. LeBaron Interior. Ext: Black. Int: Brown. Engine totally overhauled 2000 miles New Tires. Milage: 77,567. New Clutch. Always garaged. Have $20K into it. Appraised at $15.5K. Selling for a friend and call pass on the information. Located Parsippany NJ. ** Blanket on seat is just that, a blanket, no rips or tears hiding anything on seat.
Contact: No phone listed
Copy and paste in your email: 54f947452fa23185beb6101ffd7b3cdd@sale.craigslist.org

 

I have no personal interest or stake in the eventual sale of this 1936 Ford Model 68 4dr Sedan.

[Fossil]

Whoever appraised it should be given a pat on the back for giving them a realistic value. Seems like a nice car. 

 

 

[f.f.jones]

I've always liked the '36 Fords. My father bought a brand new sedan like the one above as a "left-over" in 1937. Later in the year, do to the lingering Depression, he lost his job and hid the car in a friend's barn to thwart the repossessor while using his meager savings to support his mother and pay rent. An avid pipe smoker, he chewed on his empty pipe until he found employment late in the year, made up the back car payments and had a long satisfying smoke.

As a kid in the '40's, I recall being fascinated by the small clock that was part of the accessory interior rear view mirror. It was wound by pulling a short string that hung down below it. As a kid would do, I over-wound it one day while playing in the car and it never worked again. I'm sure he knew what had happened, but there was no proof, or consequences (nor a self-incriminating kid.)

That old sedan survived the second world war, gas and tire rationing, a brush applied paint job about 1945, a broken spring that caused it to list to starboard, two rambunctious kids and a wife until it was traded in on a 1941 Cadillac. (But that's another story.)

 

Much later, in college, I became the owner of a '36 flat-back 2-door sedan, pretty much in stock condition, but rumored to be an ex-police car, due to the repaired bullet holes that were found in a  fender and the deck. A buddy of mine had collected finned aluminum heads and a 2 x 2 intake manifold and offered me a deal on them. Once installed on the '36, and having done a passable tune-up, we backed it down the driveway and slowly onto the street.

Blast-off!

It moved like a scalded dog - until the end of the street came into view sooner than anticipated. Slamming on the brakes resulted in the locking of one rear (mechanical) brake and no brakes on the other three corners. We slid who knows how far in a 90 degree drift before stomping the clutch to the floor and coming to a stop against a curb. Limping home, we realized we probably could use a change of underwear.

The next time the car left the property it was under new ownership.

I still have a hankerin' for '36 Fords, but I'll appreciate them from afar.

[deac]

Love 1935 and 36 Fords but I don't like the mechanical brakes; thanks Henry. Edsel for years tried to get his old man to go with hydraulics and he finally relented in the late 30's.

 

This one is a 4 door with the "hump-back" trunk. Awesome.

[zepher]

Seems to be a very decent price for a nice car.

[wayne sheldon]

17 hours ago, deac said:

Love 1935 and 36 Fords but I don't like the mechanical brakes; thanks Henry. Edsel for years tried to get his old man to go with hydraulics and he finally relented in the late 30's.

 

Frankly, I would prefer mechanical brakes on a prewar car. Properly adjusted and maintained, they work basically as well as hydraulic brakes from the same era. Four wheel brakes are four wheel brakes. The car's weight and tire footprint are the same. Most antique era mechanical brakes are so poorly patched up and badly adjusted they barely work. However, that is a maintenance issue, not a design issue.

One of my cars some years back I bought fully restored and ready to tour! Two wheel brakes by the way. The fellow did admit that the brakes were not good, but said that it was because they were on only two wheels. I didn't believe him, and bought the car anyway (I really wanted it!). When I got it home, the first time I really drove it. all the might I could muster didn't want to stop the car from 20 mph. I crawled underneath the car, and one quick look told me what the matter was.

A quick trip to the hardware store and an hour later light pressure on the pedal would lock both rear wheels! One of the brake rods was a couple inches too short. The resulting inability to properly adjust that, like dominoes, threw all the adjustments off. 

The best thing about mechanical brakes? Is that they do not simply fail from sitting for a short while. I have seen, had, and heard many stories of prewar and postwar cars sitting for a year or two, only to have the brakes fail immediately after pulling it out of the garage. Worse yet? Are the numerous times people have put a car on the road after sitting for a couple years only to have the hydraulic brakes suddenly fail in the first couple hundred miles!

As long as they are not left in a damp or outdoor environment? Mechanical brakes can sit for ten years and with nothing more than a few squirts of oil and a few stops to run off minor surface rust on the inside of the drums, be as good as the day the car was parked. I have seen numerous cars of the 1920s with four wheel mechanical brakes pulled out of long term storage after forty or fifty years, and the brakes work just fine with no repair needed for thousands of miles.

Yeah, I love antique automobiles with properly adjusted mechanical brakes.

[Jeff Perkins / Mn]

I have had mechanical brakes on many cars over the years and I concur with @wayne sheldon …….most Model A clubs have annual service clinics about brakes, that is where I learned. I have had seven Model A’s over the years and every one was properly set up and maintained. I could “stop on a dime” (and give ya 9 cents change😂).

[deac]

4 hours ago, wayne sheldon said:

Frankly, I would prefer mechanical brakes on a prewar car. Properly adjusted and maintained, they work basically as well as hydraulic brakes from the same era.

Wayne you bring up some good points!  I have not worked on mechanical brakes only heard stories about them from people who don't know how to adjust them. I can say hydraulic drum brakes that have been sitting for a while should be one of the first things to be inspected.  Every car car I have bought with hydraulic drum brakes needed work.  I usually find the master cylinder and or a couple wheel cylinders leaking. Thankfully I have never had brakes that have completely failed.

 

I have owned a Ford with the old Lockheed brakes that only pivot off the bottom stud which different from the much more common Bendix brakes. When adjusted correctly the Lockheeds work pretty good.  But when they are out of adjustment the braking power really goes down hill.  The Bendix brakes are more forgiving.  Now you have raised my curiosity about mechanical brakes 

[John Bloom]

8 hours ago, zepher said:

Seems to be a very decent price for a nice car.

Absolutely.  Rough projects out there often have people wanting 10K for an example that "is all there" but needs everything.  I'd think this will find a new owner without too much trouble at this price.  We bought one for my Father in Law years ago.  Great looking car and a huge value back in 1936.