HOW I BECAME AN ANTIQUE CAR ENTHUSIAST

     An often-asked question of me is: “How did you get involved in the old car hobby?”  That is always a difficult question for me to answer, as I can’t recall a time when I didn’t like old cars.  One of my early childhood memories is playing on the hulk of an old car that sat by the corn crib on the farm in northwest Iowa where I was raised.  I recall spending many hours “driving” that old car all over the neighborhood.  It had likely been many years since it last ran, but to this farm boy who loved to watch my father repair machinery, it may well have run one-hundred-miles-per-hour!  I recall the sadness I felt when dad loaded the old car on the truck destined for the scrap metal collection during World War II.  

     As I grew older and began helping dad repair and maintain the various farm equipment, I often wished I could have that old car back in the yard and make it run again.  Dad explained that the car had been modified to be the power source to run the grain elevator, but the engine had seized up and was deemed non-repairable.  Later, after my brother parked a 1930 Model A Ford when he went to the army, I copied the idea from the old car and made the Ford into another power source for use on the farm.  Dad actually used that modified Model A Ford until he retired from farming many years later.

     When I purchased the 1937 Chevrolet, that is described in much greater detail on another page, I often thought about restoring it to original condition, but money and time restraints precluded any realization of that goal.  That is, until some twenty years later when I did restore the car and began driving in parades and showing it off at every opportunity.  While I never sought out cars to buy, opportunities seemed to come my way and one-by-one I began to add a 1926 Model T Ford; then a 1936 Chevrolet Fire Truck, a 1929 Model A Ford, then came along an opportunity to buy the 1931 Chevrolet Phaeton.  Still later I added a 1954 Chevrolet Bel Air and finally a 1952 Chevrolet Deluxe.  These cars are described in detail on the adjacent pages, and one can probably get a sense of the work and care that went into restoring the cars to nearly factory condition.  While I don’t have any quarrel with those who like to modify or make old cars into hot rods, that isn’t what I like to do, for me seeing the abandoned cars restored to like new condition is my goal and if I admit it, my passion!