WINTER STORAGE
By Doug, Edited by
Tom
There
is winter storage for old cars, and then there is real winter storage.
Take a look at these pictures. That’s Doug Leicht’s
’37 Ford Touring Sedan parked in the showroom of Country Ford of Lake Geneva.
Free heated storage. The dealer even detailed it for Doug!
Yes, the car is for sale, and yes Doug did talk to them
about trading it in on the new
Ford 500. And I thought car salesmen were tough to deal with. Doug
not only didn’t trade it in, but he got the dealer to park it in the showroom
with a for sale sign on it. Go figure!
Doug originally bought the car from an antique dealer who
was handling the estate of two old maids in Oconomowoc,
WI in 1964. The car had only 16,000
miles on it. It had been sitting for years and was covered with ¼” of
dirt. He put a battery in it and it started but ran poorly, stuck valves
and rings. On the way back to Arlington Heights Doug stopped several times to
pour brake fluid into the carb to
free up the valves. He got it back to Arlington Heights
on its own power. At the time Doug had a 1930 Model A
Ford Victoria which he sold to help cover the $500 cost of the ’37. A friend
helped Doug tear down the engine to clean out the sludge. So much sludge
that nothing would run out the drain plug without putting a screwdriver in the
drain hole. When they took the manifold off, the whole valley was filled with
sludge. The engine was rebuilt with N.O.S. Parts.
In 1969 when Doug and Gail bought the farm in Lyons,
they needed money so they sold the ’37 Ford for $1,000. Doug lost track
of the car, which apparently passed through several owners. In 1988,
Lloyd Duzell called Doug to say a ’37 Ford was for
sale in Melrose Park and Lloyd thought it might be
Doug’s old car. Doug called the owner the same day and in the middle of a
blizzard drove down to see if it might be his car. When Sam Iusui opened the garage door Doug immediately recognized
the Early Ford V-8 and the Antique Auto Car stickers he had put in the car years
ago. The little crease in the rear fender was still there. Even
though the car now had 26,000 miles on it the car was in unbelievable
condition. The original paint had not been damaged and the interior was
like new. Doug bought it back for $10,000.
The car has won two Dearborn Awards at Early Ford V-8 Club
National meets scoring around 935 points for unrestored
cars. It has also won two Rouge Awards for inte
rior and one for exterior.
Doug only drives the car about 200 miles per year, just enough
to keep it running. He plans to drive it to the
Central National Meet of the Early Ford V-8 Club next July, unless he sells it
in the meantime. He has advertised it for sale at $25,000. Maybe
the new marketing strategy of parking it in the Ford dealer’s show room will
yield a buyer. Any one got a really nice ’56 Victoria
for sale?
