There Was a Ford in My Future

By Tom Buscaglia

My life changed in 1957 when my brother offered to sell me my dad’s old ’51 for $80.00.  I wasn’t quite 17 and so I jumped at the opportunity.  My dad said “If you can afford it, you can have it” so I quit the football team and got a job at a bakery, making a dollar an hour. What more could a 17 year old ask for?

I would drive around for hours in that car, taking on the streets of Chicago’s Northwest Side, my green car cruising down Harlem Avenue before eventually steering my way over to Skip’s on North Avenue in search of someone to race. Sundays would be spent at the at the Oswego Drag strip, off Ogden Avenue just past Route 47.  Good thing gas was only a quarter a gallon.

Fast-forward thirty years to 1989.  It was August and I happened to be thumbing through the paper and saw an advertisement for two 1951 Fords. It said: “2 ’51 Tudor Fords.  Restoration started on one-the other parts car.”  I didn’t think much of it; I didn’t want two cars, wasn’t even sure I wanted one, so I put the paper in the mess heap and carried on with the rest of my day.  The following month, I saw the ad again and noticed the seller dropped the price for the cars by $400.00…that was enough for me to give the guy a call. I thought restoring the car might be a nice project for me to work on with my son (who later told me he had no interest in getting his hands dirty!) and took the ride down to Kankakee to have a look. 

Both cars were quite a sight.  There was the car he was restoring…that looked too done.  Then there was the one he was using for parts…that was my car!  I told the man I was interested in buying the one he was stripping and he looked at me like I was a couple of bricks short of a full load. But I saw that car and knew what I wanted to do with that car.  He called me a month later to ask if I was still interested.  His price?  $1,000.00 minus the hubcaps.  SOLD!

I towed it back to my driveway in Elmhurst.  Most of the car was in the trunk, literally, with the engine sitting waiting to be dealt with and the block was cracked, but I have to say, it looked pretty good sitting there!

 My first restoration gesture was heading out to see Chester Lawrence.  He was getting ready to move and was getting rid of his ‘inventory’ so I thought I could get some much needed inventory of my own.  But I was not fast enough! A Mr. Duzell and one Mr. Paladino were much faster, and swept up most of the goods.  They did manage to save me a good block for $125.00 and Chester threw in a ‘Ford O’ Matic’ for another $25.00 bucks.

Now I’m off and running, the fun begins!

My search for a rear window leads me to Iola – but no luck! Drive another 40 miles north to ‘Zeb’s Junkyard’ - on a tip and good luck, or so I thought.  Two weeks later I find out some guy two blocks from my very own driveway had one for $10.00!!!  I do believe the hunt and the bargains (?) are what make the hobby fun. It’s the journey, not the destination right?  Going to a swap meet with Larry, Dick, and Dan are as good a way of wasting a Saturday or Sunday as any.  And it got my car to where it is today

And I’ve been to many with that ‘51 of mine.  We’ve seen parts of this country together that I never would have seen otherwise.  Like Branson, Missouri. Why would I have wanted to? My most memorable moment was the invitation in September 1998 to participate in the 7^th annual Cuneo Concours de Elegance at the Cuneo Museum.

It was a terrific day, the sun was out and all of the cars were looking more than fine parked on that massive green lawn out in Vernon Hills.  Come late afternoon I was in my glory after learning that I had won an award.  You had to be there to appreciate my surprise.  I am talking 1929 Packards, 1935 Buicks; you name it, all choice machines.  What in the hell do they want with a Shoebox Ford?

Of course, I dismissed this great news as somebody pulling a funny one on me and went about my business of consuming my brew and important conversations with the other guys about the prices of parts.  But this gentleman with the “award” news wouldn’t stop.  He found me again later in the day to ask me if I would move my car to the front of the mansion for pictures and the presentation of the award! I was stunned. If this is some kind of joke I’m going to…..

But it wasn’t a joke. My head was in the clouds as Jim Matea from the Chicago Tribune bestowed me with the honored Press Award; giving my fellow V-8’ers and me our 15 minutes of fame.  That award was particularly special because of where I got it.  My dad worked for Cuneo family, at Cuneo Press, back in the day, and when I told him that my car won an award he said, “My boss gave you an award?”

I still smile when I think of that day.

So there you have it, that car of mine has given me lots of stories to tell.  I’ve been to a lot of places with the old girl and have loved every minute of our time together.  That, my friends, is what owning an old car is all about. And the experience wouldn’t have been as fun without the V-8 club.

FLATHEADS FOREVER, Tom

 ·         Alpine Blue with gray metallic int.

·         Heavy duty high efficiency radiator

·         Jamco heavy duty sway bar

·         Front disc brakes

·         Electronic ignition

·         Isky 77B cam w/roller tappet lifters

·         Bored .20 over

·         Milled heads

·         Radial tires

·         Air conditioning-when it is working!

·         Tinted windows

·         LeBaron Bonney interior

·         Original clock converted to quartz (one of my better decisions)

·         Heavy-duty undercoating

·         Completely rebuilt Fordomatic transmission.  As Murphy’s Law states, once you have something done, you will find out that it is unnecessary.  The transmission I mentioned was purchased from Chester Lawrence.  Well, rumor has it that it may have come out of Rich Doligale’s pickup.  I didn’t find this out until many, many years later.

·         All chrome redone by ARI out of Iowa when it was cheap to have chrome done.

·         Radio is original.  However, I very seldom listen to it as the glass packs are more therapeutic.

·         Fenton Headers