Fifty Years with my Thirty-Four
By Paul Jensen
I
purchased my 1934 Ford 3 Window Coupe out of an ad in the Sunday Chicago Tribune
in December 1959 from a guy around 85th & Western in Chicago.
The price was $250 and I had to borrow some of the money in order to buy
the car. The guy I bought it from
said he got it from a farmer and there was even some hay in the trunk.
The car had been in a barn that burned and there was a dent in the edge
of the roof where a board hit it, but not real bad.
It really was a nice, original, almost rust-free car.
There was only one rust spot on the right side of the body where the rear
window pan drains. Years later,
Lloyd Duzell repaired that area for me.
At the time of the purchase, the car ran good until we got about a mile from the
guy’s house. It stopped running and
we could not get it to start, so we pushed it to the curb and drove to my
friend’s house to get a tow bar. I
found out later it had a cracked block.
This all took place on a Sunday night about 10:00 p.m. with an outside
temperature of 15 degrees! We got
back to the car and, thank God, it was still there as we had been gone for over
an hour. I had to remove the front
bumper to attach the tow bar. We
finally got the car to my girlfriend’s house (later to be my wife) and put the
car in her garage. It stayed there
in storage as I had my daily driver to take care of – a 1940 Ford Standard Coupe
with DeSoto hemi engine, originally built by Andy Granatelli.
In about 1962 I started to take the ’34 apart.
My original idea was to make a hot rod; chopped top and all the good
stuff at the time. I took the
fenders off, stripped the paint off the body, and sprayed it with primer.
During this process I got notice from Uncle Sam that I had been drafted
August 11, 1963. After
two years in the 4th Infantry Division, I got out August 10, 1965,
and went back to work at my old job rebuilding engines at an automotive machine
shop, Variety Auto Supply on Fullerton Avenue in Chicago.
One of my fellow workers, Rich Carlson, who was into restoring cars,
talked me into restoring my ’34. I’m
sure glad that he did or it would have been gone a long time ago.
So,
I started a body off, ground up restoration.
New everything I could find.
I even made a complete stainless steel exhaust system to copy the original.
I got most of the accessories: ash tray radio, dual temp gauge,
aftermarket Oil Chex gauge, rearview mirror clock, dual wipers, Kelsey-Hayes 17”
wheels, and beauty rings. I finished
the car in about 1975 and the first show was with the Northern Illinois Regional
Group at Grayslake. At that show, a
fellow offered me $25,000 for the car.
At that time it was only worth about $12,000.
Lucky for me, it was my first time out with the car and I said no.
Another good move for me or I would not have it today.
After total restoration, every time I drove the car any distance it overheated.
I tried everything I could think of to stop the overheating, but nothing
seemed to work. After 500 miles I
got fed up and parked it in the garage.
Some years later I read a story in the V-8 Times about guys getting
motors out of junk yards and overheating.
The reason is that in the old days the motors only used water in the
summer and alcohol in the winter.
Rust would build up in the block and rust flakes would fall down between the
cylinders and prevent the correct amount of water for cooling at the bottom of
the cylinders. Bingo!
Maybe this is my problem? I
filled my system with water, drained and measured the amount, and sure enough, I
was about three quarts shy of where it should be.
I made some block-off plates, sealed the motor, and filled it with a
Sno-Bol and water mix. I flushed the
block out, installed some new aluminum heads and started it up.
Sure enough, it worked. So,
26 years after I parked the ’34 I am driving it again.
My final project this year is taking out the 4.11 rear gear and
installing a 3.54. This will be nice
so I will be able to go on the highway and almost keep up with the traffic.
Hopefully this year I can add some miles to the 500 I have put on the car.
So, I guess I will call it a keeper!