So the story goes...
The other day I get a service call to fix a dashboard on a 2004 silverado.I get the address and I head out.
When I get to the destination I see that its a ranch.
Average guy,with his pickup truck and his ranch.I fix the dashboard and we talk.He asks me this is all I do,and I reply no I buy,fix and sell old cars.
He looks at me than points towards the barn and says theres an old ford in the barn,it used to be my dads(passed away in 84) I think I want to sell it.
So we started walking towards the barn,he told me while we were walking that his dad started to restore the car,but never finished it.
He opened the doors and there she was 1923 model t roadster.I will never forget the smell of horses,oil and hay.
I stopped and just starred for a minute.It was sitting there undisturbed for longer than i've been born.
Needless to say we made a deal right there and in a couple of hours it was sitting in my garage(moved to house).
I've had a couple of model t's before,but this was different,a true barn find,just the way I imagined it.
I felt like a teenager when I was going to hold the hand of my first girlfriend.I know it sounds silly,but thats how I felt.
I didnt know where to start.
So made a quick checklist and went to autozone.Bought oil,hoses,clamps and W40.
I took off the connector rubber hoses and flushed the radiator.The waterpump(upgrade) was stuck so I took it down cleaned and lubed it and installed it back.The water pump has Los Angeles written on it so I assume it was made in LA.Gastank was empty and clean,so I just rinsed it.
Than I put back the hoses with new clamps.Changed the sparkplugs,changed the oil.Luckily I had a set of new coils and wires from my previous T's and I swapped those to.I replaced all the wires to the ignition switch as they were old and in bad shape.
So I put the new battery,turn the ignition retard the spark I can hear the buzzing,and as I hit the pushbutton the car starts moving forward.Its stuck in gear.
Im thinking I worked on this damn car for 10 hours straight I want to hear it running.I jacked up the rear,hit the startbutton.First just puffing and than just wroom it was running like a clock.
Tomorrow I will try all the tricks I know to free up the rusted clutch plate.
Cool thing about the car that it has the red california horseless carriage plates,and I got it running again after 28 years.The frame is vin tagged by dmv so no more scraping and looking for the vin.
It still smells like a barn
