After the Kliche Koupe thrash of 2010, i was pretty much burned out over fixing up old cars, but i had a neat little 54 ford that had potential; then the engine blew up. Having to thrash to get that done for LB Motorama in 2011 kinda killed my joy because it still needed more work than i was really willing to put into it. I traded that for a nifty little 28 RPU that is posted a little back in this blog. I hated it. It helped me to reaffirm what i like and don't like in my cars, so I sold it. I bought a 49 Fleetline 2 door that i could do exactly the way i wanted it, until i realized i simply do not have the time or energy for a big project. so i sold it. Then I found a really cool 48 plymouth kustom that just needed 'a little bit of work'. Really, it wasn't that much work. Problem was that i simply didn't have the mental energy to piddle with it. So I sold it.
So what then?
Now, my wife is a peach. she actually digs old cars, and not only does she not mind me playing with them, she encourages me to make them nice so she can be proud to roll down the strip in them. i'm a blessed man. She also, like me, has pretty solid opinions on what she likes and doesn't. She actually picked out our 52 coupe and our 48 plymouth so we see 'pretty' eye to eye on most car stuff. This trip to craigslist however was not so agreeable. everything I liked she had reservations about. The ones she did like, i had reservations about.
I kept showing her stuff just to test her waters and see where she was and just for giggles I showed her this 57 and she told me to call the guy. I got him to send me more pics and she told me to go get it. So i did.
Its a nice driver. The paint is a few years old and is not close to perfect, but i can live with it. The interior is brand new, so are the tires, gas tank, lots of the chrome, etc. its got a late model 350 and a 4 speed. It gets up and goes, and cruises the freeway no problem. Really, it don't need a whole bunch.
This car is a great bit of exercise for me. I can see EVERY little thing that's wrong with it, but I'm deciding to be OK with it. I'm not going to spend a bunch more money on it for a long time. This will probably be the last car for me for quite a while. I really just don't have the time, money or energy to play with cars right now, but i'm more than thrilled to get out for a drive! Cosmetically, my wife is pushing me to get the rear window stainless polished and installed and i need to have 2 emblems replaced, but none of that is really NECESSARY. Mechanically it needs a front end rebuild and could use some blocks out back. That's all easy stuff that doesn't create any stress like painting a car gloss black.
in all honesty, my last 4 rides really burned me out on cars. that's partially why i bought this one. i don't HAVE to work on it. its as done as it needs to be for what it is: a driver. i can just drive it without having to think about it.
In all honesty, this is one of the nicest, most solid old cars I've ever owned and probably the best money spent for dollar value. I'm happy.
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