Fords and Fun in a New Year

The new year brought a new sense of adventure. Instead of going on these Automotive Archeology Expeditions on a whim or doing day trips, I would try to plan out more detailed expeditions and going further. Meeting up with people and going to see cool Barn Finds rotting away. And as of January 1st, 2012 I did the first one with a friend Bob and some cool cars he knew about west of Chicago. So we met up at a McDonald’s on North Avenue. Ironically, sitting there in the parking lot for the technical college was a very rough 1972 Plymouth Fury. A good way to start off a day.

We went and dropped Bob's car off at his friends house just down the road. The friend had gotten a cool GTO for a decent price after the last owner had a carb fire and a few other issues they didn't want to deal with. A 400 Cubic in Pontiac V8 under the hood and an auto on the floor. Still a good project that Bob was sure would be out cruising by summer.

Our first stop was another friend west of the city that had a few cool cars that had been sitting for a while. A cool Mercury Montego MX convertible and a Mercury Cyclone GT. The guy had gotten the cars years ago and had them tucked away. He worked on them when he could, which is better then nothing happening at all. But both cars needed some serious work.

The Cyclone was main project at the time. He said he had rebuilt the engine recently after a fire and was putting everything back together after cleaning up the engine bay and repainting it. Hopefully the old girl will be out and cruising, rather then sitting rotting away in a garage. The Montego was suppose to run and drive, just needed to be gone through and cleaned up.

With daylight running out, we headed over to another friends who was a diehard Ford guy. After getting lost and ending up in the middle of nowhere, we made it to his friends new/old shop. Sitting outside was two Ford Torino fastbacks. The friend mentioned that the first one was supposedly the very first Cobra Torino Fastback produced. He would prefer I not open anything on the cars, so I didn't push it.

Inside the garage was another cool project, a Ford Fairlane the guy was slowly working on. Had some pretty sweet engines lying around. He said one was a 429, but I couldn't tell and didn't want to get messy so late in the day.

We left the garage and made our way back to Bob's friends home. It ended up being a Ford day, but still some really nice cars just hanging out, waiting for their time in the future.

If you know of any cool cars sitting anywhere in the mid-west.  Let me know.  There are big things happening with the Automotive Archaeologist!

Ryan Brutt

TheAutoArchaeologist@yahoo.com 

Never ends the way you expect: Part Four... The 1969 Charger Daytona Nose in the Barn

Finally making my way back to my friends place (http://carsinbarns.blogspot.com/2011/08/birds-and-bees-in-barns-part-two.html) for the whole reason I came out there, the 69 Dodge Charger Daytona nose. I knew of a gentleman that needed it for a real nose after his original one got mangled in a crash. And my friend just happened to mention he had one. So after three different detours, we were finally in the barn with the nose.

It was in rougher shape then I had envisioned. But it was still an original 69 Dodge Charger Daytona nose. These don't grow on trees. He showed me the pieces his son had made to finish/fix the nose.

I talked with him for a bit longer. Snapped some pictures of the other cars in the barn, I hadn't gotten a very good look the last time. He has a lot of really cool stuff in there. One day he is going to fix them up with his sons.

It was getting late, my friend and I talked a bit longer, but the Sun was setting and I was well past dinner with my family. So we parted company and I headed towards home. It was a absolutely beautiful evening for a drive.

Never ends the way you expect: Part Two

I left my new friend and headed towards the Daytona nose. Just a few hours behind schedule, I did not thing my friend would mind since he hadn't yet to call me back. And by the time I had gotten out there I had yet to hear from him, so I made my way to Steve's house to see his collection. I wasn't able to see the whole thing last time, since he wasn't there when I went by. But this time I pulled into his driveway and him and a friend were sitting outside just chatting away.

He was more the happy to throw the covers off of everything, unfortunately he couldn't move anything around. His son had recently had some... difficulties with a Ford Torino GT and rolled it in a ditch. 390 car and fairly rare for what it was.

Steve went over every car with me, allowed me to shoot anything I wanted. He told me all about how he was so into NASCAR and wanted what he saw on Sunday, and then went and bought on Monday. Over the decades he had amassed quite a collection of cars that were homoligated for the street so they could drive them in NASCAR.

The barn was full of cars, but his favorites were the Fords and the Mercury's. That is what he had the most of.

One of the cooler cars in the collection was a matching set of Lee Roy and Cale Yarborough Mercury Cyclone Spoiler's. Supposedly one style was made for East of the Mississippi and the other for the West.

There were a few other project cars sitting around for a rainy day, mostly just old Torinos. All were solid cars, still able to be restored eventually.

Even had a 70's Cougar in there.

Out of this massive collection of incredibly awesome cars, there was one that really spoke to me. And not because it is the only Mopar in the collection, but because Steve bought the car brand new in 1970. he said he saw the Superbirds and Daytonas beating everything in sight, so he had to have one. Walked into the dealership and got the one off the showroom floor. Not a big Hemi Superbird, but a 440-6 Superbird with a 4-speed! You can not go wrong with it. The car is mostly original, he hasn't done much with the car, preferring to drive his other cars more often. So it sat for most of its life with only 83,000 miles on the clock.

I hung around with Steve and his friend for a bit longer. We talked about everything from the weather to the cars we loved to drive. Steve mentioned about my Challenger how much fun it was driving in it the last time I was out that way. How he hadn't gone that fast in a car in a while. I told him I was more then happy to take him for a ride around in the car.

With daylight slowly fading, and the cat wanted to go to bed and close the door. So I parted company with Steve and told him the next time I was by I would stop in and we can grab a bite to eat. I made my way back to my friends house not far from there. He was home and with company. His company was very nice and invited me to their place about 45 minutes away to show me their collection of barn finds. So off we went, on another adventure.

Unfortunately two weeks after I visited Steve he passed away quietly in his sleep. Timing for once was on my side you could say, that I was able to spend the time I did with him.  I was fortunate to have met him and spend the time I did with him. That's why I did not hide his name from this blog, so people would know that he was a good man and was more then generous in his ability to share his passion for cars.  He died too young.

I wish the rest of his family a peaceful and long life.

Rest in Peace Steve M. “Rudy” Powers.

Stephen M. "Rudy" Powers Obituary