If you have a few minutes... here's a good story for you. Ok, the long version. Flashback to the south side of Chicago (yeah, yeah, the baddest part of town), 1958, and two 16 year old Polish kids from The Bush scrape up enough money together to buy an engineless '40 Ford coupe, their favorite body style. In fact, they were in a club called "40's Forever" - a car club of old school gearheads who built real hotrods, with the requirement that the bodies of their cars couldn't be modded, only the drivetrains. If you're one of those rare folks whose familiarity with the city extends outside of Wrigleyville and the Loop, you probably know that the Bush has never been one of the wealthier 'hoods. Far from it. Mostly immigrant steelworkers back then, and not a whole lot of rich daddies buying cars for their kids. Somehow (and I'm not sure I want to know how) these kids got a hold of a 1957 DeSoto Fire Flite Eight hemi - a monster engine back then. I've read it was the first mass produced American engine to achieve 1 hp per cubic inch - 345 that is. They also got their hands on a '39 LaSalle "side shift" 3 speed trans, an early Chet Herbert roller race cam, and a couple of big Carter 4 bbl carbs, and managed to put all this together. For a while, they were the terror of Rainbow Beach, 83rd street, and wherever else they used to drag. They also took it down to US 30 dragstrip way back when. But by the time he was 18, my dad wanted to break out and go to college, and he sold his interest in the car to his buddy for tuition money, and they parted ways. Now fast forward to 1996, and the son has followed in his father's footsteps. I have a street truck that I built up for Mustang-hunting (see above), and I put it in a car show not too far from where my parents live, and invited them to come see. While wandering around at the show, my dad sees an example of his favorite: a '40 Ford Tudor and he strolls over to take a look. He was quite surprised to see that this gorgeous show car (supposedly a World of Wheels show champ) was sporting a Fire Flite eight.
His heart really started to race at that sight, so he got a look under the car and sure enough, it had the LaSalle side shifter. Barely able to contain himself, he asked the owner where he got the car, and he said it was from a widow who now lived on the East Side. He asked the name, and it turns out it was the woman who married the guy that was my dad's childhood buddy. Of course he wanted to buy the car, but the current owner said he'd never part with it. But they became friends and started hanging out at NWI car shows together. One day the new owner had a stroke and ended up in pretty bad shape. He eventually recovered but was in no condition to take care of his show cars and gave my dad a call. So now, in his spare garage, he's got a show ready, 1940 Ford Standard Tudor - the same car he built in 1958.
His heart really started to race at that sight, so he got a look under the car and sure enough, it had the LaSalle side shifter. Barely able to contain himself, he asked the owner where he got the car, and he said it was from a widow who now lived on the East Side. He asked the name, and it turns out it was the woman who married the guy that was my dad's childhood buddy. Of course he wanted to buy the car, but the current owner said he'd never part with it. But they became friends and started hanging out at NWI car shows together. One day the new owner had a stroke and ended up in pretty bad shape. He eventually recovered but was in no condition to take care of his show cars and gave my dad a call. So now, in his spare garage, he's got a show ready, 1940 Ford Standard Tudor - the same car he built in 1958.
