Hey

[gearhead409]

my old T-Bucket is on ebay. item #170081684635. Gary Baskerville saw it at the HotRod magazine nationals and just had to do a foto shoot (he loved 409 cars). sense then i have seen pictures of it on hat pins, business cards, office scratch pads and HotRod magazine promotional ads. even got a letter from a guy in England wanting to buy it. i guess when you sign your rights away you don't have a say as to what happens to the pictures. i'am not complaining, i have really enjoyed the coverage. it's the biggest trophy i have ever received.

[models916]

here is the hit

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=170081684635&ru=http%3A%2F%2Fmotors.search.ebay.com%3A80%2F%3Ff rom%3DR40%26satitle%3D170081684635%26fvi%3D1

[Tom Kochtanek]

Gearhead:

You did that on a budget? My kinda guy :) :) :).

Here's a quip from the article:

" TAKE A '63 TRUCK MOTOR, COMBINE IT WITH A '23 T BODY AND YOU'VE GOT FORD-O-NINE."

Nice effort!

TomK

[gearhead409]

would you believe i gave $250 for that engine back in 1966 with the ex. manifolds and 13,000 miles on it? the seller was going to give me the air cleaner too but i left it ( didn't think it would look right on the T-Bucket, that was my brain fart day)! times were good back than but it still took three paychecks to buy it.

[Tom Kochtanek]

Gearhead, that's probably hard for some of these younger guys to understand, why didn't we just buy everything in sight since it appeared to be so cheap?

In 1966 I had a summer job at McDonald's, 40 hours per week, 90 cents per hour. I thought I was rich! I was still 15, so I had to ride my bicycle to work, or walk, which I did a few times after the bike was stolen from the parking lot while I was a work... I recall the walk being uphill both ways :).

That same summer, my Dad bought me my first car, a 1961 Belair "more door" with a 283 and three-on-the-tree. It cost him $200. That was a ton of dough for my Dad! We did look at a 1958 Impala (might have been the Belair, I just don't recall) that had a 348 and an automatic. Dad said that she was a "gas guzzler" (at 23 cents a gallon back then!), what he really probably meant was that it was too powerful for me :). That was the first "W" I ever saw.

You know how it is once you get a certain car, all of a sudden you start to see more just like it? Well the next year, my gal at the time had an older brother, Butch, who worked at the gas station, and he raced a 1961 Chevy on weekends. After a Friday evening of necking and such with his sister (you recall the drill, don't you?) I used to stop by his garage out back where the guys got together and drank beer and wrenched. I was the younger geek by a couple of years, serious about school and looking to go to college, but since I had the '61 they let me hang around. Most of the time they were hunched over Butch's 1961 Impala, which had this strange valve covered engine with multiple carbs on it, trying to get it to run better. Yep, it was a 3x2 setup on a 348! Don't remember seeing 409s back then, they were for the rich kids and we didn't even know where they lived. We were the poor middle class folk who worked blue collar lifestyles :).

I think that's one thing that attracts me to these old cars more than anything, the nostalgia part. Plus, with the guys I hang with now, it just seems like right now we're in the back of Butch's garage throwing wrenches around :). You just can't beat that kind of companionship now, can you?

Cheers!
TomK

[Toms63SSQB]

Tom, Well said.


Tom

[skipxt4]

TOM: That story sounds familiar. I think you could put about 80 % of us guys, in that story.:brow :clap :cool: Skip:)

[jim_ss409]

Gearhead, Cool article! If you ask me that car looks just right.:beerbang

Tom, Great story.:beerbang

[fatride]

Outstanding effort in anyones book. In 1980 I was tearing up the road with a Honda 750 four, drinking as much as I could :beerbang and trying my best to get my end wet. X wife took the Malibu and all my money. :takethat Some guys just grow up sooner that others! Bet it was a handfull to drive?

[gearhead409]

i really appreciate your comments. you were in a recent magazine with your 60 and that is a great feeling, something you don't forget. i too have an X, in 86 she took half of everything. i still managed to keep the toys including the t-bucket but i owed her alot of money, that was NOT a good year.

[gearhead409]

that car sure was alot of fun back then. it had about the right weight to power ratio and was fun to drive. i put about 15,000 miles on it and then changed to the engine that is in it now. it went from fun to dangerous real quick. i still have the first engine sitting on an engine stand. i have a habit of not selling anything.

[tripowerguy]

I think of riding in a T bucket is like a bar stool with a lot of horsepower.:eek: Roy

[Tom Kochtanek]

Gearhead states: "i have a habit of not selling anything."

We must be kindred spirits! I feel exactly the same way. I have sold a few things recently but I prefer to "pass things along" :).

My favorite line from my friend the lawyer, when we are at some bar with the guys (we are all happily married to one degree or another) and a pretty girl walks in is:


"Half your stuff.... Don't even think about it!"

Cheers!

TomK

[Ronnie Russell]

gearhead, Any chance of you bringing the car to Norwalk? I would enjoy watching it cruise the pits at 5mph. Any faster and you might scare the kids..:cheers

[bjburnout]

Hey Loren
Cool 'T'................:cool:
That 'W' and the wheels say '60s rod........just the way I like 'em.........:D

:cheers
bj

[gearhead409]

i'am still out to lunch on that one but the wife and i will be there on sat. with or without a car.

[gearhead409]

thanks for the compliments.