Farmer fixes

[John Duden]

My grandpa's 30 AA truck has a bunch of farmer fixes
angle iron welded from fender to the running board
light switch shutting off all power to car,
LOTS OF SOLDER
Fenders welded 2 dozen times
cowl held on by some make shift bracket
Some fixes look like they will never last
but some how they did?
Post some pictures of your discoveries and unique farmer fixes
John

 

[Colorado Greg]

I don't have a pic, but when I pulled off the radius rod I noticed the bolts seemed awfully small. When I got all the pieces out it seems someone had dropped a muffler clamp, u-bolt thingy thru the bellhousing and thats what the radius rod was bolted to. Lots of slop etc...I feel MUCH safer after I got all the proper hardware and got rid of the rubber ball as well. Doesn't even shimmy anymore

 

[Erskine48]

I think mostly trucks got these. My 29 AA had quite a few, a modified front axle too self steer behind the cornchopper,a fishplated crossmember in the frame, soldered up gas tank after removing column bracket, only real bad one is they torched the crossmember to get ******'s out for use in a 39. Bob E.

 

[Jordan]

Don't know if this counts....but my front seat is held together by JB Weld.

 

[Craig Lewis]

I went over to a clients house a few weeks back, to view a bunch of old car parts strewn about the property.
Some of the pics match this "farmer fix" topic. I wonder what was used to weld the head?

 

[ryan1929]

Great Topic...Very Interesting

 

[Tom H.]

According to a Barner with more knowledge than I have, my 32 BB's fuel pump is a B model bottom with a 34-36 V-8 top. It did work.

 

[Modelakid31]

Interesting story's. Keep em coming!

 

[Tom Wesenberg]

Some farmer is missing his screendoor spring.

 

[Ray in La Mesa]

I bought a set of 4-21" wheels at the swap meet last year for $20, they look real straight and solid but I won't know till I cut the model T hubs out someone welded in for a long ago project.

 

[Rowdy]

The worst farmer fix I have ever seen was a cheaply fabbed draglink. It cosisted on a piece of pipe which they had ran several strands of number 9 wire through and tightly rapped around the spindle arm ball and the steering arm. I am not sure how far they drove it that way, but it looked dangerous to me. I wish I had my camera with me at that auction where it sold, but I left it home that day. Rod

 

[Tom Wesenberg]

Is this what's meant by "driving by the seat of your pants"?

 

[sidevalve]

LOL! Thats a good one Tom. A REAL farmers fix.

 

[Brentwood Bob]

Tom, Oshkosh by Gosh is my guess for the overall texture of the patches. Bob

 

[Tom Wesenberg]

Some farmer's Model T is missing part of it's running board.

 

[MALAK]

I was going to wait until I got my A running again (hopefully in a couple months) and post an album of the many farmer fixes/mods it has but here's a couple samples. The most obvious is the truck mod to the coupe body. Check out the intake manifold, those are castle nuts welded in there and it's setup to mount a Carter W-1 downdraft. The bottom castle nut is for a farmer made check ball that allows excess fuel to drain from the farmer made plenum. Since the Carter W-1 has an accelerator pump this check ball would allow excess gas to drip out of the plenum when starting and prevent flooding, after the engine starts vacuum pulls the check ball closed and seals the vacuum leak. While this looks like a total hack job (and it is) it actually ran quiet well. More to follow.

 

[bobpo]

Is this what's meant by "driving by the seat of your pants"?

Jeff Foxworthy would love this one, I do too......

 

[1930artdeco]

I for one love these fixes. It gives the car a history and a personality. Plus it just goes to show you how versitile our cars are. Try these fixes on today's and see what happens.

Mike

 

[1931 flamingo]

Remember that when the majority of these "fixes" were done was before the internet, and probably before bratton's, mac's snyders, etc. A lot of them done during/after the depression when no one had any money and you did what you had to to keep it running.
Paul in CT

 

[sukhoi]

Remember that when the majority of these "fixes" were done was before the internet, and probably before bratton's, mac's snyders, etc. A lot of them done during/after the depression when no one had any money and you did what you had to to keep it running.
Paul in CT

Paul from CT is "right on". It is easy to be critical from our 2012 perspective. I grew up in a depression family and remember well when a family conference was called for a big expense like $10. Not trying to be preachy but it is good to remember when families had a very difficult time making ends meet.