With a heavy heart I will tell you my spectacular regrets
Regret no.1
Many years ago when I was new to the hobby a local farmer told me he had a combine harvester last used by his father. It had a Ford gasolene/kerosine engine, the combine had not been used in years and was destined to go for scrap . He knew I was into Fords and if I took the engine out I could have it free for nuddinks ,yes you know where this is going !!! .When it dawned on me a while later that most likely it was a "Claas" combine with the German G28T "B" engine in it . Yes I was too slow and the combine was cut up for scrap and yes I was told the engine did have an aluminum oil pan, SOB !!!
Regret no 2
I was at a country fair a few years ago with my 31 AA Truck . A man approached me and told me that on the farm near to him was an old Ford truck he wasnt really sure what model but it was old .I then had a mental picture of a 50/60s truck maybe a Thames Trader a 5 ton truck made by Ford .He gave me the name of the farm and a rough location . Some months later by chance I was passing the farms location and thought I would give this "old truck" a look . The farm was in deepest Norfolk County and would be sure to have a "sooner" about . A "sooner" is a farm dog called a "sooner" because sooner or later it will bite you .This dog is closely related to the the American "junk yard dog" and is of similar temprement that is if it doesnt move it will pee on it ,if it moves it will bite it .Maybe we brought these to USA on the Mayflower. Anyway drove into the farm entrance and was pleased to see "Fido" was safely chained on a long chain connected to his outside kennel . The dogs uproar brought the farmer out to investigate . He was affable when he realised I was not tryng to sell him insurance . Yes he did have a Ford truck and yes it was an AA and yes it did have a steel cab and yes it did run and yes it had been on the farm forever and no he no longer had it . He had gone to a farmers auction and left his son in charge . When he returned the truck had gone . It had been parked next to old farm machinery which was going for scrap . The scrap metal men had arrived to take the scrap and cut up the truck with oxy /acetalyne . The farmer told me his son "did not have a full kit bag" this had happened about a week before and yes I could have bought it for a song MORE SOBS !!!
Regret no 3
I went to an auction where a complete Budd cab AA LWB truck was being sold . I knew the buyer slightly he was a rodder and found he had only bought it for the cab and all sheet metal and of course the title . It had 6 excellent Budd wheels on it far better than my truck but I would have to buy the rolling frame to get them. He had sold the engine but the rest of it was there . He quoted a price which was a bit high and no demand here for a LWB frame . I thought I would wait a while to see if the price had come down . Sadly his wife lost her cool and wanted it out of the driveway . So he called in the scrap man who cut it up and carted it away . I had only missed it by a few days and he gave me the scrapyards telephone number . I phoned them and was told that very morning the truck wheels had been put in car shells a crushed to a cube in a hydraulic compactor . Even MORE SOBS !!!
To sum up lost a G28T engine a running AA truck and 6 Budd truck wheels,axles and transmission . And did I tell you how I dropped a still rotating angle grinder on a near NOS roadster door handle , Oh woe is me !!!
John in weather was cancelled today Suffolk County England .
The car has turned out to be a big lemon.
A very shoddy restoration that I should have noticed before
The manifold has been repaired, but it ain't the same.....