A guy and his father came over this morning to look at some parts for his 48 truck. He bought the front clip from my 51 Panel for his truck because he likes that style better than the monkey face. After talking for a while, he told me that yesterday he scrapped a flathead V8 from a 49 Mercury car. The engine was a runner and it's been in his way for a while. Had he not scrapped it, he said that he would have just gave it to me.

 

Aw man! A 49 Merc. would have been the 4" crank, wouldn't it? 255 CID I think?

 

Yes, that's what I thought too, a 4" crank. Would have been perfect to put into my 51 Panel. I just can't believe that they didn't see the value in the flathead whether it was a Merc or a Ford. They bought the car in Mexico about 15 years ago and brought it over. Now it's sitting on a new Mark VIII chassis and has all of the Mark VIII's running gear and suspension.

 

Why did you sell the front clip off your '51 panel??

 

Actually, I just sold the upper/lower fenders and the lower apron. I kept the grille, headlight panels, hood latch panel and the hood. I sold the rest because it was way too rotted and I already have a much better front clip as the replacement. The guy took home another 51 grille, headlight panels and hood latch panel from my parts stash.

 

So if it only happened yesterday, do you think it may still be accessible at the scrap yard or would it already be under a ton of stuff, is it worth a try. Or did it just go to a dump.

 

The engine was taken to a large recycling facility, which is the same where I take my scrap. There's a huge mount of scrap where this block was placed and finding it would be impossible. Even if I did find it, they wouldn't allow me to buy it back.

 

Yes, undoubtedly a bummer, incredible bad timing, he had it so long and you end up missing out by a day.

 

Story of my life! I would have gladly paid him double the scrap price.

 

Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose, I guess, but it is frustrating when you miss out on something by so little. Many years ago I missed out on a model A roadster, on the way back to restoration, by a minute or so, because I dithered about getting there, I wasn't sure how to get there. For $150 ! I love Model A roadsters !

About a month ago, a friend at work who restores bikes, was towing one to get some work done and stopped at a shop for a few minutes. A bloke came up and talked to him about the bike and then said I have a Suzuki 750 I will give you. He went to look at it, ended up giving the bloke $50 he had in his pocket for it to be fair. Fixed a few minor things and got it registered for a total of $650. Right place at the right time. Unfortunately it does not seem to happen often.

 

This sure hasn't been your weekend.

 

I am SURE the Merc crank was already 30 under, was scored and rusty, and the block was cracked. It had two twisted rods and a hole in one piston. Feel better now?!

I'm also sure that if he had offered it to you, and detected any interest, it would have become a $500 piece of scrap.

 

About 2 weeks ago I thought I had a line on a cab for my F4. When I called the guy and set up a time to go look at it he said give me a call first. So I did and found out a tree had fallen on it and smashed it all up. On a lighter note a friend at work told me about a riding lawnmower for free by his house. I went and picked it up and mowed my yard with it yesterday. Works great, Just sayin' that the good and bad seem to come in one after the other. I'd be on the lookout for a smokin' deal in the future. Stay positive.

 

Well....I do recall going to a wrecking yard in the early 70's up in the Lakeport area. The flathead V8's were stacked up like cordwood & nobody wanted to buy them. I'm sure that most of those ended up in the scrap metal yard at some point. Just bad timing I guess.

Dan