As some of you know, I'm restoring a '49 F3 that had been sitting outside in a junkyard for 48 years.
The project is going slowly but I'm making progress. I got too excited while torquing the pressure plate bolts to the flywheel and broke one off. A friend says he knows a guy who can pull a rusted bolt out of the gates of hell without burning his fingers.
I had to see this for myself. The guy doesn't use a phone so we just dropped over to his farm just after noontime. He was bringing hay to the cows using a 100-year-old wheelbarrow but stopped what he was doing when he saw the flywheel. With barely a word spoken I went into his workshop next to the barn and he began to drill out the broken bolt with an ancient Bridgeport. The shop was crowded only a path wide enough to walk sideways through it towards the lathe.
Imagine the thickest Maine accent possible saying "don't know much about tightening bolts do ya?"
Ended up staying there till dark talking about trucks, deer hunting and beekeeping. I helped him finish feeding the cows and picked tomatoes for his farm stand.

The flywheel is fixed....I'll be able to use the same hole and threads as before.
He wants to see the truck when I get it on the road. I'll be sure to do that.
I almost hope to break something else so I'll have a reason to go over there again before that. He was a real interesting guy that I'm happy I met.

 

Awesome story, and oh the stories im sure he could tell you. those are my favorite kind of people. And ive known a few like that in my short time so far here on this planet. Maybe someday I will be one of them?

 

People like that are truly a national treasure, and we need to figure out how to keep them around forever. Great story!! Break something else so you can go back !!

 

Oh to have a Bridgeport in my garage... and the knowledge to use it! Sounds like a great guy!

 

Great story, thanks for sharing. I think that we all have had similar run-ins with the local curmudgeon.

 

The photo tells a lot.

Drilling out the broken bolt is a pretty common repair in the machine trades, and this chap apparently knew what to do when he looked at it. The Bridgeport mill is relatively modern, perhaps from the late '60s, and is a quality machine as compared to what most professional shops have now. I would venture that he has spent some time in a die shop. Many older men in the north east have, as it was once where most of the machine tools in the U.S. were made. The chuck in the spindle of the mill is no slouch either. That is a very expensive Albrecht keyless chuck made in Germany. Your average Joe in his garage shop will never have one (most will have a Jacobs key type at best). Bridgeport milling machines originally hailed out of Bridgeport, Connecticut.

 

With that haircut and beard he looks like a Pennsylvania Old Order Mennonite.

 

Don't have to break anything to visit a guy like that. Just go back and help him with what ever he is doing when you get there and chew the fat with him some more, I am sure neither of you will ever regret it. I love people like that.

 

This is my favorite thread of the year. Exactly my sentiments; I have spent time finding people like this and you never regret it.

 

Tom,
A fun post and experience. But hey that is close to the vintage to my Bridgeport which is younger than me!

 

There was a junkyard just out of town owned by a guy named Smitty. The junkyard had been closed for a while. There was no vehicle newer than say, 1980 in the yard. People said he was hard to deal with, was mean, didn't want to sell anything, etc.

When I was fixing up my truck in 1998-99 I needed a cowl vent arm. The part that goes from the handle up to the vent. I called about this and he said come up after it hasn't rained for a couple weeks because there are a lot of springs in the field. Well, this was in the Spring of the year and there isn't a time when there is no rain for two weeks.

So I go up to the yard. He was a grouch. Asked why I needed it. Then he started talking about his time in WWII in Europe. He said he worked on a sergeants Jeep and got it running. He told his commanding officer and then Smitty was working on his Jeep.He told his superior and then Smitty worked on his Jeep. Eventually he said he was working on Patton's Jeep! True or not, its a great story.

Smitty is the type of guy that can fix anything. He became very friendly as I listened to his WWII Tale. We then went to the 55 truck in his field, he did all the work and he sold not just the arm but the whole vent assembly for $4. He then showed me other old Ford trucks he had and pulled a NOS crossover pipe out of the back of a 53-55 Ford panel truck.

He was born in the house he lived in. He was a farmer. At some point he started hauling in wrecked cars. He said these cars in his fields are the best crops he ever raised! He is now deceased.

 

We have a similar character around here. His primary function in life is selling old parts but he also rebuilds/repairs stuff. He does fantastic work but he can talk your ear off. So I set my phone to ring by pushing the button on the side and when I have had enough, I make it ring and then pretend I am answering it and then leave.

Later!
Mr. Ed

 

Love the story.

Being of a more elevated age I remember the old shops and the old guys that ran them. Here in rural NC there are still a few around, but they are vanishing. My wife asks me sometimes why I do not just use the phone to call about a part or work. I believe that talking in person is always the best way, you develop a relationship and I love to see the shops and the other stuff they are working on.

 

Great story! Even better experience. I took the summer off of work and spent a lot of time in my shop working on my truck. Having both garage doors open I got a lot of people stopping by. Had one guy stop by with his 54 saying a friend told him about me. Two other guys in old trucks just driving by. I really could have spent hours sitting on a milk crate listening to their stories. I even ended up with a spare hood for my truck.

Skill like that gentleman has is a dying thing. I drive through industrial areas all the time and always see signs for "machinist needed". My father in law works for Jack Brake. Their in house tool maker makes a huge salary because they can't get anyone else to do what he does.

I tell ya. If I were to do it again. I'd going into welding or machining.

 

Great story, thanks for sharing.

Many years ago I worked at CarX. I did brake and frontend work but back then exhaust was their bread and butter. We had this guy that was marginally literate but could blow (with a gas torch) broken studs out of exhaust manifolds without damaging the threads. He use to charge the other exhaust installers 5 dollars a stud. And they were glad to pay it. He tried to teach me but I never could get the hang of it.