my cars previous life
Do you ever wonder about you cars previous life? Do you know how famous or infamous it was? I have my suspicions about mine, but don’t know anything for certain.
I’ve owned the 4 dr. Hornet for 3 years and found suspicious things going on in and around the car as I work on it. These are the things I know: almost all of the exterior chrome and stainless was stripped off except for the bumpers. Holes were filled. The car was reupholstered inside and painted a horrible green and white two tone on the outside. There is an antenna mount (CB?) screwed through the cars roof. The original head on the 308 was replaced with a 232 iron head. The Twin-H is still there and the exhaust pipe was re-made from a large water pipe. A mesh screen was fastened into place in front of the radiator. Deep tread Mud and Snow tires were on all four corners. A mechanical oil pressure gage was screwed to the dash. Auxiliary signal lights were bolted to the body on the four corners. An enormous amount of small gravel (mostly limestone) and mud is caked under the car, on the frame members, and especially on the cross member under the engine. The car was titled in Missouri in the 50’s, has its last vehicle inspection sticker in Missouri in the mid 60’s and I bought it from a car reseller in Missouri. 27K miles only on the odometer. Rust at the bottoms of the doors and rear fender wells. Side-swiped on the drivers side.
This is what I speculate: this car was a moonshine runner. My second guess is weekend dirt track racer. The side swipe must have come from a fence post when cutting across old man Johnson’s pasture on a moonless night or from passing too closely on the outside, down the narrow straight-away. Oh well, my car is probably the only one left who knows the truth. What do you think?
Hal
I’ve owned the 4 dr. Hornet for 3 years and found suspicious things going on in and around the car as I work on it. These are the things I know: almost all of the exterior chrome and stainless was stripped off except for the bumpers. Holes were filled. The car was reupholstered inside and painted a horrible green and white two tone on the outside. There is an antenna mount (CB?) screwed through the cars roof. The original head on the 308 was replaced with a 232 iron head. The Twin-H is still there and the exhaust pipe was re-made from a large water pipe. A mesh screen was fastened into place in front of the radiator. Deep tread Mud and Snow tires were on all four corners. A mechanical oil pressure gage was screwed to the dash. Auxiliary signal lights were bolted to the body on the four corners. An enormous amount of small gravel (mostly limestone) and mud is caked under the car, on the frame members, and especially on the cross member under the engine. The car was titled in Missouri in the 50’s, has its last vehicle inspection sticker in Missouri in the mid 60’s and I bought it from a car reseller in Missouri. 27K miles only on the odometer. Rust at the bottoms of the doors and rear fender wells. Side-swiped on the drivers side.
This is what I speculate: this car was a moonshine runner. My second guess is weekend dirt track racer. The side swipe must have come from a fence post when cutting across old man Johnson’s pasture on a moonless night or from passing too closely on the outside, down the narrow straight-away. Oh well, my car is probably the only one left who knows the truth. What do you think?
Hal
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Comments
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One thing, the antenna mount in the roof is original. You turned the antenna up from the down position where is sits between the windshields to the up position using the knob between the interior sun visors.
A lot of owners replaced the stock 308 head with either a 262 or 232 head to raise the compression. Sounds like your cars owner wanted some serious oomph...so he went with the 232 head.0 -
the antenna mount is in the center of the roof, front to back.... perhaps to radio ahead for the illegal drop.... just dreaming.0
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Based upon the light and antenna installations, it was probably a quarry service vehicle. I doubt that Moonshiners would want to call attention to their "activites" by shoveling on the bling. The most important fact is that you saved the car and will hopefully give it a history that the next owner can reflect upon with pride.0
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