Wow... Is this dead gorgeous or what. The post calls it perfect because it's not perfect, and I totally agree...

 

Nostalgia. My first car when I was 16, a junior in high school was a 48 ford 4 door sedan, forest green, suicide rear doors , and the only upholstery was the seats.
I dogged the hell out of it for a year or so and couldn't tear it up. had to pull the distributor off the front of the engine about monthly and file and reset points gaps, dual points. The old 80 horse flathead ran and idled so smooth that sometimes you would try to restart it while it was running. I don't remember how many miles was on the speedometer, but it didn't smoke or use oil or leak, I showed 0 psi on the oil pressure gauge at idle and about 15 at speed. 2 big leaf springs, one front and one in the rear laying sideways above the axles. The friction shock absorbers hadn't had connector links on them in years. 600 X 16 tires were almost impossible to find back in 1965. I sure do miss the old Ford.

 

That sounds like one heck of a machine!

 

Was a really great car. I guess everyone has a special place in their heart for their first love (not the one you lost your virginity to). My uncle Bill gave me the car and i worked on and nurtured it for a long time. My dad bought and sold used cars for several years, kinda where I got my education in fixing and detailing old cars. He had health problems around that time, and while waiting for soc sec disability and VA disability to kick in I wound up selling it for 50.00. It bought about a weeks groceries for the family. No regrets, for that, but would to love to have it back. I still have dreams once and a while about it. Things were tough back then, but only makes you appreciate the easiness of life these days. Amazing how things progress. My dad grew up the oldest of 12 kids and the only life he knew until he was grown was sharecropping cotton in the Mississippi delta. He went on to do factory work in Michigan for over a decade and did much better than his upbringing. He got a 6th grade education, and I got a full 12th grade education, a votech cert. in welding. I spent 20 years in the army, 10 years enlisted in communications, and 10 years as a helicopter pilot (UH-1) and 22 years flying oil rigs and platforms in the Gulf of Mexico. 15,700 hours and never hurt anyone. I was stationed all over the world and wound up back within 30 minute drive of where I was born. I still miss my old ford, and have the same woman I started with.