Family Heirloom

"f86sabre" (f86sabre) 10/11/2014 at 16:39 • Filed to: Comet, Cyclone, hotrod.

11

7

When my dad was a teenager he bought a 1964 Comet Cyclone from my uncle. He was 17 or 18 at the time. He drove the car until he met my mom and after they were married she drove it a good bit as he was getting his construction company up and running. Two years after being married I was born. That would be 1974. A year later I made my first major road trip from Seattle to Bismark to see my great grand parents in that car. I spent most of the time standing in the back seat.

Life goes on and the Comet gets parked in a field. It moves from Seattle, to Mineasota, back to Seattle, back to Minnesota one more time on the back of a trailer. It hadn't run since the mid 80s and it spent a lot of time outside.

Three years ago my dad decided it was time to get it back on the road. Bit by bit they got there. Ford crate motor (original blew in the late '60s so we are a long way past being a numbers matching thing), Cragers, a new trunk pan, windshield, chrome, paint, carpet and all that.

Today was the day he brought it home. I can't wait to ride in it again. Someday I'm sure it will end up with us. I've already made sure I have the dimensions to be sure it will fit in our enlarged garage, whenever it happens. Until then, I look forward to taking rides with him and his grandkids. Maybe we can even do the PowerTour with it next year like we planned for this year.

Kat Callahan > f86sabre 10/11/2014 at 16:50

1

That is a frikken beautiful Comet.

offroadkarter > f86sabre 10/11/2014 at 18:00

2

I wish I could have had even 1 of the cars my dad drove "back in the day", anything from his 68 lemans to his 66 GTO.

Great story!

rb1971 ARGQF+CayenneTurbo+E9+328GTS+R90S > f86sabre 10/11/2014 at 19:44

4

Great story! A few years ago I started looking for my father's T-bird, which was the first ever T-bird delivered to the DC area back in the day. I couldn't find it before, and maybe it wouldn't have been like he remembered it anyhow.

f86sabre > offroadkarter 10/11/2014 at 21:57

1

I feel yeah. His first car was a Barricuda. Wouldn't mind having that either!

jalopwarg > f86sabre 10/11/2014 at 23:52

1

The first car I ever had was a '72 AMC Javelin. But the first car I ever BOUGHT was a '64 Cyclone. It had the original 'K' motor (hi-po 289) and Top Loader four speed. The bottom half was rusted through and the top half looked to have been through eight or ten hail storms. It smoked like no tomorrow, and since my mechanical abilities far outweighed my sheetmetal ones, I opted to replace the valve seals. Smoking cured, I was no longer afraid to drive in the daylight, but it was more fun at night as this was in Montana in the winter and the Cyclone had come equipped with studded tires in the rear. It had a Trak Lok rear diff and my friends and I took turns seeing who could throw showers of sparks from the rear the farthest! Good times!

DisplacementForDayz, ironically lusts after a Honda Grom > rb1971 ARGQF+CayenneTurbo+E9+328GTS+R90S 10/12/2014 at 08:47

1

One of my friends is working on getting his dad's red 65 T-bird roadworthy. It runs but needs the carb cleaned and the master cylinder was garbage, so he's replacing that this weekend.

hockygrrl4 Agent of Chaos > f86sabre 10/12/2014 at 22:29

1

The Old Bear (my dad) has a 1967 Ford Galaxy convertible in his garage. One day it will be mine. Yes, I know that it is an unwieldy boat of a car but it is gorgeous and I have loved it since I was old enough to toddle over and say "MINE".