When I was young in the late ’50s and early ’60s, my dad was a wheeler dealer with cars. He was always writing to people about a car, or cars, they had for sale. Three of the cars he had at one time were ’36 Fords. One of them was a four-door phaeton. This car I don’t remember much about, and I’m not sure how much Dad drove it. But if Dad could make a buck on it, down the road it went. There was always another car for sale somewhere that he thought was a good deal. Another of the ’36s was a rumbleseat roadster. Dad told me he bought this car from some kids who were customizing it. I remember the engine was a flathead V-8 from a ’48 Mercury with a full-race cam followed by a Zephyr transmission.
The tail lamps were a teardrop-shaped and the rear bumper came from a ’37 De Soto. The rear license place was Frenched in, the body was lowered four inches in the rear, it had a shoved deck and the top was chopped, too.
This car I do remember quite well. I remember riding in the rumbleseat with my sister, Judy, when she was headed to Girl Scout camp. Dad was going just a tad over the speed limit when Judy’s hat flew off. So back around we went to get the hat. After that, he slowed up a bit. There were times I thought Dad would have made an excellent race car driver more than anything else. He loved speed and fast cars. Mom was afraid to drive it, because of the fast engine and loud mufflers.
The last of the ’36s was the Tudor Deluxe. He drove this car back and forth to work for quite awhile. The entire car was really solid with an 85-hp engine and standard transmission.
When I was 16, he said I could have the car to work on and get it ready to paint. Once a friend of mine was admiring the car and wanted to know if it was a three- or four-speed. I said it was a four-speed (three forward and one reverse). For years, we got a good laugh out of that one. Like all the other cars, it was time to sell them. There was a guy from Chicago who came with a trailer and was going to buy them both. Dad had wanted $750 for both cars, but the guy balked at it and went home empty. What a mistake. It was a great deal, even at that time. Looking back on it, the ’36 roadster was the ultimate street rod back then and still is today.
Frank Schroeder
Dubuque, Iowa