So, if you sell your 57 what will you do? It seems that you drive it more than any of the other members. Would you get away a vintage cars completely?

I'm kinda like you Rich.  These cars are fun but the amount of work and time to get things done just gets to be over whelming some times.  I now have the herd down to the 36 and the Ranchero.  Everything else is living happily ever after in someone elses' garage.  All my spare parts for future projects were hauled off including the piles of scrap metal. Even with just the two the most recent events in "life" have resulted in not touching either in nearly three weeks.  I find the heat to be so oppressive working out in it is getting more difficult.  Still love driving them, still love the hunt, just the body says "not so fast with the other dreams"!

QuoteI find the heat to be so oppressive working out in it is getting more difficult.

I'm with you on that. Throw some arthuritis to the combo and you have a real problem(s).

The grandkids and car projects are what keeps me going.  I should have the bumpers for the 58 Custom 300 back from chrome in a couple weeks. Need to rebuild the toploader in my 62 Fairlane.  Need to finish floor and roll cage in my 54 Ford Gasser, and I have finished the motor and transmission in the 52 Chevy gasser that my friend was building before he died from covid, and need to fabricate floors next.
My youngest son and I are putting a 49 International pickup onto a later model 4wd chassis, and my oldest son has a 52 F100 that we will be putting a 351W into.
I start treatments for prostate cancer in a few weeks so I have been cleaning up my shop to get things better organized and accessible in case I am weaker during treatments.  The heat has been unpleasant but I can now move through the shop without having to step over stuff.

James

Wow, James...you have a full platter going! Sorry to hear about the Prostate cancer, that's a real bummer, but most instances are treatable. Bill can confirm that. I had that scare last year, but turned out to be just a reaction to some allergy medicine I was trying.
I decided not to put "for sale" on my car yesterday during the awesome show/cruise. Got some decisions to make, both me and the wife. I love my roadtrips (502 miles yesterday),but they do wear on me sometimes. Realistically, I probably don't have more than a few more years of the all day long drives. My wife can't sit in a car for long, and I really miss having her with me, particularly if I'm wanting to do an overnighter. It's mainly a money thing. No way I'd consider selling the '57 if I had enough to afford a camper van so she could recline while I drove. Before I sell the '57, I need to make sure she commits to doing roadtrips with me occasionally if we had something more comfortable for her. At this point, she's content to sit and read all day, I can't do that.
My car is insured for 55k, and if I sold it, it would have to be in that neighborhood. I've had enough obviously well-off folks really liking my car to know that figure wouldn't be too hard to get. Car prices are on the rise anyways. I talked with a guy yesterday who just recently bought a nice Custom for 27k. Said it had only been on the market for a week when he bought it. His words, not mine,........."the 27k I paid is obviously not in the high dollar class your's would be in". Put a smile on my face.
I was originally thinking in the 60's, but it could use some things, so the 55k kinda took that into consideration.
BTW, at the Vernon show/cruise, there were 8 '57 Fords. Pretty much all the models except no wagons that I saw. Had to have 5-700 cars at the cruise. Just awesome. 100+ in Vernon late afternoon. Show over at 2, cruise started at 7. Too hot to sit for 5 hours, so I went to my favorite casino 50 miles away. Won 1200. in the 3 hours I was there. Lol, had a hard time leaving so I wouldn't be late for the cruise. Probably good thing I did leave.

Rich, I'm glad somebody made some money at the casino. I went to Winstar last month and dropped a grand, made my contribution to help support the facility.
You were smart to leave while ahead, I have not learned to do that yet,LOL.
Hope all works out for you and the Misses on your decision with the 57.

Rich, I chose the chemo and radiation approach after being advised of the long term side effects of surgery.
Could you possibly add a reclining seat in the 57 to help your wife on the trips?  If not maybe you could find a 57 Ford panel truck and turn it into a camper van. 😊

James

My mother-in-law is going thru chemo for the second time, different cancer.
My front seats do recline, one reason I went for the high-back seats. I sleep in my car often. Won't work for the wife, lol. She's a comfort creature.  Next road trip, I should register 60k miles on the odometer.......she's only been it for one ride over 20 minutes.
Kerby, been to the Winstar 5 or 6 times, if you're talking about the one on I35 in Oklahoma north of Dallas. World's largest casino...........I'd hate to be trying to find someone in that place. I call my trips to the casinos "my contributions to the Native American Donation Centers". It's a small consolation knowing my usual losses are helping employment among the tribes.

When I hit the casinos I watch!  Just never saw the need to enrich the owners.  The "House always wins" was the biggest deterrent, that and my loosing any money would cut into the racing budget!

My wife is pretty much the same Rich.  Her idea of camping is Motel 6!  When we head to WI, TX or VA she puts the seat back and sleeps.  Neither the 36 or the Ranchero are more then 100 miles round trip for her.  All the folks we used to run with are now gone.  Just have to remember....getting old isn't for wimps!

Quote from: Fairlane62 on 2022-08-14 22:53Rich, I chose the chemo and radiation approach after being advised of the long term side effects of surgery.
Could you possibly add a reclining seat in the 57 to help your wife on the trips?  If not maybe you could find a 57 Ford panel truck and turn it into a camper van. 😊

James

We spent 35 years traveling/camping in a panel truck. The wife much prefers the Ranchero 

My wife can't handle more than 30 minutes even in my F150 with reclining seat, but oddly enough she can handle several hours if she's driving her Kia Sportage. 🤔

My friend Stan passed away after a long illness. He was a 57 fan and had a wagon and a ranchero under construction. He didn't have a computer so he was never able to join us here. Our morning coffee group of about 15 people has now lost 7 and another one with a major stroke in the past 5 years.

Our Saturday morning breakfast group of 10 - 12 is now down to just two of us!  To add insult to injury the cafe is closing it's doors after this Saturdays' lunch.  Just hard to grasp the thing time does to all of us both the good and the bad!

We need to think before we do stuff when we are over 65.

My dad went out in the snow when he didn't need to, fell and broke his hip. It took 2 years to heal and his leg ended up 1" shorter.

Take good care guys.

Ron.

I haven't 100% decided, but I think I'm going on a long cruise/show tomorrow. The Show is in Belen, New Mexico, south of Albuquerque on I25. What makes this unique is there are cruises starting in 6 different locations ending up in Belen. The longest cruise-in, and closest to me, starts in Clovis, NM. Clovis is 102 miles from my house, and then another 225 to Belen. Show is over at 6, then 300 miles home, or I may just drive back to Ruidoso (a favorite road trip area) and get a room.