pics of sunday cruise and a nice OT car

[Cpt.Fred]

we had a little ride today with the 40 to fix the engine problems and a good friend joined me with his car

to take measurements on his exaust gasses in order to tune his twin carbs

(another friend of ours has built a nice little magic box with a lambda sensor).

since we had a little timeout to fix and tune his carbs and the weather got nice, i took lots of photos.

i want to share the pics with you since i think his car is a piece of art and very unique.

it's a russian GAZ M20 Pobieda (means "victory") from 1950.

he chopped it and put a flatheadengine from a small russian armored vehicle in there.

nearly everything has been changed or is completely made by hand.

[Cpt.Fred]

[Cpt.Fred]

the tank engine with homemade dual intake, headers and twin carbs...

notice the little windows he put in the carbs so you can see the fuel level from the outside:cool:

inside:

nice details:

[Cpt.Fred]

the ride home:

had to share that, it was a great day:)

[1940plymouth]

Cpt Fred,

Thanks for sharing the photos of your '40 and the other car, I really appreciate it.

Thanks again,

Bob

[Edward Roberts]

This is awesome! I am petitioning my wife now for underhood nose art. I'm thinking Elvira!

[P-12 Tommy]

Cool pics Fred!

Tom

[Frank Elder]

That russian car looks a lot like a packard:)Nice pictures Fred, now you are having FUN!

Edited July 2, 2010 by FRANKIE47

[Joe Flanagan]

Great pictures, Fred. The guy driving the car in the last picture looks just like Peter Fonda in "Easy Rider." Is that a real sticker from 1968 on the windshield?

[greg g]

OK does the Plymouth kick the Pobia's butt. That engine looks familiar.

[BobT-47P15]

Fred......it would appear that your car had been a resident of my town,

Joplin, MO in 1968. Did you buy it from someone here?

[Cpt.Fred]

that fonda guy driving the car in the last pic is me:D

the russian flatty is almost identical with ours, i think dodge legally sold it to them in the 30s, i've read that somewhere can't remember where.

i even could swap some parts! this engine is mid 70s though, they probably thought "never change a running system"...

oh, and when it comes to butt kicking on the road, i don't stand a chance. the pobieda has about 120hp now and is really begging for rpms,

it's heavier than the 40 but still, forget it.

according to my papers the 40 was bought new in arkansas and stayed with the very same gentleman untill his passing in 1999.

his widow drystored the car till 2008, a dealer from kansas bought it and put it on "oldrides.com".

i was the first one to find it there and after a few phone calls and and nice conversation i bought it from him.

what exactly is that sticker good for, is it just an allowance to drive around in the inner city area or is it a tax matter or...? i'm curious!

Edited May 17, 2010 by Cpt.Fred

[BobT-47P15]

As I recall, it was an automobile tax sticker. You pay the tax on the

car each year.....you get a new sticker from the city.

In fact, 1968 was the year I moved to Joplin.

Don't recall ever seeing the car here, but must have been registered here at

least for one year.

They don't have those any more.

Edited May 17, 2010 by BobT-47P15

[Cpt.Fred]

that's interesting, the papers don't show that. maybe i'll go ask mister loughmiller, the dealer, about it, he's a great guy and i haven't emailed him for too long, anyway.

if only these cars could talk...

[greg g]

The Russian's probably reverse engineered a bunch of lend lease stuff and made "improvements". The basis was more likely early 40's the 30's When my dad was in the Navy in WW II he served on an old battleship (the Texas) on convoy protection duty to stuff going north of Europe to Russian ports. He said he was amazed at the number of brand new American Cars and trucks that were unloaded from the ships.

[BobT-47P15]

Quote....Cpt Fred...."according to my papers the 40 was bought new in arkansas and stayed with the very same

gentleman untill his passing in 1999.

his widow drystored the car till 2008, a dealer from kansas bought it and put it on "oldrides.com".

i was the first one to find it there and after a few phone calls and and nice conversation i bought it from him."

Fred, I just got back to this post today......the car may have remained

titled and licensed in Arkansas at all times.......probably all you had to do

to have that Joplin tax sticker was be honest and say you resided in the

city. He may have lived here only briefly for some reason.....and not

changed the state registration of the vehicle.

Re: the drags with your Plymouth - what was your top speed in the

quarter mile? Mine was 57 mph....the year I went to the HAMB drags

here and ran through during the "test and tune" time where anyone

could go.

[Niel Hoback]

Great pictures! Where else am I gonna see that?

[Cpt.Fred]

thanks for the info, bob!

i wanted to contact the dealer i got the car from to ask a few more questions and see how he does,

but sadly he doesn't answer any more. i hope he's fine...

the race was an 1/8 mile, for some reason they mostly race that distance here.

top speed was a stunning, breathtaking 46.6mph in incredible 14.6sec. reaction time was pretty good for the first time i guess, 0.3sec.

i wanted to beat 40mph, so i'm happy with it.

still slow as a stone... have to fix that.

[Captain Neon]

In regards to the Joplin sticker, the community that I live in, Trenton, levies a $5 car tax on each car kept in the city limits of Trenton. Neighbouring Chillicothe still issues the sticker, and any car parked in Chillicothe city limits for an undisclosed period of time may receive a parking ticket if it is not displaying said window sticker.

As a friend of mine tells me, Trenton, and I'm assuming other Missouri communities, actually issued a plate topper that was to be displayed as proof of having paid the tax. This practice, I will presume, was discontinued at the onset of WWII to save metal.

Were I to hazard a guess, I think Fred's Plymouth may have been registered to the gentleman in Arkansas, but was in regular use by a son or daughter attending Missouri Southern or even Ozark or Messenger College in 1968. The sticker may have been purchased to avoid parking tickets and may have even been a requirement of the college to keep the car on campus. The sticker was just never removed for any number of reasons.

Just my speculation, since Joplin is so close to Arkansas and Kansas. I actually worked for a man that commuted on a regular basis from Springdale AR to Neosho MO to take classes at Crowder College. Why he chose to travel over 2 hours round-trip several times/wk vs. 40 minutes roundtrip to neighbouring Fayetteville to attend the University of Arkansas is a mystery to me, esp. since our employer's tuition re-imbursement program paid tuition and books but not travel expenses.

[Cpt.Fred]

that sounds plausible to me, captain. if only they could talk...

what i find amazing is the distances that were travelled in these cars on a regular basis.

i still have to calm down myself and learn to travel the autobahn with

50-55mph without listening to every little noise and constantly eyeing the gauges for a sudden pressure drop or temp rise... wait, is that noise new?

was there a misfire? water pump failure? should i pull over? can i go faster?

i wonder what my rpm are at the moment? and so on...

i'll learn pretty soon, i guess. they were built for this.

[Joe Flanagan]

Once I get my car on the road I know I'll be doing that as well. It will be about three months of paranoia while driving until I'm comfortable that everything is OK. Every noise will have me on the edge of my seat. My eyes will be glued to the instrument cluster.

Capt. Neon, that guy wasn't going to school in Neosho. He had a girlfriend there.

[Captain Neon]

Fred, I would be interested in knowing which community in Arkansas the previous owner hailed from. He may have been very close to the Arkansas-Missouri border.

Joe, if my ex-boss had a girlfriend in Neosho she must have been desperate, getting paid, or both. IMHO, it would have been smarter to find a new girlfriend closer to home in an area where there were there are over 400K people rather than one's former hometown of <11K. Lots of better-looking single mothers at the U of AR making a living the old-fashioned way. Wives keep old friendships and word travels fast in a small town. Of course, my ex-boss' stupidity was only eclipsed by his propensity for lying.

[BobT-47P15]

that's interesting, the papers don't show that. maybe i'll go ask mister loughmiller, the dealer, about it, he's a great guy and i haven't emailed him for too long, anyway.

if only these cars could talk...

Mr Loughmiller, the dealer........is he in Pittsburg, Kansas?

Just curious......I think I saw that name on a car lot there.

Pittsburg is about 35 miles from Joplin.

Edited July 1, 2010 by BobT-47P15

[Cpt.Fred]

bob, that's correct!

he's in pittsburg, i think it was on north broadway.

very nice man, only deals with 2doors of all kinds.

i payed quite a lot for that car, i guess, but he was very patient,

let it sit in his yard for nearly 3 months, purchased tires and battery,

new spark plug wires, changed oil and filter and helped me with the shipping,

and he didn't charge me a dime for it.

i hope he's alright for he didn't answer my last email and that's just not like him...

if you ever come by and have a chance to talk say hello from frederic and tell

him the rusty girl has a new, exciting life over here:)

sadly i do not know anything about the exact place the PO was living.

all i know about the car is the things mr. loughmiller told me and what was

on the papers i found in the car.