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This WAS my 1936 Ford Convertible Sedan, which my family named "Miss Smithfield." I sold my car to Dave Milen in OHIO at the end of September 2008. A whole page of 36 Ford convertible sedans can be seen by first clicking on the "36 Convertible Sedan Info" link at the bottom of this page and then clicking on the "All Convertible Sedans" dial link that appears on that page. On that page, scroll to bottom and click on "More 36 convertible sedans" to see the new SECOND page of these beautiful cars. I broke them into two pages in order to add more cars and also cut down on the time it takes to load each page.
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This is my SECOND 1936 Convertible Sedan that was purchased 8/2/2007 from Mike Sublett who had owned the car since 1970. It is powered by a 302 Ford engine with C4 trans. It NOW has Heidts SuperRide II Mustang II coilover shock front end and custom four bar COIL rear suspension. The grey ultraleather interior looks great and the Vintage Air AC blows COLD! I bought the car and then drove it to the NSRA Nationals in Louisville, KY. Event was huge but weather was too hot to do much exploring. Mostly stayed inside and ate ice cream and spent money! Big THANK YOU to my friend, Gerry Burger, who encouraged me to buy the car. Of course, it was just a few weeks earlier that I was encouraging HIM to buy that 40 pickup he had always wanted. However I was encouraging him to buy it from ME!!
I completed the changeover to the new Heidts frontend on October 8th, 2008 and it rides much better and the stance is much improved. On July 18, 2009, I completed the changeover to a new Chassis Engineering rear suspension with a Granada rear (pulls wheels in total of 1 and 3/4 inches and lowers the car). The pic above is after the installation of the Heidts frontend. Note the improved stance and the front wheels are tucked in. I hope to post a pic with the new rear suspension soon.
Since the blue convertible sedan was sold, the family decided to move the "Miss Smithfield" monica to the black convertible sedan. It is actually the third 1936 Ford convertible to wear the name. The first was a cabriolet.
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First pic of the Chopped Coupe was created by AJ Fitting and shows one of the two ADDITIONAL domain names that now ALSO go to THIS web site. The additional domain names (36ford and 1936ford) were GIVEN to me by AJ and Ron Horrell. Ford folks helping Ford folks. THANKS! Last pics are of my dog, "Kitty," behind the wheel of the coupe. He wanted to go to the Black Dog Garage that is run by one of his pals down in FL but we never made it... Kitty got cancer in a front leg and we had to put him to sleep 12/29/06... a VERY sad day for the whole family. He lives on in our great memories of such a gentle, loving dog.
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The FAT RAT, 39 CHEVY COUPE; chopped five inches, SHORTENED four inches. Powered by 454 with tunnel ram and 750 Edelbrock. Turbo 400 trans. Quick change rear end from "roundy round" race car. It really "sings." Special music for all rodders. This picture is late 1993 after initial rebuild. Please click on the link below (with a dial) to see the Fat Rat on several magazine covers. I put them on a separate page to cut down on the load time for this page.
The RAT made the short list for a pick at Richmond in 2008 but was not selected. STILL not too bad for a car that won BEST ENGINEERED at the Nats South AND the Nats East in 1980. Twenty-eight years ago at the time!
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Hi! I'm Al Casteen and live in Smithfield, VA. I have owned and built old cars since 1968(age 19). Most have been street rods but a few have been stock. I am proud to have been a member of the Portsmouth Street Rod Association since it first started in 1974 in Portsmouth, VA. In 2002, I became an associate member of Westchester Street Rod Association which is based in White Plains, NY and was chartered in 1974, too. I've been a member of NSRA since 1/1/1975. Yeah, I SHOULD have bought the Lifetime Member deal, too! While I really like 36 Fords, I do own a pretty trick 39 Chevy coupe that was originally built by Mike Wiley in Roanoke Rapids, NC. The car was first introduced in 1980 and is known as the "FAT RAT." The car won a number of awards including Best Engineered at the Nats South AND Nats East in 1980. It was on the cover of Rod Action AND Popular Hot Rodding at the same time in 1980. I've owned the car since 1986, but I am just the current custodian of MIKE'S car.
I am usually working on several projects and keep selling from an inventory of more than a few "spare" parts. I hope to share some progress, ideas, and maybe sell a few things through this site. I'm still working on the site and appreciate your patience. Suggestions are welcomed. Thanks.......................................... NOTE: You can link to a "Gas Cap Tip" page at the EXTREME lower right of THIS page(sorry for the need to scroll right). Check it out. It is great for saving paint on your car/truck. Please take a moment to check out the other of this web site that can be accessed via the links below. You'll have to use the link LISTED ABOVE to see the page that has the magazine cover pictures of the Fat Rat. My dog, "Kitty," and my truck, "Bullet," are on the projects page. The stuff for sale page has been expanded and there now is a WHOLE page for Guests AND TWO pages of JUST 1936 Ford Convertible sedans. We now have a new "40 pkps" page that features my 40 Ford pickup nicknamed "Bullet". The editor of Rodder's Digest magazine recently extensively and hilariously reviewed the dashboard in "Bullet" in his editorial in the Dec 2005 issue which has a yellow 35 Ford cabriolet on the cover. Try to locate a copy for humorous observations on driving an old pickup. He also had a few comments about the OWNER! IF you can't find the magazine, click on the button above for magazine articles on Casteen, etc. Be sure to check out all NINE pages of the web site. I bought a SECOND 40 pickup that is a street rod in June from Tom Trovato in Wmsbg, VA and we are STILL friends even though it left me TWICE with electric fuel pump failures!! The WIFE was ON BOARD both times!! I now carry TWO backup fuel pumps!! She STILL likes the new truck and wants to ride in it, too!! THAT is a surprise! I'm wondering what she wants. 9/16/06. Elec fuel pump failed again with my granddaughter, Savannah, on board. She said, "Good, Dandy, now I can help you fix it." I LOVE her attitude. "We" did fix it and drove it home but I revised the whole elec fuel pump setup on the pickup to have TWO fuel pumps, an EXTRA clear filter, a fuel pressure regulator, and a fuel pressure gauge. I also CHANGED FUEL PUMP BRANDS to Borsch. Hopefully, if the fuel pump fails again, all I'll have to do is switch the power lead to the other pump and drive on home. I prefer to do my fuel pump maintenace at home and not on the side of the highway. Replaced rear suspension and rear end in red pkp by 12/7/06. Rides MUCH better. I SOLD the red 40 pkp to Gerry Burger in TN in July 2007. Also added some more 36 Ford convertible sedans to our 2nd gallery page. New 40 Ford black pickup purchase in March 2007 on 40 pkp web page, Check out the new 36 convertible sedan. I ordered a new Heidts Superride 2 front end for the black convertible sedan at York, 2008 and finished the installation in October of 2008. The Fat Rat was pressed into service to take me to York in 2008 and did great and the AC was cold. Sold the black 40 pickup in January 2009 and bought new chopped 40 pickup in March 2009. Have since painted it (in epoxy primer), changed the steering column and rewired it and removed the leaking remote oil filter. Drove it to York in 2009. I've resumed work on building my 40 pkp with the front clip from a 1936 Ford CAR. It started quickly on the first attempt on 12/23/09 and I DROVE it out of garage on 12/31/09! You can check the progress on the "40 pkps" page by clicking button at bottom of this page. Thanks for visiting. 1/05/10.
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