1956 Ford Ranch Wagon

This story started about 35 years ago, at the time I was living in northwest N.J. where I grew up. A good friend of mine Glen, was managing his father’s gas station / garage / car lot while his father developed property he had purchased in Virginia. In the basement of this garage were two cars, one was a ‘56 Ford station wagon with approximately 55,000 miles on it, which had been in the family since new. Glen’s uncle, the original owner, had the car shipped to Japan and back years earlier while he worked there. The wagon was then sold to a man, but before he could pick it up he was hospitalized at a mental health hospital for two years, never having titled the car in his name. When the man was released he said he couldn’t drive anymore, so he gave the title back for the storage bill.

I tried and failed repeatedly to buy the ‘56. Glen’s dad would ask me what I was going to do with it? I would answer “Fix it up and drive it.”, he’d tell me to make him an offer, I’d say,” I don’t want to insult you just tell me what you want and I’ll see if I can afford it “. He’d tell me “money can’t insult you, it’s ether enough or not enough!” Then he would walk away. (Glen’s dad was a hard man to deal with on money matters).

Sometime in the mid-seventies Glen’s family sold the garage and moved to Virginia taking a number of cars with them. The ‘56 was one of them and was driven south and put in a shed / barn like structure. I moved to VA. soon thereafter and remained close friends with Glen and his family and continued to try to purchase the wagon with the same results as before.

Glen’s dad passed away several years ago and to my surprise left me the ‘56. At the time I had no room in the driveway or $$ in the budget for another project so the ‘56 was left where it was. Last year Glen sold the property, so I brought the wagon home. The odometer shows 56,680 miles. It is a 4 door Club Wagon with a V8, which is ether a 292 or a 312 ci., a 3 on the tree, original black paint (what’s left of it) red interior and heater, but, radio delete. The years of storage have taken a toll on it though, so some serious work needs to be done.

continues