Terraplane Purchase

My dad finally bought the Terraplane he has been wanting for years.

Racing has run in my family for years. Back in the '50s my grandpa had an Essex Terraplane that he raced. I have been teaching Alex that you have to take enough parts to make a spare car to the race; using this same logic, my grandpa had bought a spare Terraplane for parts or as a backup car.

Then he had his accident. One night in 1959, as he was driving Westbound along Highway 30 near the Sauvie Island bridge, a drunk stumbled out of a tavern and into the road in front of my grandpa's car. He swerved and missed the drunk (who stumbled away, never to be heard from again). Unfortunately, at that time, the road was only two lanes, with a retaining wall against the hill on the SW side of the road; he hit the retaining wall. In the days before air bags, crumple zones, and even seat belts, this was a devastating occurrence. The 1954 Plymouth was, of course, totaled. Worse, my grandpa's head was shoved into his chest cavity and he was assumed to be dead at the scene by the emergency crew. Fortunately, he was NOT dead, and had nearly 50 years ahead of him. However, he never raced again.

That spare Terraplane sat in his garage. It sat . . . and sat . . . and sat. Even when he didn't have much garage to put it in, the Terraplane was always there, inside the garage. Today it is really in good shape, considering that it is nearly 80 years old, hasn't ran in at least 50 years, and has never been rebuilt. To people who do not often see un-rebuilt cars from the '30s, the Terraplane would look like a pile of rusted steel. To an old car aficionado, however, the Terraplane is in very good condition – very restorable would be a little more accurate.

That restoration is a project that my dad has put quite a bit of time and money into. Over the past several years, he has searched exhaustively for all the parts it would take to restore the Terraplane, and has bought many of them. Because this car is so rare, however, the problem with parts is not just the expense . . . it is the existence. There are a handful of collectors throughout the country, and they have snatched up all of the Terraplanes and Terraplane parts in existence. Occasionally he will find a part or two for sale – he once had a bumper shipped from Pennsylvania – but in general the only way to get the parts is to make them from scratch.

Then, last week, he found a Terraplane for sale on eBay. A complete, fully restored Terraplane. A 1933 Hudson Essex Terraplane 5-window coupe, restored as a Street Rod, but with generally original lines – it hasn't been drastically altered by chopping, etc. Through the small world of Terraplane collectors, he was able to figure out who owns the car; it belongs to a collector in Ohio who has an entire heated shop full of Terraplanes – he has spent years (and a sizable fortune) buying every Terraplane that has come on the market. My dad called the collector, and got the story behind the car. This particular car was rebuilt for a wealthy Canadian rancher who later developed MS, so he had to sell the car. As part of the deal, the collector agreed to let the rancher visit the car and take him on rides whenever he is in Ohio. Basically, the Canadian rancher has visitation rights. The collector is now forced to liquidate some of his collection, but is not willing to allow the Canadian's visitation rights to expire. For this reason, he does not want to sell the car to any of the numerous dealers who have inquired about the car. Instead, he gave my dad an offer he could not refuse . . . and he did not. He bought the car, and agreed to give the Canadian rancher a ride anytime he happens to be in town.

Now he is trying to figure out how best to ship the car from Ohio. He had considered flying back and driving the car (it is fully restored, and is mechanically capable of a long-distance road trip), but I believe he is leaning toward shipping it.