1940 Ford Convertible Part 2

In the first blog post I questioned whether Dad had gotten this car.  There’s no photo of it.  But he did get it.  He went to Detroit from Los Angeles to pick it up and drive it home.
We can follow his route from Detroit – he first visited family in DeKalb, Illinois and then Wayne, Nebraska.  Then Denver and south to Albuquerque, New Mexico.  Holbrook, Kingman, Barstow, to Hollywood – sounds like Route 66.  Then he used it as he called on customers in southern California and Arizona.
Here’s the description of the car and his contract.
Wouldn’t it be fun to do that same trip today in a 1940 Ford convertible?

Graduation Gift

My brother, Tom, provided much of this story including the photos. Our father, Frank Claycomb, liked owning and driving cars. He was born in 1915 and grew up in a small rural town in Nebraska, so cars were still a bit of a novelty.

1930 Ford brochure

His grandfather was a prominent man who bought a car for each of his grandchildren when they graduated from high school. Dad’s brother, John, had gotten one the year before when he graduated.

Dad fixated on that idea and researched, studied, and figured out just what car he wanted for his 1931 graduation. He spent the entire year pestering the auto dealers in Wayne, comparing the various possibilities and their prices. Either the Ford or the Chevy.

1931 Chevrolet brochure

1932 Chevrolet brochure.

1931. The Great Depression. When graduation day arrived Grandpa Bressler handed him an envelope which when opened yielded a five dollar bill. He had decided he could not afford to buy a car for the graduates. Dad was devastated. He said he was angry and hated his grandfather. Eventually he came to realize that this depression was real and actually impacted the family and him. Prior to this painful event he hadn’t realized what was taking place in the country.  He told this story until the end of his life.

Ford Convertible Club Coupe 1940

Did Dad buy this convertible?  I don’t remember any photos of it, but here’s the letter they gave him.  Update:  I found out more – he did get it!  Check here.

Dad Liked New Cars

My father bought a 1937 Pontiac Coupe June 26, 1937.  I know because he kept the paperwork.  The shocking thing to me is that he traded in a 1936 Chevy (or Chrysler) sedan – it was just a year old!

He did get a good amount for trade-in so he paid only $230.45 cash for the new car.

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And yet in 1938, he bought an Olds 6 and that I think was the car they drove from Detroit to California.

Here’s one photo from that trip.  More photos are on an earlier post.  Do I have it identified correctly?

 And then I think that having children and living through WWII brought an end to that extravagance.  But he loved getting a new car.