Humans of Downey - Ron and Sally

"My first car was a 1941 Ford. In 1949 I was 11 years old. My mother had just died and my aunt and uncle came out to Ohio to pick me up and take me back to California to live with them. They came in the '41 Ford. By the time I was 13 years old, the Ford had worn out so they gave it to me. My older brother and I would work on race cars. He had a '38 Ford coupe. We would take it out to Fontana and drag race it on Foothill Blvd. When I went into the army at 17, I sold it.

"Actually, when I went into the army I had the '41 Ford that my aunt and uncle gave me. I had a '37 Ford that my sister gave me. I had a '46 Ford that I had bought and I had a '32 Ford Model A. I sold them all except the Model A. I also had a '46 Plymouth that I put up on blocks. When I came home three years later, I found my Plymouth up on blocks but I couldn't find my Model A. So I asked my dad where my car was. He said, 'Oh, I didn't think you wanted it anymore so I sold it.' He said he had sold it for $100 and back then a $100 for a '32 Ford was pretty good. They weren't the collector's piece they are today.

"I got on Facebook a couple of years ago and I found a girl that used to live up the street from me but now she lived in New Hampshire. She mentioned one time that she remembered the time my dad sold my Model T to her cousin. He completely redid it and he is still driving it around in Monterey Park. I told her it was a Model A and my dad wasn't supposed to sell it. But, oh well, what's done is done."

~ Ron