RIDE-CT – Classic Cars Celebrating Classic Cars in Connecticut
OXFORD, CT – It’s the centerpiece of a small collection of vintage cars that includes three World War II era models from Ford and a Porsche from the 1970s. The black 1939 Ford Deluxe convertible sedan holds that elevated status because Leigh Broderick of Oxford bought it as his first car when he was 16 years old, and paid only $1 for it.
While Broderick sold the sedan after three years of use, he reacquired it more than three decades later for $10,000. It has now been 62 years since he first got it in 1962. His other remarkable exhibits include a 1940 Ford Deluxe woody station wagon, 1941 Ford half-ton pickup, and 1977 Porsche 911S Targa that was purchased for his wife, Dot.
Check out the 1939 Ford convertible sedan in action in this YouTube video…
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It’s the 1939 ragtop that provides him with the most memories. It was in April 1962 that he landed it. His father was in the Governor’s Foot Guard. “They had a camp, up mid-state Connecticut, and they used to go up there on retreats and things,” he said of the volunteer military unit that handles ceremonial duties in the state.
“He comes home one time and he said that the camp is going to get rid of the car that’s on the property. They’re going to update it; they want a newer model … and they want to sell it. It’s only a dollar. So right away I asked him, ‘What is it?’ And he goes, ‘It runs.’”
The Ford wasn’t in great shape. It lacked a top, although the metal frame for the droptop was intact, and it had lettering on the doors identifying it. Broderick’s first hurdle was to get the car registered, but he met resistance at the state Department of Motor Vehicles.
Broderick recalled, “I went in and the guy said, ‘What’d you pay for it?’ I said, ‘I have a bill of sale here for a dollar.’ He said, ‘No, there’s no car you can buy for a dollar. It has to be $25. Nothing less.’ And I said, ‘But you asked me what I paid for it.’”
That exchange immediately resulted another hurdle for Broderick. “I didn’t have enough money to pay the tax on the 25 bucks. I had enough for the dollar. I’m 16 years old. I’m living on pennies,” he said.
With the seats consisting solely of springs, with no covering, Broderick was forced to find a solution, so he removed them “and put peach crates in the car. I sat on a peach crate and my girl friend sat on a peach crate. But I had the steering wheel to hang on to, so I went around a corner, she fell over.”
In November 1962, Broderick drove the car, still sans top, to New Hampshire to visit a friend and maybe get in some skiing because the forecast called for snow.
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“Myself and two buddies from high school get into the car, and back then there was a toll in West Haven. It was probably eight o’clock at night, it’s freezing. All three of us were in the front seat and that’s crammed because we had heavy jackets and hats. The guy that’s taking the money said, ‘Where are you guys going?’ We said, ‘New Hampshire.’ I don’t think he believed us. But we did. We ended going all the way up that night and every hundred miles, without even looking at the dipstick, I stopped and put a quart of oil in it.”
It did snow overnight and the car had to be cleaned out before the group could go skiing.
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Broderick kept the Ford until 1965 when he needed money to go to Fullerton Junior College in California. He sold it to a cousin for $350 who soon passed it on to someone else that Broderick knew. His cousin had decided that he wanted to join Broderick in college in California as well.
Eventually back from college, and with the 1939 Ford long out of his possession, Broderick was working for a swimming pool builder in 1970 when he spotted the 1940 woody parked in the front yard of a house in Southington with a “For Sale” sign on it.
“I said to myself, ‘If this car is under a thousand dollars, I’m going to buy it.’ I had no money, but the car was awesome. It was a flathead. It was right back where I wanted to be,” he said.
By this time, Broderick was married to Dot and they had two kids. Dot was driving a manual transmission 1967 Opel station wagon, which she agreed to let him sell for $1,100 to finance the $900 purchase of the woody. The wagon ended up being the family car for a couple of years.
It wasn’t always reliable. A balky starter required that the car be bump started regularly, with Broderick behind the wheel popping the clutch. The car usually got parked on an incline but that wasn’t always possible. “She pushed this car more times to get it going,” he said.
One time they were in Maine having breakfast when the woody wouldn’t start. “Dot’s in the back pushing. Six guys on their Harleys pull in, get off their bikes and gave it a shove,” he said.
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The woody eventually got restored in 1995. It was in 1996 or ’97 that Broderick bought the 1941 Ford pickup and got it restored as well. The Porsche 911S only arrived about three years ago when Broderick got the notion that it would be a perfect fit for Dot.
“She always loved shifting,” he said, recalling the Opel. They were returning from having dinner out one night when the idea of buying a Porsche popped into his head. “ I don’t know where this came from. It was just a crazy moment,” he said.
It took about six months to find a clean, original Porsche. Unfortunately, after trying out the Targa, Dot discovered that she wasn’t physically able to drive it.
Getting the 1939 Ford back was unexpected. After 33 years, in 1998, its then owner called and left a message that he was ready to part with the car. “My heart must have stopped ’cause I didn’t really think that this was ever going to happen,” Broderick said.
However, when he returned the call, he was told by the man’s wife that it wasn’t for sale. “I was like sky high and now I’m down here,” he said, pointing to the sky and then to the ground as he told the story.
But he did manage to get the Ford back. He put it away and it sat until 2006. It got repainted, not once but twice, and a replacement Ford flathead V8 engine was dropped in it. “It’s a dream that came true. I really didn’t think I’d ever get it back,” Broderick said.
