Thanks again guys for the advise. I'll be talking to him again here soon. As I said, it really shocked me when he even considered selling it. But he has so many of these vehicles from his parents that he wants to restore, but he is really more interested in the tractors and the old IH 1 ton truck. The 36 and the 56 Ford (2 door sedan) are on the back, back, back burner and he and I both know he'll NEVER get to them. He actually talked to his plan for the 36 would be to "restore to original" and he knows my intentions would be to not "restore but to restofy". I wouldn't feel to comfortable driving the car very much with the mechanical brakes, so updating those would be a priority. And if you're doing that, then update the running gear and suspension and so on and so forth.

Randyr I know you weren't necessarily talking the flathead. And I realize there are lots of Ford engines that would work. But as you so astutely noted, I am a Chevy guy. Not sure how you might have figured that one out....I never really said that I was..... Maybe it was the Corvette?

He and I have been friends for 32 years and I get the feeling that he might make me a deal. But I don't want to screw him either.

Thanks specifically in the areas to look for on these cars. If there are other specific things/places please post them up as I will be looking at it again.

Just for reference, We are both high school shop teachers, he's the auto-welding-sheetmetal guy, I'm the woodworking-drafting/design guy. We have been teaching together for 32 years, right across the hall from one another. Pictures above were taken in the shop, although he took the car home about two years ago. We help each other out all the time. In reality, I think he realizes that I might actually get to doing the car.