MAUD – 1936 FORD ROADSTER
I found this vehicle, my second acquisition, through my friend Ed Follis (who has been around old cars and trucks for a long time and who I’ve known since I was a kid) and Merritt and Linda Bitz of Mill Valley. Ed spied a one-day only listing on Craig’s list for a 1936 Ford stock roadster for sale and he emailed me knowing I would want to go take a look.
I called Merritt and Linda, who invited me down to see the beauty. What a fascinating couple, and what a great story. Merritt explained that the car, which originally belonged to his sister in Connecticut, was left to his brother Spencer. When Spencer decided to sell it was left up to Merritt to find the perfect buyer. Merritt was adamant that he did not want to sell this car to anyone who was going to change her in any way. I assured him I would love her just the way she was! After some serious conversations and a lot of laughs we struck a deal.
Finding this car was truly love at first sight. I could almost hear it saying, “Take me home, Donna, and I will change your life”. And that is exactly what happened. We named her Maud in honor of Maud Gray, my friend John’s grandmother, a most fascinating person you’ll read more about in a later blog. 1936 Fords are famous for their graceful design and are coveted by collectors. There were only about 4000 of these roadsters produced and very few (maybe 300) are left in Maud’s wonderful original condition. To the best of our knowledge it has the original engine, which is a 21 stud 1936 configuration with water pumps in the heads. This engine had been removed and temporarily replaced with a 1939-style engine while the original was being overhauled.
In future blogs you’ll be hearing more about Maud’s history, the search for 1936 Roadsters conducted by my friends Grant Fleming and John Swanberg, and you can read about Grant’s drive in his roadster from Ontario, Canada to Lake Tahoe, California.
