Help a USAF Combat Vet finish my last hot rod

My name is Tony, I am 58 and live in Phoenix. I hope you will read my story and understand why I am asking for help. I will try to keep it short.

When I was 3, my dad took off and we never heard from him again. Thankfully my uncle, a motorcycle mechanic and auto enthusiast, was always there for me. He instilled a love of cars in me.

On my 10th birthday, he got me my first tool kit and started teaching to wrench on his 69 Nova.

When I was 15, on the first day of 9th grade, I met my best friend in the world, Brian. We were both car guys.

When I turned 16 his grandmother sold me a 1968 Impala SS for $100.00, when Brian turned 16 she sold him her 1969 ElDorado. We spent the whole of high school working on those!

My senior year of high school, I left to join the air force. I had to sell my Impala because I had no place to store it. I spent a little over 2 years active then I developed a heart murmur and got an honorable, medical discharge.

I used the electronics training I got in the service to go into the computer industry. It was a good career that let me buy, build, trade and flip over 300 cars over the years.

In 1992 my best friend died of an aneurysm, 2 years later my uncle passed away from a heart attack. It was a bad time for me.

In 1998 I met my amazing wife. She was so supportive of me because her dad was also a hard core hot rodder. Life was good again!

Flash forward to 2011. I started feeling poorly around the start of the year. I had developed fatty liver disease, a few months later it advanced into full blown cirrhosis. Mind you this was not from drinking, I have never been a drinker. Most likely because I became too heavy. The term was NASH.

By the start of September I was in liver failure and went into the hospital, where I stayed for nearly two months. I suffered two bouts of ammonia poisoning which caused some brain damage/memory loss. On October 25th, 2011 I received a lifesaving transplant.

Sadly as I healed I realized I was not able to return to work. I had forgotten how to do much of my job.

I also lost some of my mechanical skills. Since then we have relied on only my wifes income. Thank goodness she has an amazing job!

Because of the high medical bills, despite really good insurance, I had to sell my 1964 ½ Barracuda (which my wife got me for my previous birthday) as well as all my other classic cars to help out.

I have had no classics since then, until last year. I brought home a complete 1956 DeSoto Firedome.

Sadly the first gen hemi was severely damaged. Cylinders were eaten away with rust.

So I did something I rarely ever did, I asked for help. A Facebook buddy came and helped me pull the drive train and gave me a few hundred bucks for it.

It was hard asking for help, I have spent my life helping others. After the service I volunteered with Children of the Night in Hollywood for a few years. I donated to food banks and charities, even helped friends with bills and groceries. But I never felt like I could ask for help. I was supposed to help others.

So asking for help is hard for me. But now I am asking. My health is not what I would like, I have left ventricular hypertrophy and I just got a full knee replacement.

The amazing guys from Junkyard Digs and Polebarn Garage, a couple of amazing YouTubers who rescue abandoned classics, came out, pulled the engine from a Dodge van and stuck it in my DeSoto.

Now I am asking the hot rodding community in general for help!

My dream is to drive this car 1000 miles on Route 66, before my mobility issues make driving too difficult for me.

My goal is to do this right after my 60th birthday on December 23rd, 2024.

If you can spare anything towards parts to complete the car, it would mean the world to me.

I still need brakes, driveshaft, tires, radiator, steering wheel, etc. Whatever I raise will go right in to the DeSoto and towards my Route 66 bucket list item!