Robert Ek is the picture of patience. Ek, of Kansas City, bought a 1932 Ford five-window coupe in 1954 for $25. He was 18 years old and a college student at Finlay Engineering  College, a now-defunct school at 12^th Street and Cleveland Avenue in Kansas City.

 He towed the car behind a friend’s station wagon to his parents’ house. Upon seeing the car, his dad remarked, “That junk won’t be here after this weekend, will it?”

 Ek set upon the Ford in a flurry. He put in an Oldsmobile engine and transmission, chopped the top and channeled the body. Channeling is lowering the body over the frame so the car has a lower profile. With the bodywork roughed in and the car in primer, Ek put it in storage in 1960 when he went into the Air Force.

 During the next couple of decades Ek’s Ford went into and out of storage several times. In 1980 he began work on the car again. He had the fenders removed, the body put back in its original position and installed a Chevrolet engine and transmission. The car, in his words, “was not looking so good,” so it went back into storage.

 In 1986, Ek brought the car out of storage once again and refused what he called a “ridiculously high” offer for it. It continued to sit.

 In the mid-1990s, Ek got serious about his project and took the car to Mike Winfrey, who had a shop behind his house. Winfrey’s business later became Hot Rod Express in Blue Springs. Winfrey completely disassembled Ek’s car, discarded the suspension and drivetrain and started over. It took about three years for the car to get a complete makeover, including upholstery by Leonard Gaither.

 In 1997, 43 years after its purchase, Ek’s dream car was finally complete. He and his son-in-law, Greg Schermerhorn, drove it to the Goodguys car show in Des Moines.

 Ek bought his car when he was 18 and now he’s 73. Not many folks are willing to pursue a project for so long, but it’s easy to see from the glint in Ek’s eye that the wait was worth it.