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Projects New Daily Driver - Squarebird

Discussion in 'The Hokey Ass Message Board' started by guthriesmith, Oct 9, 2020.

  1. cometman98006
    Joined: Sep 4, 2011
    Posts: 223

    cometman98006
    Member

    They are a cool looking rig' I had a '60 bird but had nothing but trouble. Got it off a used car lot in 1964 but later found the spedo was set back and there were lots of other issues. We were coming back to Seattle for Christmas and I was planning to spend most of my 2 weeks looking for a job. Had a rod bearing go out and my Dad drove from Seattle to southern Oregon to tow it home. I worked my way through college at Sears Auto center and with their help got a rebuilt engine and did the engine change and I actually also found a job. Drove it back to LA rented a trailer plus one for my dad loaded them up and headed back to Seattle. The trip back was ok but them the problems came out of the woodwork. Struggled with it but finally in 1969 I got a "69 charger from the regional rep with only 4000 miles on it and every accessory offered so it was good by TB. Now when I find one at a car show I go damn that was a good looking car. That one in the picture is a nice one.

    Gil Halley
     
  2. desotot
    Joined: Jan 29, 2008
    Posts: 2,036

    desotot
    Member

    this does look nice
    [​IMG]
     
  3. I fully endorse this suggestion. While I tend to go with short ones, I would probably get some long glass packs for the Thunderbird.
     
    Thor1, Jrs50, guthriesmith and 3 others like this.
  4. Because of peer pressure, :rolleyes: will likely end up with some glasspacks of some sort. Strangely enough, I had been offered a set of Smithy's last Friday and need to follow up on those.

    Anyway, trying to make some more memories in the car. Samuel turned 16 Sunday, so what better car to have him drive us to his birthday dinner. :cool: You can see just how excited my other 16 year old son is to be riding in the back seat with his sister :D (who will turn 16 in about 2 weeks :eek:).

    IMG_1053[1].JPG
     
  5. Tell Silas that he's growing his mullet in the wrong direction. It's business in the FRONT and party in the BACK.
     
  6. .....that's a lotta 16 year olds. Prayers to ya!!! :)
     
  7. Stopped by the muffler shop yesterday afternoon to get a quote on how much my buddy is going to charge me for some mufflers and slight modifications to the exhaust and turn downs at the rear. The turn downs go down a little too far for me and drag the ground occasionally especially when I am hauling 300 lbs or so of feed in the trunk or like when all 5 of us in the family rode in the car to church last Wednesday night. :rolleyes: The guys at the local feed store look at me kind of funny when I pull through and they load the feed in the trunk. Also, it has been misting some lately and I think I need to get the windshield wipers fixed soon. Rain-X is great when it is raining, but not so good for mist or following trucks on the highway after a rain. And, seems the airflow over this car kind of skips the center of the windshield which also isn't ideal for Rain-X. The wipers sort of work, so I figure just sealing up the vacuum leaks will get them going again. I'm sure the seals dried up from sitting. Anyway, still enjoying the car overall. I did have to open up the valve in the heater hose to let some heat in since it is getting down in the low 30's at night now. Heat seems to work good...maybe too good unless the heater valve is closed.

    AA370FF5-3991-43DE-BF7A-AFC344BEDAAB.jpeg
     
    Last edited: Dec 1, 2020
  8. Feed store guys look at everybody funny, that's why they are feed store guys.


    In my younger life, I was a feed store guy.... on occasion.
     
  9. Confirming my need for windshield wipers today.

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    Last edited: Dec 2, 2020
  10. Finally getting some new mufflers today. Decided to just go back with turbos since this car has too nice of an area to stuff them in and that didn’t really require any modifications to anything else. Did change up the turn downs to not have them as low to the ground. Looking forward to it not sounding like crap here shortly. And, the answer to what the car is on the lift above the trailer next to it...it is an altered with a blown mopar owned by my buddy that owns the muffler shop.

    3F56F6B8-173C-452A-B3A3-6924474C86E2.jpeg
     
    Last edited: Dec 8, 2020
  11. Turbos....
    wimp

    Just kidding, still love ya, man.
     
    VANDENPLAS, Thor1 and guthriesmith like this.
  12. catdad49
    Joined: Sep 25, 2005
    Posts: 6,399

    catdad49
    Member

    The Bird’s The Word!
     
    loudbang, Jrs50, Thor1 and 1 other person like this.
  13. Yeah, what Jrs50 said, but I mean it. ;-)
     
    Moriarity, loudbang, Jrs50 and 2 others like this.
  14. I like those '58-'60 birds, a friend back in my high school days had a white '60 that was lowered and had chrome wheels. I had it in the back of my mind to try and find one when I ran across the '56. Nice score, Mr. Smith!
     
    drdave, loudbang, Jrs50 and 3 others like this.
  15. Yea, yea, I wimped out, but am ok with how it sounds. :D Strangely enough, it has more of a glasspack sound maybe since the mufflers are all the way at the back or something than I would have expected. The 2" pipes likely also play into the sound. Anyway, glad you and Bret still love me even though I failed you. :rolleyes: Driving it about 100 miles or so yesterday was much more enjoyable than what it has been with the huge hole in the muffler.
     
  16. Seems these two thought it sounded ok (or like the farm truck that likely feeds them) considering they came up to the fence when I parked there for a minute last night...lol ;)

    IMG_1131[1].JPG
     
  17. alanp561
    Joined: Oct 1, 2017
    Posts: 4,609

    alanp561
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    I've got something similar happening here. The neighbor's entire herd of cows and calves come running to the fence when I fire up the Harley.
     
  18. Yuck...one of the couple days a year we get snow...

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    drdave, Billy Batz, Okie Pete and 4 others like this.
  19. Thor1
    Joined: Jun 6, 2005
    Posts: 1,664

    Thor1
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    Yeah, today we finally got a little snow - probably just shy of 1". I am definitely not enthused about snow. The older I get, the less I like it...o_O:confused::rolleyes:
     
  20. Fortunately you got way more than what we did here in Springfield. ;-)
     
    Thor1, loudbang and guthriesmith like this.
  21. Snow hasn’t melted yet... But, at least the highways are clear.

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    Last edited: Dec 14, 2020
    drdave, Billy Batz, Okie Pete and 4 others like this.
  22. 4 pedals
    Joined: Oct 8, 2009
    Posts: 958

    4 pedals
    Member
    from Nor Cal

    Does that thing take forever to get warm like every other old Ford I've owned?

    Devin
     
    Thor1 likes this.
  23. Lol...My wife and I just got home from church this evening and it warmed up about the time we pulled in the driveway. I suppose that was about a 5 mile trip. She was telling me how her feet were frozen so I suppose the answer is yes. :p
     
    drdave, Thor1, loudbang and 2 others like this.
  24. Salt sucks... Warming up today so will need a bath.

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    selohssa, 48fordnut, drdave and 5 others like this.
  25. So, I have been driving around for a few days now with my drivers side window not working. After figuring out how inconvenient that is when pulling up to the mailbox, bank, drive through, etc., I decided to figure out why it wouldn’t work today. Seems the bullet electrical connectors aren’t a very tight fit and like to come apart. This also happened when I went to test drive the car and the window wouldn’t go up. Anyway, I didn’t want to cut the original ends off the wires (at least right now), so made some “tethers” with zip ties to keep them together. Kinda redneck...but I suspect it will work for a long time. :rolleyes:

    Also, makes me wonder who thought using a window crank was SO hard in the first place and that they needed some way to make it easier? Not sure I have ever had an issue with a crank...
     
    Last edited: Dec 17, 2020
  26. It's been a couple weeks since I updated anything here. I suppose that is a good thing since I have just been driving it every day which makes almost 3 months of doing so. About the only thing I have done lately is replace the air filter with a better setup than what was on it. I had to make a couple parts at work for that deal, but it is a way cleaner setup than what was there...plus it may actually filter the air going into the engine now more than just rocks and leaves and big chunks. :rolleyes:

    Now that it seems to be a little more reliable after chasing down some of its gremlins, I may start fixing some of the small things that bother me. In several of the pics I have posted previously, you can see where the paint is flaking off the rocker panel under the driver's door. When I went to wash all the salt off the car from driving it a couple days in the snow, more of that came off as well as most of the paint on the trim piece on the front of the hood scoop and a big chunk right behind the driver's door on the quarter panel. I still may just spot these areas in for now until I can make time to paint the thing. The way this thing is losing paint all over, it needs to be completely stripped and we know what that turns into. Maybe I can make myself tackle it one panel at a time when I do get ready to fix all that. Here is a pic showing just how bad the paint really is on this thing...also has some rust popping up in the bottom of the driver's door that needs dealt with. Even though it looks decent in pics, the paint is pretty crappy.

    IMG_1119[1].JPG

    Another thing I want to fix is how the front stabilizer bar is mounted. It has a mis-matched set of brackets attaching it to the bottom of the radiator core support complete with some wire holding the rubber in on one side. I think I will build some new ones to fix that and can figure that out when I change the oil in the next few days. The rubber on both ends is also pretty much gone and needs replaced. I am also starting to wonder about getting a radio in the thing or some fancy new-fangled Bluetooth something or another that will let me hook my phone up to the speakers. The quiet has been a nice break, but a little music for the daily commute would also be nice. Anyway, I suppose I should post a recent pic as well since we know all posts are better with those... Passenger side of the car definitely looks better than the driver's side with the peeling paint.

    IMG_1199[1].JPG
     
  27. BrandonB
    Joined: Feb 24, 2006
    Posts: 3,434

    BrandonB
    ALLIANCE MEMBER
    from nor cal

    Yup, very cool. We had a 58' black on black when I was a kid growing up. The old man hit a telephone pole square in the nose, claimed that "a deer jumped out in front of me.":rolleyes:o_O
     
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  28. Pinstriper40
    Joined: Sep 24, 2007
    Posts: 3,602

    Pinstriper40
    Member

    I miss my '59 bird. They really are the best driving old Fords... So much fun! Enjoy yours, and stock up on parts while you can!
     
    Thor1, drdave, loudbang and 1 other person like this.
  29. Speaking of parts... there are a couple of these old birds that have been sitting next to a house about 2 miles from me for years. I keep meaning to go ask about them...
     
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