im finally making progress on my 58 custom 300, it was sitting at my sisters for well over a year, with hardly any work done to it, exposed to the rain and sun, on a small concrete slab with no room to work on it. finally got it towed back to my grandmas house where it used to sit before my grandpa asked for it to be moved so he can get access to his car (he was in a walker before he passed away), well now my grandma wanted it back over there so i can work on it, so its finally back! me and my dad looked at it real carefully, because im gonna put a 460 c6 in there.. and i told him i wanna build this right this time. so, new suspension, brakes, everything. but we looked under the body today and saw it was completley rusted out, the body mounts are in horrible shape, rust everywhere, coke cans from the 70s are used as body filler pretty much with bondo. the body is flat out useless. the doors and windshield and trunk are the good parts, (and the front fenders too), just the main body. my dad gave me the idea to get a whole new body. that got me thinkin.. what can i put on it? i know i can get a 57, but what about a ranchero body too? could a 57, or 58 ranchero body fit on my 58 frame?? or are there differences in the rancheros/ passenger cars. also how about a 59 body, would that bold into place on the frame?? hopefully you guys have some insight on this, i think that's what i need to do, get a whole new body for this thing, might be cheaper and alot better
I think you should put an S-10 body on it. I'm always hearing how the S-10 is the easiest swap going so that's what you should do.
So if the body is that shot, what's the frame look like? Sounds like you need a different car or a whole lot of welding. What other cars have you considered building? start with one of those.
'57 and '58 Ranchero bodies will fit, but most of them I've seen are rustier than sedans! And I'm in California! S-10 indeed. Isn't that a Japanese Chevy?????
Why??? If you are not gonna try and save the body that defeats the purpose to me. Tho I did have a set of wheels once and traded for a car they would fit
Ranchero is on a station wagon frame. '57 sedan will work fine they had the same floor pan as the '58. Do not get a rag top or hard top body they will bolt on but the chassis isn't heavy enough to hold them. I doubt that a '59 body will fly I think it is a one year only floor pan. They are ugly as butt anyway. I probably shouldn't even suggest this but you can no doubt fix what you have, I wouldn't swap bodies unl;ess i found one dirt cheap.
I think you should quit being a pussy and start fixing some rust. Seriously, not to come across as a dick (probably too late for that now) but let's see some pictures of this terrible rust. Floor pans and body mounts are totally fixable, let's see how bad this one is before you go off and buy a whole new body.
With all due respect, I would like to see pictures of all your rust as well. Being from the midwest, I suspect the car you think is wasted is probably a good project car around here. I don't recall hearing about any mid-late 50s Fords that still had floor pans, inner rockers, or body mounts left for at least the last 25 years. Then again, I have seen some really crap CA cars. I agree with the guy that said channel your car, your building a custom, right? Drop the body down a few inches over the frame, cut off the bottom few inches of rotted metal and build new mounts and floors, OR go buy a better car. If the body is really that rotted out, the frame likely isn't much better. Gene
Hollanders Interchange says the '58 Ford Custom frame is is 923, different frame from other '58 Fords (Customs had 116 inch wheelbase, Fairlane had 118). It says it interchanges with their number 756, which is '57 Customs with 116 inch wheelbase, while Fairlanes had 118 inch wheelbase). The station wagons for both years had 116 inch wheelbase, but don't interchange, according to Hollanders. All '59 Fords had 118 inch wheelbase. Put floor pans and floor braces in it. Learn a lot and have fun.
So you've got a complete '58 Ford but it needs work? Well, welcome to old cars Buddy. What you've described sounds like common issues a lot of 50+ year old cars have. What happens if you buy a replacement body but it turns out that needs repairs too? Or wont bolt straight up with out some mods? Throw that away and go searching again?
Don't give up on that 58 ford body yet!! my car was in bad shape but I keep up on it little by little now look at it
Your Rusted out junk California car is what we call a nice builder in the Northeast. Here you spend 3 years welding before you can bolt on those chrome goodies.....
heya buddy! how ya been??? aint talked in a coons age man, we need to get together and break bread, soonish! love ya man! by the way, this is Jon, and he dont mince words... LMAO i agree. california rusted out is a LOT different than rust up this way... here we make a deal to buy a car, sweep it back into the bags and haul it home
Sounds like you have no fabrication skills to fix the rust. Go to junior college and get some welding classes under your belt, then junp on that rust like a cheap whore. If you blow it apart to rebody it, you may never get it finished and it will sit, get sold, or worse, scrapped.
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