Projects '55 T-Bird "Wild Bird" Ayala Custom - Restoration

it is crazy to think it could be coke cans we drink out of now, glad it was spotted to be preserved for futuure custom fans.

now its time to start fixing all the problems we found under all that red primer and bondo! the hood was "out of shape" so a lot of hammer and dolly to get it straight again, making sure to keep the lead work. driver front wheel opening was really rusty and missing metal, so a section was hand formed and welded in, also that fender if you see pic was way in too (see pic with ruler). the passenger door only had small rust patch to do on the lower corner and the driver rear wheel opening if you look at past pics was also "out of shape", now its been hammer and dolly back to shape. the driver rocker repair was cut off complete! new metal is being made to fix it keeping as much of the original rocker as possible. we will fix the inner rocker when we do the floors and body mounts that need replacing.

 

go yaril go!

 

Awesome!

 

Looking good, it's great to see the progress!

 

Watching this one.

Very unique car

 

so the holidays / new years was a distraction well welcomed, but now its back to work on the Wild Bird!

we are looking for a solid parts car, can be a runner / driver can have damage, we mainly need complete drivetrain, interior and tons of misc parts, so its easier to just buy a complete car than piece it all together little by little. let me know if you have a 55 Tbird for sale!

[email protected]

as you last saw car was mostly hammered straight and shot in epoxy. now we have started some rust repairs and cutting out the rusty floors, as well as shot a coat of high build primer on it to get a better look at it. unfortunately this car was not taken very well care of. some pics...

 

[email protected]

as you last saw car was mostly hammered straight and shot in epoxy. now we have started some rust repairs and cutting out the rusty floors, as well as shot a coat of high build primer on it to get a better look at it. unfortunately this car was not taken very well care of.

It will be now
Torchie

 

Great job! The car has a great profile. I love that this lost custom is found and getting all the attention it deserves!

 

good morning I know its been a while since the last update. home purchase and expecting a baby boy will keep ya busy

so just wanted to drop in some more progress pics of the T-bird. we took the driver door off the donor car (the Ayala Tbird came with a rusty empty shell of a door) worked it a little to make it straighter, and started disassembling the internals. we took the fiberglass roof off the donor car, being that the Ayala roof has no kustom work on it and the back window frame was broken into pieces, we didn't see why struggle to repair a stock fiberglass roof, the donor roof only had some cracks from the sun beating on it that's an easy fix. we took the trunk off the donor car, the original trunk on the Ayala car (if it is "the original trunk") had the complete back lip reconstructed by some armature metal man, inner lip was rusted out and was pitting with rust very badly on flat surfaces. the donor trunk was shaved of its gas fill hole and its key hole, providing the same look without the rust. the new floor patches are all welded in place (except at the toe board, ill handle that when the body is off the frame). we have welded them completely closed and gone over them with a metal rust preventive primer.

so whats next? we are stink blocking the body, it will require another few coats of high build primer to achieve a surface good enough for paint. we are also going to fine tune the gaps on the trunk and doors (btw a lot of the "nuts" that are suppose to be in the door jamb to hang the doors are missing! ill have to weld in some nuts to properly mount the doors). then we will be ready to take the body off the frame for underside cleaning and resurfacing.

we are still looking for passenger front fender to cut and weld.

 

Glad to see progress on this historic car! Great job!

 

Very nice work!

 

What is "stink" blocking?

edit: never mind found it.

Not my video just found it doing a search.
The stink block starts about 4:48 but the beginning is pretty good too.

 

Here's a pic from RJ 40, when it was found.

 

Very cool!

 

It is in good hands, Looking forward to the next update.

 

I dont understand how a car that nice ( at one time) ends up in the condition it is. I have seen other customs found on farms in fields or behind some garage in the hood and just basically left to rot. Good luck with this "Revival". Can't wait to see the finished product.

 

some more progress on the Ayala t-bird restoration… we finally sourced an Olds passenger fender to repair the wheel opening. it looked to have been hit, and somebody welded another fender over the original, and there was also some round bar at the edge of the fender (all that was covered in bondo to make the shape look correct). most of the rest of the fender was well banged up too so we tried to use as much of the new fender to smooth things out…

also almost all the receiving nuts in the pillar were completely missing! we had to get creative and weld some nuts in order to mount the doors!

currently the body has been braced inside and is ready to be removed from the frame. we will spend just a little more time while on the frame to finalize fender metal work and another round of blocking and primer and tweaking panels.

original chrome parts are also getting ready to ship out to the plater!

 

Hey Yaril, tell your brother Sergio says hi. Also check this out:

http://miami.craigslist.org/pbc/cto/5518073708.html

 

This is some damn fine work! Beautiful job.

 

looks great, gotta admit tho, id luv it to c it with the hood scoop n the coppers fins, but either way tho luv it and cant wait to c it done

 

Watching this one!!

 

Look for this magazine it might help in the build Car Craft of August 1958 Custom T-Bird Trickery

 

So here's some new pics. Paint and assembly time!!!

 

Chassis getting together. Great job Yaril!!!

 

The Ayala brothers made beautiful customs and exercised something that few customizers of the time practiced..... RESTRAINT!

 

Floating T-Bird body about to land on frame! Big milestone for this project

Body on!


Loving the way the engine bay is turning out

 

Latest updates from Yaril!

 

Aces, Yaril!

 

nice work.....and save !

 

Wondering about smooth hood on it now? No plans for the hood scoop and louvers, the look so kool on there!!!