Ive been feeling a hankering for a project thats a little outside of my comfort zone. Last Saturday I put a deposit down on this 54 and got her picked up and moved to my house today. I am a new member here so I am hoping I can lean on the wisdom that exists here. Background on the vehicle: been sitting for the last 33 years was a daily driver before that. Owner recently passed away from cancer. My plans for the car is to address the body and paint, make it run, swap to disc brakes, address the interior, lower stance and then maybe eventually stuff a larger motor inside it but that is so far down the road its not even worth talking about yet. got it home and got most of the grunge off it... theres some pitting on the roof, a small dent, some work on the rear p/s quarter fender. and maybe a door or two that will need replacement. any recommendations on keys?
A lock smith should be able to make a key. Maybe a mobile guy can come to your house and make them. I don't remember if that car had two keys or one. If you can't get the trunk open, remove the back seat and climb into the trunk that way. You should be able to remove the trunk latch from inside the trunk.
Very cool. '54 was a "year of firsts" for Ford. First OHV (239 Y-block) and first year for ball joints as well. Have fun!
Luckily for me the gentleman who was handling the sale for the Widow (family friend) ran a tow company for most of his life so he unlocked everything for me, except the glove box, thats still locked. I looked into a few mobile and non mobile locksmiths so far in my area and every one of them spoke to me like I was crazy. Unfortunately until I can get a key all of the parts in the cab and the trunk are at risk of anyone who happens to walk by my house. Im hoping the existing engine is a runner, if I am lucky I can use the 239 until I decide if I want to try to go bigger.....I really want to go bigger.
Get used to people thinking your crazy! Lock smiths, people at the parts store, your relatives! But all of us here know you have just the right amount of crazy to bring an old car back to life!
I'm a 54 Ford guy and just happen to be the administrator over on the '54 Ford Club of America site and invite you to check us out. http://1954ford.com/forum/ There is also a 52-59 Ford Social group here on the Hamb which is a great source of information,Jeff is the administrator of this group. HRP https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/social-forums/1952-59-ford-social-group.282/
The 239 is a one- or two-year-only engine, if I remember correctly. Not many other Y-block parts will fit. An FE will fit just fine without much work and can be had fairly reasonably. Looks like a good start to a project, yours is in a lot better shape than my '50. I went back and forth between the '50 and '54, so I did quite a bit of research here and elsewhere. I was able to find a '50 in my price range first, but looking back now I should have saved my money and gotten a better example. As far as not being able to lock it, I wouldn't be to worried about it, you'll probably have more trouble from your homeowners' association than from thieves
Also, if you haven't already, I'd definitely check out @HOTRODPRIMER's '54 wagon build thread, that thing is a freakin' masterpiece.
Thank you sir. HRP I can't help with the keys but I might offer you some advice,from what I can see you have a big garage but absolutely no room for the '54 . If you are going to make any significant progress over the winter you need a dry place to work,you need to get the car inside and you won't have to worry about anyone taking things that don't belong to them. HRP
If you're new here, somone else on the board (don't remember who but credit to them) figured out that new replacement front springs for a Ford Aerostar van will bolt into any 49-59 Ford car and lower it about 3 inches, and new ones can be bought for like $55 a pair. That and a set of lowering blocks will lower the whole car for under $100. There's also a particular shock that will go in the front that are shorter and will keep the shocks from bottoming out. If you do a search for Aerostar springs you'll find all the info you need, super sweet low-cost upgrade. They ride real nice too, progressive spring rate, I have them in my '52. I've also heard that if you ream out the ball joint hole you can bolt mid 70's Ford Granada spindles into a '54 Ford and it'll lower it like another inch plus you'll have disk brakes. Not sure how many Granadas you have in your local junkyards but if you can find one that's a way cheaper route than buying new parts. Lube up your hood hinges at all of the pivot points first thing next time you open your hood. They're known to fail and they're extremely expensive and time consuming to replace (new ones are over $500/pair and changing them involves removing the front fenders) so if they work now you'll want to lube them up carefully and open and close your hood with care (never force it). The hood likes to pull forward slightly on the way up and wiggle backward slightly on the way down, if you try to slam it down straight that will often wreck the hinges. '56 Olds 88 tail light lenses can be screwed into the stock tail light rings and they have a really cool bubble shape and are a cheap and interesting upgrade/custom touch. The teeth off of the quarter panels of a 54 Mercury are also a popular bolt-on custom touch to the 52-54 Ford. If you get the front fender moldings from a '55 (the ones around the parking lights by the grille) they will match up to your hood molding and it makes a grille swap easy, it finishes off the sides so you can do a floating bar or whatever. If your horn button or that plastic dome over your speedometer has crazing on the plastic, smear vaseline all over it and let it sit for a couple weeks, then wipe it off, it'll fill in most of the crazing and make it clear again. Works on most old clear plastics. If you find a 2 door sedan 52-54 Ford in a junkyard, you can hang the longer doors on your body, cut out your B pillar, weld in the B pillar and rear quarter window section from the donor car and make your car into a 2 door sedan without affecting the roof skin at all. It's a little more advanced bodywork for a beginner but I've done like 6 cars now using that method and they've all turned out well, I could post links to conversions if you want to see some done. Rear wheels are a bitch to change on the 52-54, especially lowered, if you add air shocks to the rear, you can fill them up to help push the rearend away from the frame, then jack on the axle, gives way more space to change the tire. Helps if you put the shocks on individual valves instead of T-d together. '53 headlight bezels are stamped steel and have the stainless inner ring, they're way easier to do a frenching job with compared to the die-cast '54's. '54 front sheetmetal is totally different than 52-53 except the hood, the rest of the body is the same (but for the dash) if you're looking for parts that's helpful. Good luck on your project, I love '52-54 Ford cars.
I'm in Southern California so it will remain mostly dry. Unfortunately not seen in the photo is my Harley that is coming out of the shop soon so I it's unlikely to go into the garage. I have a cover on it now and I'll just do the body work in stages.
Ford keys: Glove box key fits the trunk. If you can sneak a ;slim Jim' into the glove box and open it, remove the lock ass'y (2 screws) and take it to the OLDEST locksmith in town. (that would be the locksmith that doesn't make service calls, because he's too old to drive!) He can take the cyl. and make a key, it will also fit the trunk. For the door keys, remove the lock on the passenger side. It is held in by a 'tinnerman fork', a flat spring steel 'fork' that is slid in from the trailing edge (obviously) of the door jamb. Just line up with the position of the door lock, and look under the rubber door seal: there is a spring steel tab about 1.25" high, pull it toward the rear of the car (if the door was closed) The fork will be bowed, so you can shoot some PB Blaster in to lube it as it slides out... The lock will now come out. We use the passenger side lock as the 'model' for both; the drivers side got used all the time, passenger didn't. Left and right side are the same key. Not sure about ignition key on the '54. (all my '54s had this 'trick' ignition switch I used to use, a 'non-Ford' type. H.R. Primer Danny should be able to answer this one...Was the ignition key the same as the doors? Think my '56 was...
Those glovebox inserts are cardboard and pretty cheap, take a look under the dash and see if the cardboard insert is any good. If it's already crap or missing, you'll be able to tear down what's left and unbolt the upper catch piece and get it open.
I'm off tomorrow so I'll have a look at it when I head out to get body work supplies. For the sake of argument let's assume that the insert is in ok shape, then what?
Turns out the glove box was not locked. Interesting stuff in there. A few parts for the car, some stuff that I dont know what it was and registration cards dating back to 1964 that are so brittle that I am going to need to look them up to decide what to do. Woke up so I didnt get a ton done today. Managed to get into the glove box and to shopvac about 30 years worth of dirt and grime off what I can only guess used to be the carpets. This appears to be the oldest one in the pile. They are brittle and hard and I am thinking about looking into a way to stabilize them so I can put them in a book that stays with the car. Anyone know what year admission to Mt Baldy would be 25 cents? Anthony Wieny apparently left his mark on both of my sun visors.... stuff like this is sort of endearing IMO. I imagine it being a young kid playing in dads old 54. Shocked that this was still intact. Thought it was kind of neat. So I have a very difficult decision to make. I had a miniature crisis of conscience today. I couldnt remember whos name was on the pink slip and when I saw registration cards dating back to 64 I started to feel like I was sitting in someone elses car rifling through their tattered belongings. Body work and paint really isnt my strong suit... and being that the car is basically all original I almost feel guilty about the notion of attempting the body work on it. I also work about 60 hours a week so that will make for slow progress. Other option is to farm it out and that will be pricey, which will mean I have to do this car in stages. Stay original or customize? Do the work myself or farm it out? Anyone want to give me an opinion here?
Decided to just go for it. Started stripping back the roof. There's a couple of little ripples in it and one spot that looks like someone may have slammed their fist down on the roof. Gave the whole roof the vinegar treatment and started on the bigger dent. I'm not amazing at bodywork but I think Ive gotten this one close enough that it will look ok. That's not all surface rust. There's a coat of brown in there. I think primer. Need to find myself some primer and I'll address any issues on my next day off before shooting high build.
I would suggest you need to do some sandblasting in those gutters and around the edges, covering that up with primer is only going to result in bubbling and paint damage later on. You can buy a hand-held blaster pretty cheap and lay out some tarps on your driveway to catch the sand, it's a messy job but you could have it all done in a day and then be truly ready for primer.
yeah im not just throwing primer over it. theres not as much rot in there as you might think. I already put converter in there. I know these cars are notorious for rot in the gutters. Ive put converter in there already to take care of the really light rust that was in there.
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