I've been jonesing for a custom for a long time. Don't get me wrong, I love my avatar, but generally don't care for pre-'50s 'traditional' versions, I like them better as 'rods'. I gravitate more towards the late '50s, early '60s styles like the Matador, the Jade Idol, and the Adonis although I'm also somewhat partial to '52-54 Mercs. I saved up and bought a '56 DeSoto hardtop about 5 years ago, but the more I looked at it the more I realized that the mods I wanted to achieve my vision were above my skill levels, not to mention my pocketbook. So the DeSoto sat... and I started saving again. And I'm pretty much a Ford guy, so the DeSoto presented a lot of unknowns for me, another reason I hesitated. So about a year ago I started seriously looking again. I definitely wanted a hardtop, no post cars. I thought about the Mercs, but they've been done a lot; it would be tough to come up with something 'fresh'. I wanted to buy the Seaburst '57 Ford, but some money I've got coming has been tied up with lawyers (and still is) so missed out on that one. The '57 Fords get too much premium on price, so I started looking at '58-59 Fords and '58-63 T-birds as they can still be found for reasonable prices and I like the styling. Had a couple of near misses; a '59 Fairlane 500 hardtop (with a six/stick no less!) and a real rarity, a '60 T-bird with a factory three-speed manual (the last year they were available). I would have bought that 'Bird if I could have... So I kept looking....
So I found this on CL.... Ok, it's not a hardtop, but I don't need to chop it, just put the top down... LOL. New top, windshield, brakes, fresh 390, with a straight solid body. Downside is it was a budget-buster; I had to use my 'extra' after-purchase money (to deal with the nearly always inevitable repair/changes a new owner makes) to pull it off, so any big $$ changes will be a while. One big plus for me is that while it's currently a 390/Cruisomatic, when the PO got it it was a stick car that had been converted from the auto trans, he converted it back... but he still had the parts and they came with it. So a manual trans is in it's future. There's a few things I can deal with immediately. One is the wheels/tires. The PO bought these cheapo 14" wheels... ... because it came originally with 14s and then used 195/75 tires; they look like they were stolen off a mini-truck. I've got a set of equally OT wheels/tires to put on that at least will fill the wheelwells better until I can afford some 15" chrome reverse with spider caps. He also installed a 2V intake (incorrectly thinking it would save gas), I've picked up a iron 4V for it and will dig into my Holley stash for a carb. The paint is decent, it's an older repaint. Unfortunately, most of the exterior brightwork is beat pretty bad. Some can be restored, but a fair amount will need replacing. All the potmetal is pretty good, so I'm happy about that. Luckily, reproduction trim is now available, although the prices will take your breath away... And I absolutely love the mirrors... Those are keepers!
Nice car and a convertible to boot, congratulations on FINALLY scoring a car you can turn into a killer custom. HRP
Some more pics.... Next to his new brother... The interior needs help. Somebody re-did the seats in this cheap diamond pattern, but it kind of grew on me. Definitely a custom touch, it's a bit faded looking but a re-dye should fix that. But they didn't do the door panels... ... so some cheap diamond-pattern vinyl will fix that. Does have new carpet. Dash is nice except for the head unit butchery, that'll be a PITA to fix... So all-in-all, I'm pretty pumped. Clean it up, do the fixes, and I've got a mild custom. But once the budget is healed, a new white interior (customs need a white interior, that's all there is to it), a repaint to get rid of the resale red, and if I figured out a few things, further custom touches. I hope to see rolled pans in it's future...
Funny how as we age along we move from the hot rods into more comfortable cars such as customs. Cool find should be fun.
60 fords are bitchin cars, My pal John Schleicher built a clone of the adonis about 20 years ago. How about an Adonis convert??? this one has 7.50 x 14's on it and they looked fine IMHO
Mark, believe me, I've been looking at the Adonis (both versions) and will gladly steal some of the styling cues used. These cars are a bit difficult to do because they have such distinctive lines. And while the Adonis has always been one of my top favorites, one flaw IMO was that they didn't carry the 'fin' trim forward and down the leading edge of the front fender. I know why; it's an odd profile and I expect that to be the hardest part of any mods I do. Reading the thread on that '56 Ford 'Nomad' with all the fabbed trim gave me some ideas, so I think it's doable. To the best of my knowledge, the Adonis is the only '60 Ford that got extensive body mods (excluding the bubble-top 4 dr with the doors welded shut), most just got grill/taillight/dechrome changes. As I'm sure you'll agree, real customs should have rolled pans... As to the 14" wheels, the problem is there's no 'tire store' available tires in the right size for these any more, I'd have to go with Coker biasply and as I intend to drive this, I want the handling of radials plus the ability to buy a tire somewhere if needed. No trailer queens here. I'm eyeing a set of Diamondbacks with custom triple-line thin whitewalls, just haven't turned up my 'sticker shock' dial enough yet... LOLOL
Looks like a win-win to me. Even if Steve doesn't start slicing and dicing it, it'll still be a cool car to ride round in.
Congratulations, and I love your plans, particularly the chrome reverse wheels and the stick. I recommend satin black for paint. Until your budget allows for something like Jalopy Joker posted!
I wouldn't change much of anything on that Sunliner!! Sweeeet ride..... Chrome reverses sounds good. Biggest and widest tires that will fit....maybe 16" rims?! (Large/full size cars NEED big and wide) Better have a truss on when swapping out that intake!!! Cherry-picker/hoist is a must. 6sally6
Love '60 Fords. I have a 4 door hardtop. They don't need much. It doesn't get much better than Gambino Kustoms 'May Cause Dangerous'
Keep the interior and make it a mild custom.. You know, bar grille, second set of taillights in the bumper, nosed and decked and of course, lowered... I love 60 Fords.....
A nice addition to your stable. Paint and wheels will make a big difference. Get yourself a buffing wheel and most of your shiny stuff will look pretty great despite any pitting.
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