Projects My wife wants an old car vs a new car......

I'm building a 51' F1 for my wife, p/s and air conditioning! we'll see how often she drives it. My guess is more than she thinks, once she sees all the attention she gets.

 

You haven't finished her wagon yet??? What's to discuss? Build it already!

My wife loves her '78 Chrysler New Yorker O/T car, and she is looking forward to being able to drive the '56 Ply wagon, once it is running and driving. She LOVES that wagon! And you're right! I wouldn't trade my wife for anything, not even a pair or 25-year-olds (too much training required there!).

 

dose your wife have a sister??

 

Two words......Human Cloning!!! Luke

 

OMG LOL... Thanks.

Some great advice

Yes. She has a sister. Married and not at all in to our hobby

Yes. Mine is a keeper

I know the frustration of a spouse that do not care for your hobby

Your 56 Buick is way cool but unless I trade for something that I already have, I'll be executing on the Buick x2 merge.

Found out today that she also likes the 56 Ford Ranchwagon that I'm working on for my Buddy Steve (on my website)

If someone wants to trade something like that for something that I have, let me know.

Thank you all for your advice and the laughs.

Keep it coming

Mike

www.Customikes.com

 

I'm lucky enough to have a good lookin red head'd broad that likes go-fast cars too...

...the only advice i'd offer, is: FINISH the car before its in her hands. WORKING everthing... and EVERYTHING working well...

My womern was using my O/T stroker motor, big cam, aluminum head mustang as a DD.... and was frustrated quick with some tuning issues I was working out....

...she's dreaming of driving my 53' pickem-up in the not so distant future too..

 

Can you have her call my old lady??

 

My wife of 35 years is looking hard for a '61 Plymouth coupe.
20 years ago, she had a '51 Merc custom. 302 & Auto, PINK with flames,
lake pipes etc...
She was not happy when I sold it.
It has taken her this long to want another USA V8 cruiser...
I best not dissapoint her.

.

 

You are a Lucky man..to keep the peace I've found its a good idea to keep some cushy cruiser around for the days that the cool car is being repaired, etc..when I met Sally she was driving a 59 Edsel, a 59 MGA, a 71 CoupeDeVille and a 75 Cougar XR7 and they all needed work of course!..they all keep us young, happy and broke...

 

I'm sorry, Sir, but your wife has been replaced with a replicant.

~Jason

 

I just went down that road to a few months back. My wife claimed my 55 Chevy wagon project car and told me to build it for her. She proceeded to tell my her color scheme, flat black and pink metal flake with black vinyl and pink leopard print seats. I said yes honey. I have been telling her for years to pick a car, any car and I would build it for her. This is going to be fun.

 

You are a lucky Son of a Gun! 'Course my old lady is the same way. Kinda nice huh?

 

It's very late at night; this post has my points all out of order but I've thought on this a lot over the years. You will want:

Power steering, seats, windows, brakes. AC/Heat, top of the line (a wagon is hard to heat and cool).

An accurate gas gauge; all gauges should work (get them rebuilt to keep the '55 look if possible).

All knobs / handles should work smoothly; maybe powder-coat the door handles if pitted. Everything she sees and touches should be redone - arm rests should not sag; door panels should seal well, etc.

New upholstery of course; make sure the padding is replaced too so you don't get the old car smell. New carpet. Make sure it matches, and is in her favorite color. Try to talk her into a light color for the outside so the so-cal heat does not bake you.

Shoulder seat belts, front and back.

Extra sound deadening (google for 'sound deadener showdown'). Paint metal with lizardskin (or homemade equivilant) for temperature; add extra mat to the doors and roof to take away vibrations; add bubble wrap (see lowbucrod's stuff) over that to give you the luxury car sound. An old wagon is a rattle-filled beast; find and fix each one (easiest to do when the car is in bare metal inside). 50s tailgates were especially rattly - maybe you can convert the window to a power rear window and remove some of the rattle there.

New radio/speakers - maybe a 'supertuner' radio so it will have an advantage over new cars there. CD changer under seat perhaps.

And the things that ladies like that guys hardly notice - a working, lighted visor mirror. A locking, lighted glove box. Hydraulic rams or linear actuator on trunk and hood (assuming you ever want her under the hood

New rubber weatherseals on the doors and trunk. You may want to add a second seal or at least tweak the door opening to be sure it seals completely in any weather, all around.

The largest radial tires you can fit underneath. Check into the disc brake swaps available; rebuild the suspension and buy expensive shocks.

I worry that your 225 donor will be 6 inches wider so you can't use the rear end (but look it up, might be wrong); if so, get a modern disc brake rear end (Ford 8.8 perhaps)

Use the biggest, quietest mufflers you can find.

(Me, I'd use a 350/700R4 for reliability and weight. Or a 5.0 /AOD, etc. Something new and easy to get parts for, and easy to drop into place. I'd use injection or an electric choke Edlebrock and a mild cam.)

The donor 225 probably has a 2.76 rear end, a ton of torque from the motor to make it usable. So match the tire size and rear end ratio to your donor, if you go that way.

You are lucky it's a Buick, lots of restoration parts available. Some of them you will want; sometimes nothing else will do.

I'm fairly sure the 55 Buick is a 'natural' for air bags if you want to go that way, but it will compromise ride. If this is to be a daily driver, a smooth ride is what you want, not (just) a cool look.

Oh yeah, one more thing - let her know the (padded) timeline and stick to it; explain changes in timeline as you go. If it's a 6 month build, tell her 8 months and try to finish early, etc. Or at least keep estimates up to date; 'someday' doesn't cut it. Having a cool car in the vague distant future is kind of tough, when you aren't the one working on it.

 

Well Here's an update.

I want to thank all of you for your advice. solid points, direction and relationship advice

Needless to say this thread lifted my better half's spirit when it comes to our great hobby and she's actually more engaged than ever right now

We've had some planning/ sizing/ time and cost factor discussions and taking another look at what we have and what can get done the easiest (I would like to actually be able to finish it before she looses interest).

She's also been driving a smaller economical car for a while so we also looked this and what will be the best for her to drive daily.

I threw out the Phantom MiniMerc Wagon project and she actually bit on it and admitted that it sounded "neater" and less intimidating than the "bigger Buick Wagon"

I'll post more as we go forward with the execution of the new MiniMerc Wagon.

The kicker here is that the original MiniMerc was started as a "grocery getter beater project" for my "second wife" while I finished my 62 Cad chop top convertible project.

Needless to say the first MiniMerc project got out of hand somehow...

I guess that the Caddy will have to wait yet again...

Thanks again to all of you for the inspiration.

Mike

www.Customikes.com

 

Well my wife also lost her mind for the best part. Now she is into the rockabilly scene and she is pushing me into finishing her 55 fairlane.

 

here is her car

 

It's a mixed blessing!

Mine is really into the cars, can identify various parts when a spontaneous quiz strikes me at a show. Supports my ideas and provides input when asked (sometimes not).

Downside- Shut the compressors of to the air bags, before entering a parking lot, because "they were noisy". The Caddy was alot more noisy after she drug the exhaust and left it in the parking lot on a speed bump!

Another outting, she just came clean on. Had to round up some muscle in a parking lot because she didn't know there was a parking block in front of the car. Proceeded to drive forward, through the space in front, rather than backing out of the spot, resulting in my 66 wagon being high centered.

Numerous dead batteries! I don't run a choke since I live in So Cal. She doesn't grasp the concept of "two pumps, then crank", nothing more. She does know how to hook up jumper cables now though.

Yes, these are realatively trivial. Especially compared to having someone absolutely uninterested in our lifestyle. Just giving you some input from someone who also has a lady in their life that fancies the idea of an older car as their daily driver.

 

OHHHH the deadline is set you have exactly 3 weeks before she changes her mind. get off this computer and get to work times almost up

 

My wife is upset that I'm selling the Willys but I think she will be pleased with the project that took the willys place >>>>.

 

Yeah, sign my wife up to take this class!

 

You're a lucky SOB, she gets an older car and you get to add to your collection....is this heaven???

 

I can't get my wife to stop driving her 53 GMC, I refuse to put snow tires on it tho.......

 

I have tried to explain to my wife the theory of appreciation verses depreciation......so far it's not going well. If I were in your shoes, ( and I'd love to be ) I'd get right on that project for the wife.

I found my wife a pretty nice little 1962 chevy 2 wagon, no dice ........she hated it.

 

A 63 Chevy 2 wagon was my wife's 1st old ride. Door panels tore up, seats had tears, the worst air/vent ever, no heat. Headliner was the only good thing. Rust in the quarters rust in the tailgate. It always stumbled on acceleration.....She still hates me today for selling it last year. 1 good thing though, I always have her in my ear "I want a 49 merc". I cannot wait for the day it happens.

 

The one I was looking at was actually pretty nice, it was still a 6 cyl. 3 speed, but had A/C, which I knew she would like.....oh well. She's getting scared to say anything nice about any car at a car show now, she's afraid I'll bring home another project.......for her

 

My wife had to have a new car every few years, I got a new wife. All is well