01-19-2011 08:57 PM Here is the 59 wagon as I found it. It was only 1.5 miles from my house. I bought it on the first part of october, 2010. I am going to try and see how complete I can make this build post, but I have a habbit of going like crazy on a car and not stopping to take pictures. Plus having to copy, then resize all pictures for Hamb posting is kinda a pain! Hope you enjoy it! Here it is after the trip on the rollback. This car will NOT be a show car. My plan is to repair all rust under the car, paint and seal the underside and frame, and make it solid.to prevent any future rust. I will then make it mechanically sound and safe for the road. It is a 9 passenger 1959, with the 361 v8, automatic. I spent the first several days trying to get it running. which i did. I removed the fuel pump and cleaned it. Removed the carb, replaced the floats, and cleaned with carb cleaner. Replaced points with an old set I had. Fileing the old ones didnt work? Changed the oil and filter. Filled up with antifreeze, only to find out I have a freeze plug leaking. I used a quart oil bottle for a gas can, and after a little priming it fired!! It wasnt as easy as it just sounded, but I did get it to run and at least pull itself around.....no pushing I took the carb off and replaced it with an old 2 barrell we had just taken off of my sons 46, because the edsel carb wouldnt idle. I then backed it behind the garage till after Thanksgiving till I swapped cars around for garage space. ( my wintertime routine.) The interior is pretty rough, but its all there. I took out the falling headliner, seats, door panels, and flooring, to prepare to start fixing rust holes. I got at least 5 gal. of rust, dirt, and spider webs out of this thing. Plus some old Falls City Beer cans from under the seat. A couple still full!! The floors were gone, as was the rocker boxes. I ordered new front and rear floors and outer rocker panels. I then went to Harbor Freight and bought a metal Brake, and ordered a woodward fab hand shear from summit. This is the 3rd car I have done, but the first time I REALLY NEEDED these tools. I started repairing the passenger side rockers. I cut out the old, and had to fab the inner ones myself. It was about all the Harbor Freight metal brake wanted, but it did it. Had to make the inner floor to rocker braces. My welds are not real pretty, but they should hold. Had to build from scratch the area at the front rocker, behind the front wheel, This took a while since I didnt have anything to start with. Lots of curves and bends!! This is the finished passenger side rocker. I still need to seal the inside of it. I am trying to get it where no water from the front wheels will get into it. I finally found a new gas tank. Here I am comparing to make sure it will work. Looks like an exact match. It will be a while before I need It.
01-20-2011 09:26 AM Passenger side floor with rust cut out. 01-22-2011 06:11 PM Passenger side floor with new metal installed. 01-22-2011 06:13 PM another angle. tomorrow I plan to paint this area. I bought some RUST SEAL treatment. I have used there cleaner and the RUST BLAST today. I will let it dry tonight and then brush the RUST SEAL on tomorrow. I have not used this product before so I hope it works good. 01-22-2011 06:50 PM I am now moving to the rear, because I need to let the car down and move it over to get at the drivers side. This car is very wide. This is the passenger rear wheelwell area. The inner wheelwell isnt too bad. The actual tire well is ok, its just the metal to the sides and rear of it. 01-22-2011 06:59 PM This is looking at the pass. side rear, under the tailgate area, inside. 01-23-2011 01:00 PM Here is the replacement panel I fabed up, in its early stages. I decided to replace this whole area. A bead roller would be nice, but I dont have one. It will have to stay flat.
This is how my workbench looked this morning. Today I cleaned up my workbench and a little after lunch I ran out of weld gas. Not a real productive day, but I did get under the car with a wire brush and got a little of the dirty work out of the way.
Nice. Looks like alot of rust repair but from what I have seen that is pretty common in the wagons. That should be a pretty cool wagon when you get done with it.
This is the painted passenger side floor. This is the area cut out behind the rear wheelwell. I needed some rolls into the new panel. I went to Bad Influence Hotrods, down the road, and we couldn't get it in the bead roller already formed up. Mark gave me the idea to build a hammer form. [/ATTACH][/ATTACH][/ATTACH][/ATTACH]
I am having issues with my pictures. please let me know if you dont see a picture somewhere. I first tried to copy and paste from my profile pictures, but I dont think it worked right.
this is another angle of the panel. When I first made the jig I tapered the male part edges and tapered the female edges with just enough room for the metal. I didnt get as much bend as I wanted, so I flipped the plate in the jig over, then cut the opening in the female side 1/4 inch wider on each side with my router and left the edges square. It seemed to allow the 18ga. metel more room to bend.
Nice work! Love the edsels..especially the wagons. Maybe I'm biased as the owner of this Bagged '58 Villager.
man, alot of folks would have passed on that car due to all the rust, so good for you for bringing her back to life. Thats gonna be a cool wagon!
Thanks, Clean cut, If my Edsel turns out 1/2 as nice as yours I will be Happy. I got a piece of metal in my eye yesterday. Its ok now, but its a reminder to be extra careful in everything we do!!
Low-buck home builds get my interest faster than anything. What a cool project. I really like old Ford wagons, and yours is going to be a lot of fun. What are your plans for the exterior, interior, and wheels/tires?
Plans for the exterior are just to spot patch any rust spots, like the drip rail areas, so they wont rust any worse. Interior plans are insulating the floor, new carpet, and just cleaning up the rest. I am not sure about the seats, I might do the mexican blanket treatment for now. I would like to keep the 14" and the hubcaps with wide whites, but if I upgrade to disc up front then the 14" wheels wont work? I will probably put a power brake booster on with the drum brakes all the way around and see how it stops before I invest in new tires. That is all a ways off, but are what I have in my head for now.
Lookin' great! Have a mad love of Edsels. . .and I truly appreciate anyone who takes on a wagon project!
i have a 58 burmuda buried here in the snow prolly even rustier .. with engine let me know if anything will work can hopefully find it in MAY-JUNE
That thing looks like my 1959 pontiac safari wagon so much ,black paint same red and white interior setup, you got fords version of mine GM wagon. , but mine has rust top to bottom , but your build is inspiring me to keep truckin with it and build a badass Blvd. king like you are .thanks 4 the motivation!!!!! Post more Pics!!!! That thng is CRAZY DOPE!! AL , Retro Cali Boyz.
Retro cali boys, I see this is your 1st post. These cars are a ton of work, but you just have to keep working at it. Every little thing you get finished is just one step closer. note: I have to take the weekend off from working on the car. The piece of metal I had removed from my eye left a rust ring that I had to have removed, so no work of no kind for a couple of days. Even the day job! A REAL BUMMER!!!
Progress has been slow, but still progress. The rear wheel wells and the whole rear area is the part that will be slow going. Every part will need fabed. But hey, nothing but cutting out rust and welding in metal. These are the passenger side inner wheel well with the rust cut out. Then the new pieces fabbed in, Then with it all welded in. This whole area will be painted, then sprayed with undercoating, so my not so pretty welds will not be noticable. I just wanted it to be solid. [/ATTACH][/ATTACH][/ATTACH]
This is the next area I am going to tackle. Its the drivers side floor behind the rear wheelwell. This is the same area with all the rust cut out. This is one of the days when I think, What have I got into!!
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