Scored this Ford Sedan a couple weeks ago cheap. Someone put alot of work into it for what it is... It has a nice 302/C4 in it. I put new brakes on and registered it, but just not real happy w/ the overall appearance. Any thoughts on quick ways to make it a cool beater???????????
uuuuuh-well it is a start-take out the grill-start with going through rest of mechanicals & electrical-start on body work & interior-search for thread here on other '53-'54 Fords-search for thread here: Motorama *News* and go to last page and in post by Trace Edwards is a pic of a nice '54 Ford that is only getting better. have fun driving it.
mechanicals are excellent... wish it was a 2 door. I kinda like the faded red paint but the flames gotta go. Grill ideas???????????
I'm putting a 54 Desoto grille in my 53 Ford convert. They look great, but are getting hard to find. Took me two years to find one. Another grille swap that has been done many times in a 53 Ford is a 54 Chevy. Do a search and you will see examples of various swaps. Good luck with your project.
I have an extra grille from my 53 belair that I had thought about using, but I just couldnt bring myself to cut up such a nice piece for the winter beater. What are you doing for parking lights?
The 4 door shares the roof with the 2 door sedan, so a set of 2 door sedan doors and door jambs could convert this into a 2 door if you were willing to put in the work. However, just on the ultra-cheap end, I would repaint the grille and the front bumper silver so they're at least not all scratched up (or strip the paint if there's any chance there's some chrome left underneath) Wetsand the flames off and buff out the paint, then paint some wide whitewalls onto the tires with Snow-Seal. That and a strong detailing would make the car a lot nicer to look at with just a couple weekends of work.
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/group.php?groupid=332 52-56 ford social group here on the hamb - great group - very helpful . i think that link might work
You have the oportunity to make a radical custom, but depends how much work you wanna put in. this looks cool & simple.
wow I actually have a 55 ford grille that i could put in there. I did try to mock it up but it didnt seem to fit. The grille thats in there now is from a 57 chevy 1 1/2 ton truck. Snoseal? where do you get it? Cant afford a set of www right now. Thanks guys.
Thats actually not a bad looking mach up. Have you tried the lens housings from the 53 Chevy as well to sort of cover the flat panels next to each of the signal housings? Looks as though there will be plenty of room.
yeah thats still up in the air. Im going to hook up the turn sigs/park lights as is (on the grille bar)... but those flat panels do look empty. I dunno if double lights will look right or if i should just weld some bullets in on the flat panels. Any thoughts???????
I think the mistake most people make with 4 doors is trying to force them to be something they are not. Clean & simple is the rule of thumb when making a 4 door cool. You want a cool cruiser, nothing more. Grille looks good. Carry on...
sage advice. Scalloped 'er today... now I just gotta finish up that bondo, mount the grille, wetsand buff wax cruise. I get so excited when theyre like this!
I bought mine at Menards, but that might be a regional place, any good home supply store should have it. The stuff I use is called SealBest white elastomeric roof coating, but I've always heard it referred to as snow-seal. It's white rubberized roof coating for trailers. You have to really super clean the tires with lacquer thinner first, then you'll want to brush on at least 4 coats. It stays flexible and you can clean it with Bleach-Wite later if they get brown. A friend of mine just did a set for his '55 Buick this weekend and they turned out great, look like storebought. He took the time to sand off the lettering on the inside part of the tire first, then just painted it on up to the outer edge of the thin whitewall that was on it. It's time consuming but a bucket of the stuff is like $11 and it'll do hundreds of tires.
A coat of paint wouldn't hurt a thing. I would remove the grill or at the very least reomve the bullets.
One of the simplest, and coolest, things you can do for the taillights (if they haven't been messed with yet) is to screw-in a pair of '56 Olds '88 lenses. You simply trim-off the center cone of the orig. Ford lights (to open up the light bulb so it'll show thru) and line up the Olds lenses, drill holes, and screw 'em in ! Presto...inexpensive, cool, and, also, Trad. Style !! Best of luck, Jonnie King www.legends.thewwbc.net
Paint is overrated. Im not hating... my 53 belair is nicely finished, but this car, being an "ugly duckling", really had personality. I wanted to maintain the history of the love that went into it, and add my own character (cheaply) to have a fun driver. More work will go into the interior.
Had my smile empty for quite some time and ended up fab'n up a '55 after looking at the same pic posted earlier. It took a little to shorten and cut the buckets down...it is BY FAR *NOT* the prettiest grille but it sure beats a gaping hole. I really like the look of a '54 chevy too....the '53 looks good! Nice job of coverin' the flames! Good luck...now drive the hell out of it!
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