So I just had this given to me. Been sitting on a family property forever and never been able to get my hands on it until now. My question is is it worth restoring do you think or leave it as garden art. I have been looking through some posts on here and some of the 4doors can be made to look pretty darn cool. I guess the fact that I am not paying anything for it to begin with is a big bonus For now I think im going to get it under cover and clean it right up and see just how bad it is. Poking and proding it I have noticed the floor is non existent in it now so im not real sure what the chassis will be like too so give me some inspiration or tell me what you think I should do. Being in Oz its a bit harder to find parts for the old girls but I figure even if its beyond it it makes for cool garden art haha. Cheers Brad eek
It doesn't look too awful bad. What I've noticed with these when they sit and rot, the hood edges around the hinge go, so the hood will bend instead of opening; and the frame can rot out primarily in the rear axle kickup area. As long as it's okay there, the car is savable. Which, it looks better than my '50 Chevy must have been before the last guy started in, that car at least has rocker panels and quarters that go all the way to the bottom. Yeah, it's a 4-door, but it would be easy to convert to a 2-door, take a look at some pictures of the 49-51 tudor sedans - to me they look like 4-doors with the back door welded in anyways. Even if it's not savable, it being in Australia already might be a good one to part out, as anyone else who needs parts can save a bunch on shipping versus trying to get the parts from the US.
If I had that here, I'd part it out, but considering it's in Australia, I'd say it's worth fixing. I know people go through a lot of trouble and cost to import cars like that and it certainly has potential even though it's rough. The right hand dash is awesome, never saw one of those before.
If it has a V8 in it,... and it's loose,... I'd be tempted to get it running. There's a ton of good parts setting there, AND the price is right. Dig the RH drive, nice dash! SAVE IT!!
there would be a ton of rodders over here that would love that left hand steering on a car like that really freaking cool looks like its a late 40's ford
yeh I definately wouldnt scrap it. I would rather hang the front end on the wall of my shed and sell the rest off haha. I guess its hard to tell until I really get into it and clean it out. I dont know if the chassis would be to bad. it is still off the ground which should have helped it a fair bit. Worse part is with the rear window being smashed the whole floor is now gone from the bottom of the firewall all the way to the back of the boot is as this as paper. the rest seems fairly solid
tis a v8 mate. but cant get the bonnet open to see if its seized or not to be honest I couldnt even find the bonnet latch to get it popped haha
I thought I was looking at Texas/New Mexico until I saw the steering column. I suppose it depends on the demand of parts Down Under. I'd start cleaning it up to see what's there before I made a decision. -KK
fix up the car and then grab that combine and set it up for combine demo derby! Those are fun to watch, and you will get some aggression out, and then you can scrap the combine.
Worse cars have been saved, some of them as projects here on the HAMB. But it all depends on you, some people love a challenge like this one and others (like me) don't have that much energy and find it is sometimes cheaper to start with something better. There are a lot of good parts on there that could go toward fixing up someone else's car, and I imagine in your country those parts would be sought after. My vote goes to parting it out, but it really is your call. Don
im not scared of a challenge. Here is my 65 coupe that I am doing at the moment. I guess the biggest thing is getting parts for it over here in Aus and is it going to cost me to much.
Hood latch is actually cable operated pull should be attached to bottom of dash. Then there's a mostly worthless secondary safety latch up front
yeah..underneath the glove compartment is the hood latch. The bottom of the doors looked just like mine ! very typical for Oz Boxes by the looks of it. I reckon its worth saving...only if you have the time and patience that is looks very familiar to the second 51 i could of picked up when i bought mine off a farmer in WA
I am in the process of parting out 5 1951 Fords and one is a more door like yours, and if you need a set of doors that are really nice or anything related to the four door just PM me and I might be able to fix you up. The swhipping wil be out there though nut if I can price the parts low enough then it will be worth it. Billy
Maybe this will inspire you: http://www.fastlanecars.com/classic...-Wagon&c=3a40168a-172e-44c1-9bfc-016e969a29e4 since the front clip looks decent maybe you can track down a donor for the rear section,a Ute would be really cool! Always wished they had built Utes here in the USA.
It all depends on familly history, how much you can do yourself, and the $$$ you can put into it. If it was here in the USA I'd say part it out. The dash is cool, and I'm sure you could get good monny for it. The quote above is a real good start if you decide to restore it. There's a few threads here where people converted 4 doors into 2 doors. If you can find some 2dr doors it would be worth looking into.
Haha that was what I was hoping for aswell. Could Fred flinstone it I guess Will pm lostn51 very soon about doors. Gotta get the thing home n checked over first. Cheers
Restore it. Those cars came with bad floors from the factory it seems. Get repro floor pans or make your own from a ribbed van roof and drive it.
Not really, except that the floors on these are flat and you could probably make one from a salvaged van or suv roof. That's what I was going to do with mine until I sold it.
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