Here's where we are these days. I just put the rocker trim and rocker guards on today after drilling and tapping all the busted bolts! What a mess. The front has begun to settle down a bit so there is a rake that's rearing its ugly head. I had planned to drop her down a little more but I guess gravity is having it's way with her. All in all I'm really happy with the way she drives and feels overall. I feel like she winds out a bit at freeway speeds of around 75 or so but I don't have a tach to back that up. I'll rig something to check soon enough though. I've been color sanding the years of grime out of the paint and polishing it up. I'll make a separate thread on how I am going about doing this. The paint has a ton of life left in it but it's really thin so she won't look the same after I'm all done. More to come as I do the work. Still waiting to get an appointment with a metal fabricator for the floor patches. Once that's done I can start putting the interior back in. I cannot wait to get rear sits in this thing and make it look like a complete car again! NAES BTW that red ambulance is awesome! Get it running and roll it!
I'm into a 54 T&c myself, I can only hope it turns out as cool as yours.im in need of all the outside lenses turn-tail-back-up. If you have any extra I would be a buyer. Thanks Don Smith, good luck with your T&C!
just finished reading the thread... way cool! love what you've done, thanks for sharing! And thanks for my new mantra:
I dig how the back seats fold down to a full flat bed inside the waggon..totally useful and the wood is sweet
i just parted out a 54 NY wagon. still have most of the outside stainless, rear spears, grille stuff, excellent hood bird and V, tailgate regulator, hubcaps, etc. not giving it away, but reasonably priced. 206 seven89-six800. jwworkshopataoldottcomm
Thats a very cool wagon. I keep telling my wife I want to get wagon and she just says ok Clark Griswall.
I've been doing a bunch of pretty stuff to the wagon as of late. She's really shiny now (sans a bit of paint) compared to how she started off. Running great, working on it a little bit every week. I'm hoping to get into floor rust repair in the very near future so I can get the interior back in her. Here's how she's looking as of this afternoon. I'm getting a ton of thumbs up from people on the streets from all walks of life. It's really cool that people appreciate this old wagon. NAES
I like that wagon a lot - a relative of mine had one in early 60s, he repainted it "Brewster Green", which I think is an old Ford color from the 30s. Very similar to your car - do you know if that is original paint and do you know what it's called? My uncle had a small dance band and he used his wagon to haul around their equipment - guess it didn't take much back in those days. He cut out a couple of pieces of wood to fit into the rear side windows - painted the band name and contact info. It was a cool ride - he even had fender skirts on his, which we thought was cool at the time. Not sure if I'd still feel that way, ha ha.
Thanks for the complements. The wagon has had a respray in the past but it's really close to the original color. As for the actual name of the original color I"m not sure. Wagons Ho! NAES
Gypsy Green? 522----- Ditzler PPG = #41076 Dupont = 181-24142 Paint color here all cars/ trucks http://paintref.com/paintref/model/green_Dodge.shtml
Theres always a way to do anything but I'm not doing any body mods to her. It's positioned how she left the factory complete with an intact splash pan (aka leaf collector!) NAES
Rear suspension is still the same since I started driving it around. After I put all the wood and seats back in it rides a bit better but still harsher than I would prefer. With people in the back I'm rubbing the driveshaft somewhere on the tunnel. I already clearanced it once but obviously not enough so I'll be diving underneath to see what I can do in that department pretty soon. Right now I'm running dearched springs (6") with reversed eyes and 3" lowering blocks and KYB gas-a-just shocks to get the stance I'm at right now. There's a little bit of a drivers side lean that I need to look at also. I swapped front coils from side to side and it didn't do anything. I'll probably swap leaf springs side to side when I'm messing with the tunnel. Wish me luck guys! NAES
hello, i have 2 questions, i hope you can help. do you maybe know where i can get a right rear door for a 1953 chrysler town&country wagon? and i wanted to know which years haven the same door? and the same for a desoto wagon? kind regards, pieter
I also have a question as I am woking on a 53 DeSoto 8 passenger sedan. I am curious what you happened to do with the windshield visor? Not trying to step on any toes but I happen to be in need of one( well... not need but a BIG want!!!) and if you do not have it.. Do you possibly have any ideas where I could find one? Thanks, Much appreciated Mitch
For anyone interested, I spotted this wagon over at Flickr, on the 3rd page in this set from a Labor Day Cruise back in September in Costa Mesa. Great to see it riding low and slow, and under its own power! http://www.flickr.com/photos/socalcarculture/sets/72157631394133628/?page=3
^^^^^Cool link! Tiny update for you guys. A few months ago the rear end gave up the ghost forcing me to pull it. I found a few surprises so she's in the garage getting prepped for surgery. Here's an excerpt from another thread regarding how to go about handling it. So the rear end will be going in for a rebuilding. I'll be dropping down the rear end ratio from 3.00:1 to 2.79:1 to hopefully get a little better freeway mileage and stay in an RPM range that I'm happier with. While that's getting handled I'll tackle the frame fix. I'm also contemplating what to do about the fuel capacity. It's only got 17 gallons capacity and at 10-14mpg that's not the greatest for distance. NAES
Thought I would share mine......still in processbaBGs8p Sent from my iPad using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
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