Hot Rods Picked This Up Today Cheap..Now..

Bought this from the Original owner today over in East Texas. 59 Bird. Power Windows, AC 90-thousand miles, automatic. Surface rust only. All there. Now the bad news, he started to rebuild the 352 engine himself with son and quit. Said he lost patience with the kid and the kid lost interest. (This guys knows his stuff as his Dad owned a shop and he worked for him as a kid.)

Engine out of car, small parts are labeled in baggies. Everything is there. He has several NOS parts he purchased for his home rebuild. Engine did turn over (with the help of a crowbar lol)

You guys got a DFW Engine guy/shop you recommend to put it back together?

Someone suggested City Motor Supply?

Thanks.

 

Right place, right time, cash on hand, check, check and check.

 

looks like a good one to flip

 

You wana sell it as is and make a little cash? My old man is looking for that car.

 

Was just thinking that I have not seen a squarebird convertible. Are they rare or just uncommon??

 

cool 59 they aren't rare just alittle uncommon I have a 60 convert parts car in my backyard I bought from ahamber

 

Sweet squarebird vert! I saw this on CL and wished I had more room to store it! Maybe we will see it around one of these days!

 

Unless you are determined to keep the original engine, probably cheapest and easiest to find a good running 390 and drop that in. 352 is an FE engine, so any FE can swap. 390 are popular and a good engine.

Oh, neat car too!

 

A lot of my T-Bird friends say buy a good running 390 to drop in there. I talked to City Motors in Dallas, 14-hundred for a reubuild. I figure I can buy a 390 for that..

 

You should be able to get a good 390 for less than $1,400. But if you can rebuild the 352 for $1,400 (frankly, that sounds too cheap to me) I'd much rather have a freshly rebuilt engine.

 

$1400 is cheap, if you can really get it done for that, it'd be worth hanging onto the original motor. But me personally, I'd go looking for a good running 352 to swap in. 352's are somewhat unloved by Ford performance guys and I'm sure it's different in Texas but you could find a good useable one around here for $200-$400 if you looked around.

If you do a swap, keep the original stuff around in case you sell the car to someone who wants it.

 

try Charles at Tinkers here in Dallas....he did the Scorpian I clone's last 392 Hemi engine for Don Ross

look out on those 390 engines - they changed the motor mount at some point from 2 to 3 bolts I think....

good save....

 

get the 352 rebuilt, that way you can keep it stock for a restoration if you want.

 

For $1400 I would rebuild. You have a fresh motor rather than saveing money by useing a used motor. Plus it is a Low mile convert. If you are going to resale bird people would want the stock motor. If you are going to keep for a long time then do what you want. Either way you go have fun with it. I'm doing some restoratiuon work on my neighbors 59 Bird for him. It is a cool car.

 

Sell it to the Gas Monkey guys haha.

 

No kidding.

 

I'm not sure if you guys assume the 352 is a slouch or it'd be cheaper to do a 390.
Those early FE Ford's go pretty damn good.

 

Solid tappet 352's were indeed hot engines back in the day. The later lower compression engines gave the 352 a bad rap.

---John

 

Nice car! I just picked up a 59 hardtop for next to nothing. 16k miles one it, 2 owner car. I went with the 390 swap and I'm glad I did!


Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!

 

gonein60" what is a 59 hard top going for these days? ive been stalking one that i found here in my home town. black paint,black interior, as far as i can see its all original and "everything" is there.

 

never was a fan of the t bird even thou we had a couple.ive got a 352 in my 62 galaxie no problem with power but its got a rearend that must be like 1.90 lol takes from al. to Chicago to get to 70...lol laugh but its true....lol

 

Get a manual and do it yourself!! Not rocket science.

Ben

 

Gearslammer, I got a steal on mine for around 900 bucks. Around here though I've seen them anywhere from 2000-5000. Very cool car for such a low price tag.


Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!

 

The 58 thru 64 FEs had 2 motor mount bolt holes per side, starting in 65, the blocks came with 4 bolt holes, but the older pattern is still there, so you can bolt the early mounts to a later block, The problem is trying to install the later 5 bolt mounts to an early block. No issue in this case. To retain the generator, when using a later FE engine,you will need to re use the early style water pump, or modify the later pump to accept the generator bracket.

 

my dad had a 59 back in the early 60s,my mom still talks about that car. the square birds seam to be gaining popularity especialy as mild customs.

 

Well if it's an FE drop a 428 in it and make that bird fly! Or not...

 

Nice! Find get a running driving FE to get the car on the road and put the 352 away for now.