I can't believe I sold my 56 back in 70. Great job and like the t-bird and Dodge treatment. If I ever get one again I would do that.
Well nothing to exciting today but a bit of progress none the less. Slow and steady wins the race. A few small rust repairs, welded up some after market mirror holes and Victoria name plate holes.
It sure is a great body, probably one of the first projects I have done where there is almost no work to be done to the floors and trunk.
This car looks better than the other one in the picture. That goofy chrome strip above the bumper on the red one doesn't do it any favors.
Time to fix the dreaded 1/4 panel crack that we see on so many of these 55 and 56's. This one had been fixed a few times prior but it was never fixed with a backer, it was just welded up. I always choose to use a backer and also to hog the crack out a bit wider to get a good penetrating weld right down and into the backer.
Well I have been poking away at the body but decided to change the pace a little, bodywork can get boring after awhile. Decided to go with a rack set up but before that had to sit the motor back in to see what I had for room. Tight but very doable........more to come.
BEAUTIFULL MACHINE.. Pardon my ignorance, but what year T-bird bumper is that? I assume its been flipped. Is the grille T-bird also? Beautifull job for sure!! Keep us posted please. Regards. Al
Hi, the bumper is a 58-60 T-bird and it has not been flipped. As far as the grille goes the tbird grilles only had 7 or 8 bars so been fabricating this out of aluminum with more bars for a more full look. Thanks for the comment.
Well the last several days have been somewhat productive, I have the steering rack in now and I am happy with the way it turned out. The brackets and angles etc were tedious to make! Shortened the steering column 3" and need to pick up some Borgeson u joints and wrap it all up.
Yes the install looks pro so far. I really like the use of original holes to mount the brackets. Post some pics i,m sure some other guys building fords would be interested. Should handle great. Nothing worse than a ill handling car for serious miles.
Will post pics once I transfer them over to the pc. Was a pain in the Azz to do but worth the troubles for sure. Thanks for the advice on this one....
Here is a pic, this one is just before I completed the center bracket. Note the brackets bolt to the original holes in the frame.
great job on the rack setup....would you mind giving a bit of detail on the rack....is it part of a kit and if so from who?? or is it out of a donor car and fabbed up....I have a Vicky and I am in Australia and this looks a practical idea.... also I plan on leaving the car left hook.....sorry for all the questions and thanks for any help.
I have the same set up in my 56 country sedan. my is from fatmans. had it about 8yrs but not on the road yet. I think it will be a good set up. like the tbird front treatment.
Member Tedley and a good buddy of mine did this exact setup on his 50 shoebox build a few years ago. I have had the opportunity to drive his 50 a few times and it handles extremely well so I knew this is what I wanted to do. The rack is a early 90's Cavalier and the brackets I fabricated. I used the stock mounting holes on the frame from the removal of the octopus it had in it for the stock steering. Location and geometry are very critical but now that I look back it was a easy little project to do.
Lots of thought went into the geometry and member Tedley did this same set up but on his shoebox and it works fantastic so I really think the rack set up is the way to go if you want do a nice upgrade. Thanks, the tbird bumper is a nice touch but a horrendous amount of tedious metal work.
Well a little bit of color is on, now the motor can go back in and hopefully it can stay there a while! The color is a Chrysler color, Cool Vanilla.
Thanks. haha Well I hate tripping around things on the floor so I just hang all the crap on the walls!
Thanks man and a very Merry Christmas back to you as well. Hope to have the motor and trans back in within a day or two.
Well has been little progress over the last little while, motors in so will run some lines now, hook up the steering coupler etc and then start to prep the inners for paint
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