I thought it was about time I shared my latest project; since I'm always learning so much from the HAMB, it's only right that I do some sharing, huh? This is a 51 Fordor that I've had my eye on for a while. The previous owner bought it from an estate in '83 and put just about 6k miles on it as of this year. Most of those must have been in the 80s-it hardly moved in the last 15. We did an all-over paintjob on it (I wouldn't call it a restoration) back around '93. This year the owner asked me a few times about the car, what it might be worth, would I be interested? Well, sure, I've always had a soft spot for a shoebox. Just a few weeks ago, we made a deal-it was an offer I couldn't refuse. I've spent the time since getting it roadworthy; got the 5 gallons of varnish out of the tank. POR-15 Marine Clean is amazing stuff, by the way. I screwed around with the leaking fuel pump for too long before breaking down and getting a rebuild kit from Then & Now. That was an easy job, and late in the day on 12/21 I had it running all on its own, no gravity tank, etc. This week has been spent on the brakes-hope to have that done by midday Friday. After I got the back brakes done I did take a slow ride around the block, and nothing bad happened. The tires will be my biggest concern as they are 20 y.o. bias, and not particularly good ones. (Taiwanese truck tires) I've done well on my limited budget but WWW just aren't in the cards right now. I might just have to make due with a set of blackwall radials, assuming I can find a size that looks halfway right. One of the things that really makes this car special is that I can trace its history back to new, or almost new. The estate it came from? An uncle of a friend of mine. He knows that the fellow traded a Model A on it, and has given me a lot of other details as well. Anyway, 72k original miles, seats were always hidden under covers, minimal rust (for around here). I presented it to my wife last week as "our new car" but she instantly started calling it "hers". Now I gotta teach her to drive a 3-on-the-tree (including de-rustifying her clutch skills). She did say the car is too plain, so as the budget allows I guess they'll be some more chrome. The car is probably going to stay very original, outside of that.
Congrats - cool story - after rechrome of grill, etc might want to consider locating a overdrive trans for it.
Great score !..bringing back another fourdoor shoey onto the roads. Nice ... interesting the (lack of) side trim..? or is this how the 6cyl 51's came out ?
Regarding the side trim, looks like in 51 you had to upgrade to a Custom to get the trim (or probably an option). I was looking at some of the pics on here and kinda like that Buick "swoop" treatment myself. I really pushed myself this week to get the brakes done; had just enough time for a quick wash job after I was done, then I loaded up my wife and we went for a spin. Longest drive it's been on since the 90s, I'm sure, and it did fine. Gotta lube the speedometer/cable and replace a few bulbs. The driver side windshield is badly sand pitted (couldn't tell under the dirt), I noticed the original Ford stamp in the corner. I'll try to hold off for a while and replace both sides along with the rubber, gotta let the budget build up some more. Some history you might like: the "original" owner likely bought it from the now long gone Ford dealer in my town; I was trying to confirm that so I asked the curator of the town museum (located in that dealers former service department). He's a gearhead, into Model A's. Anyway, turns out he has a bunch of paperwork from the dealer. I had hoped to find an invoice from when it was bought but the only thing we found so far was an invoice where he bought some parts for a Model A in 1952. That's what makes me think he likely bought this one used, unless it was a leftover model or maybe he had 2 A's. I really enjoyed driving her tonight; if the weekend forecast wasn't so sloppy I would have brought her home and put some more miles on the clock.
Sweet ! another one saved Sounds like you are going down a similar path as we are with my Wife's '51 hearse , it needed to be awakened from the dead too ! .
I'm working on a 50 4 door myself! Nice score. Just finished doing full brake rebuild and rewire entire car to convert from 6-12 volt
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