Been busy over the winter on the wife's '55 TBird. Cant find any before shots of the interior but it really was pretty awful, door cards were almost in pieces, carpet bare in patches and the seats split. The dash had badly faded etc. Under the hood some PO had decided the best approach was to cover EVERYTHING in matt black paint from the inner fenders to ALL of the wiring and then go over all bolt heads in matt silver. Dealing with the engine loom wires when all of them are black was 'interesting' to say the least. Looking better now and almost ready for the spring. Just got the steering wheel painted this past week and the radio should be back in this coming week after new tubes and getting its mp3 input sorted. Some wiring to tidy under the hood, kick panels in the cockpit and a few other annoyances and it will be on the road. Can turn my attention back to the coupe now to get it ready for the run to Austin!! Before After
Happy wife, happy life so they say. That's why I'm currently single Nice T-bird, as stated any other photos?
Great job, boy that brings back memories, my Dad bought one of those new in blue when I was a kid. Do you have the hard top with port holes too ? Looking good.
Very Nice! Just did a 312 in a Fairlane last fall, ran good but valves are noisy. hope your bird doesn't sound like that.
A Y block is a mechanical lifter engine and adjusted properly they aren't that noisy. By nature they are not as quiet as a hydraulic lifter engine but that is part of the charm. Hard to beat the exhaust tone of a healthy Y block.
As another 55 bird owner, well done. 1927graham has it right. Dad spent enough on airplanes I never went there.
Thanks guys, the car is covered in an inch of dust right now but once it gets cleaned up I will take more shots. The car itself is super clean and the prior owner had it color sanded, slick looking. As someone pointed out above the 55 hard tops didn't have the porthole from the factory but it was a regular thing for 55 owners to install portholes. This car does have portholes in its white hard top. I rebuilt the Y block after finding a crack in the old 312 block. Tony over at Ross Racing Engines came to the rescue with a replacement he had lying around. Had the Fordomatic rebuilt too so it should drive just fine once I get the final issues tied up.
I promised some shots of the car, sorry for the delay. Been busily trying to get it finished and finally got the last few items done.
That car there is why I got into hot rods. I would have loved an early Bird or late 50's Vette but only millionaires could afford them here in Oz by the time you privately imported one then paid to have it converted. So I built a T bucket instead as I could buy bits as the build progressed. Beautiful car and the wife should really enjoy cruising in it.