Old car build thread

[Duck-Stew]

Nah I was hoping to mess with you-that's the parts car.

I was waffling on selling it but the wife claimed it as her own. She's of rather short height and likes the visibility that comes with all the glass of the mobile fishbowl. This'll probably mean different seats and pedals for her.

Hahaha...  It worked.  Good to see the ol' gal.  Even better to see that your wife claimed it! 

Kids look healthy & inquisitive... 

[Speedbag]

Mmmm, early Falcon. 

[Duck-Stew]

Mmmm, early Falcon. 

'62, 2-door window-post car w/an early '90s 5.0 truck engine, T5 5-speed and an 3.00:1 geared 8" axle out back.  Or at least that's what it used to have when I owned it...

[yamifixer]

I love this thread. Makes me long for my '69 Camaro.

[NAKID]

 

[Popeye the Sailor]

'62, 2-door window-post car w/an early '90s 5.0 truck engine, T5 5-speed and an 3.00:1 geared 8" axle out back.  Or at least that's what it used to have when I owned it...

Same stuff in it.

Lowered the upper control arms and put a 1 1/4" sway bar up front. New rear springs, new shocks all around.

Parts car has a rear sway bar I'm going to steal.

The body work begins:

Let's be clear-I am bereft of any clue-Nate gets several dozen emails from me per hour and does his best to correct my ignorance.



The original fenders turned out to be mostly bondo. As in there was more filler than metal.



Given the cost of replacement fenders and the million parts I'll end up wanting, this happened:



Before anyone asks, yes I'm still married and yes, she's very tolerant.

[Popeye the Sailor]

My car is holey:



California cars aren't supposed to do that.





Fenders off parts car:



Fenders off legitimate car:



The new ones had trim, the old ones did not. I set the boy to unscrewing the pieces.



I welded up the holes and did a skim coat of filler.

[Duck-Stew]

Same stuff in it.

Lowered the upper control arms and put a 1 1/4" sway bar up front. New rear springs, new shocks all around.

Parts car has a rear sway bar I'm going to steal.

I approve this message. 

[Popeye the Sailor]

I suppose I should do something:



Hog out the rsty bits:



Cut a patch:



Weld and clean it up, then take a photo so you don't have to admit to your welds.

[Popeye the Sailor]

The ass end of these cars always looked to busy to me.



I figure all the other trim and emblems had been pulled (the only thing I'm leaving is the hood scoop and the door handles (I'm only leaving the handles because Paula is making me)).

I put the filler in the trunk to clean up the rear:







I cleaned the filler out of the "Falcon" letter holes and welded them up as well.

My welds are getting better.

My pictures, are not.

[Popeye the Sailor]

The custom shop called me about two months ago with some bad news-most of the entire back third of the car is basically rust/cancer (I guess they finally started on it).

I was unclear what the holdup is with the frame, as what they told me didn't add up properly, so I headed up early to take a look (~4 hours away). Luckily the wife knocked off work early so I could leave, and that these guys work very late into the night.

My initial theory is that them being Californians, they view rust the same way they do cold. They don't actually know anything about it but think they do.

They suggested stripping into the running gear and putting it into another body.  

The thought of that is distressing to me. I am not restoring A car to just have a car. I'm restoring THE car. If I were to pick a classic car to tool around in, it likely wouldn't be a '61 Chrysler-the history of this car makes it more important to me than just buying another.

But....there are times when one has to look at the costs, and that one could buy a complete one for less and just be on the road. These are things a reasonable man might do.


The truth is, I've never been a reasonable man.


They pointed out a number of issues that they were clear the best way to fix them would be to find the whole rear third of a non-rusty car and take what they needed.

This seemed unlikely to me so I told them that was no problem.

Two days later I found this:

[Popeye the Sailor]

With the proper bracing....and infinite amounts of stubborn.....





Dreams can come true.

[Duck-Stew]

Dude:  Bad-ass. 

[Popeye the Sailor]

Go Betsy! 
What size donk is that?

What in the hell is a donk?

[ducpainter]

http://bit.ly/S52ryl