I guess I should start a build thread on my project. After I finished my Model A and had it on the road for 2 summers I needed a project. I wasn’t looking for quite this big of a project, but it was just too good to pass up. This post shows what I brought home May 1st. Chassis was done with brakes, lines, Granada rear, fresh SBF never run yet, lowered and pretty much done. Body on rotisserie, with most parts and some extras. Floors, inner/outer rockers pretty tough. Lots of work with hopes of having the body mated to the frame by the end of Oct. and then start the conversion to a Ranchero custom.
Those front tires are so wide you could pave roads! They will be difficult to steer too. I love the 'Ranchero' idea. I have been driving my 50 Ford for about 21 years
So the first order was to beef up the homebuilt Rotisserie that came with the project. None of the underside seams had been welded. Took apart, welded, and beefed up. It was time to fix the body rust. EMS outer rockers and a 4 x 8 sheet of 18 gauge steel for inners, floors and patchin would do the trick.
So by the end of Sep it was ready to blast, epoxy, and Raptor. For some reason the pics don’t post in the order I load them either...
On Oct 2nd the body got mated to the frame. Done by myself making stilts for the front and leaving the rotisserie on the rear, rolling the frame under the body and using my cherry picker to ease the body onto the frame. It’s about time to figure out the plan to cut it up...
This is getting serious now. I decided to chop the top without tilting the pillars and door frames in...
I put the word out that I needed a 53-56 F1 rear top clip... a friend called and said he had a few cabs and I could have one! Free! I decided to chop the 49 4” to make the windows line up with the F1 rear window...
To leave the rear window the original size I chopped 3” out above and beside it bringing the F1 roof down to blend with the car roof.
I looked around for some way to make the bed rail tops not slope down to the rear and settled on Ford Ranger bed rails. Found a cheap box and cut away...
I am dead set on a working tailgate and that has been the toughest part of the build thus far. I started with the lower section of deck lid, but it bulged out too much in the upper center. Split the inner and outer lid sections and used the inner lower and upper skin reversed and I think it’s going to work. Hinges were difficult. I’ve settled on stainless straps in lower seam for now at least. 2 1/2” exhaust tubing stiffens up the top with a homemade filler.
And this is how it looks today. Next is make the fillers between the bed rails and tail lamps. Then it’ll be a whole lot of welding.
Love what you're done to date, here's an OEM Ford Australia rendition. A 5 window coupe utility for some inspiration
I think the proportions are looking great. I wouldn't have figured the cab from a 56 would work but you did it! A question/suggestion. Are you going to do anything on the tailgate surface? Trim pieces in the middle or roll some accent lines into the skin or maybe emboss a FORD into it? To me it looks to wide to leave without some kind of detail on it.
neat project and you have a good eye for proportions,...here's a shoebox they should've made along with a ranchero type unit....ps, yours will be so much better lookin than those utes.
Yes! I like what your doing, your approach plus and the over all look. That's all going well. As with all Automotive projects you'll get many comments and some "why didn't you??". I'm kind of one of those guys that says in my head, if only. From my view it's the house door hinges on the tailgate. In my head I'm saying go look at a 57 Ford wagon lower gate and work from there. It's not a knock by any means, just the rest of everything is so clean the hinge pins jump out and seem out of place. I'll go back where I came from now. The Wizzard
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