Projects Crazy Legs My 54 Ford Build Thread - Old Custom

This is my 1st build thread on my locally found 54 Ford Victoria 2 dr hardtop. It approx 12" lengthened Lincoln quarters, w/ Lincoln taillights, continental kit, merc front & rear bumpers, 53 Ford dash, & it had a 341 Lincoln engine with it (not in it) The floors have some rust in them in the common places but it initially didn't look too bad, the fenders & rockers need help as well, but the trunk is good!

I liked this car right off the bat cuz it was a complete car that I could start with, it had all the chrome trim in place & not just boxes of parts, as well as some odd factory options like power seats & windows along with factory air! As well as it was in my price range.

Since this is my first custom I knew I was going to need help on making sure I keep it in the correct era & not dick it up with a bunch of stupid crap that doesn't belong on it since this car is 57 years older than I am now (aka Im 31 now), so with the help of my dad (No Plan = HAMB) & uncle I knew I was in good hands as they both are avid custom car lovers with owning tons of cool cars between them. So my initial goal is I knew I needed to have this car slammed to the ground, wide whites, & hubcaps to match, keeping it subtle but yet in the end I want people to get the "wow thats awesome" effect.

Here are a few pics of me bringin it home on the trailer











I couldnt resist ripping the coils out ASAP to see what it would look like





I started by ripping the interior out to see how bad the rust in the floors was & no surprise it was WAY worse than originally estimated;.



So I started hackin till I found good metal, I got some 18ga sheet metal & used my uncles antique bead roller & here is the end product. (No its NOT galvanized metal, I used white spray paint to help create a line to cut on)







I stopped on the floors once the passenger side was done to work on the front suspension to see what it was going to take to get this thing to lay on the ground, after a trip to Salina Kansas for the KKOA show & after seeing some of the coolest rides in the country I was completely hooked on the lead sled idea. (Screenz = HAMB) 54 Ford was there & he helped steer me in the right direction, what an amazing car! So using a junk 205-70-15 I faked a Krylon white wall & used a cap from my dad & after much research, hacking & help from some friends ideas that are pro's in the mini-truck air bagging world, this is what I ended up with for the front end stance. With the help of the jack the picture shows the front wheel higher than the frame rail & converted it to disc brakes as well, now we're talkin!



My dad is a recently retired machinist & designer & I'm a drafter/designer we came up with this pocket idea for the massive 2600lb air bags to fit in using the stock 54 a-arms, he TIG'd it all for me. The 1st pic was the prototype, it was way too thin of material & the sq tube was to help keep the stock arm square while we welded on it.





Here is what I did for the top mount for the 2600lb bag; I basically put a plate on the bottom of the upper coil mount. Although I did match the angle of the lower A-arm when slammed so the bag matches the bottom mount when lay'd out. The air line goes straight up right out of the stock shock mounting hole.



I found a powered center steer rack/pinion that I believe is out of Sunbird/Corsica car that I'll be working on adapting to the Ford; this is an entire story in itself but so far seems to be working well with the oil pan. Biggest issue is routing the driver's side exhaust around the steering shaft even though we used 2 joints.

After a short while I realized that I'll need to notch the frame so the tie rods will clear when the air is out of the bags





We were getting bored one night & we want to graph the continental kit into the trunk to be more subtle & match the rear window angle, not something that looks like it was stuck on the car so here we had arts & crafts night to get some more crazy ideas flowing..

 

You FORD purists look away now. I'm big into the LS1/LSX Chevy world and I drag race a C5 Vette & I've done all the engine work myself so I know it well, I found a 6.0 LQ4 w/ 4L80E trans that I will be using for this build. The best part is the new GTOs use a front sump oil pan that will clear the factory cross member so no cutting it up needed to make it fit.





It would fit without all the hacking of the tunnel but I wanted the lowest part to be an inch above the bottom of the frame so when I lay it down it won't poke holes in parts that shouldn't have holes in it



I quickly realized that I need to have more turning room with the inner wheel wells in front so here I'm making them from scratch. I wanted to make these removable still and man did this ever take a lot of time but I think they turned out ok, Only original 54 part I ended up using was the very top where it bolts to the fender, everything was all fab'd up by me & using the antique bead roller lol I counted these were done in 6 individual pieces, I wanted to just bend the metal on a brake but it was too hard to figure out where I needed to make the bends and make it right.







Once the front suspension & rust was mostly wrapped up we decided to move to the back. After a lot of measuring, reading, we decided to hack out the entire 54 cross members etc to make room for the new trans, exhaust & 2-link. We ended up using Johnnie Joints, 2x2 square tubing & 1-5/8 tubing for replacing the stock stuff.







This is where I'm currently at, we've got all this tacked in the car but we haven't made/cut the notch in the back. Main reason is I'm stopping on this for the summer so I can reside my house (Not fun)

 

Update- I sent my request into the Salinas KKOA 'Chop my top' by Bill Hines & Brad Masterson, I originally never considered chopping this car but I thought man wouldnt that be something to have them do it! Verdict is still out on if I'll be picked for this but I'm excited to hear the results what they decide to do for this year. My main concern is not screwing it all up by going to much or better yet I'm not sure how I'll ever get the windows & trim to work again & not look retarded, I guess we'll see what happens!!

By the way if they did do it I'd love to see the top chopped like this car I found on here (HAMB) OMG I love this thing.



Anyway, I wanted to get my build thread started so I don't lose track of what all has happened so far...... I'll post new pics & posts as I get farther along. OH & MOST IMPORTANT, if any of you know my 54's history or anything about it, I'd love to hear all about it

 

nice job.

 

This car was reported to be in the Des Moines area about 15 years ago, driving. Can anyone tell him more about it or who owned it, anything? Rumored to be a custom out of Texas many years ago.

 

nice work and good luck

 

Welcome aboard and good luck with the project. You have a kool foundation
and you will have something special when your finished. I'll be watching the
progress... Happy Trails, Mick

 

Great work so far!

 

Lovin your project man!

 

wow, tons of work - overall it looks great. hope you make a traditional styled custom engine cover or leave hood shut except to check oil.

 

nice work..i like the crossmember....have you checked to see if it will turn full lock? i had a small gm rack on my ford and lost alot of turning radious..

 

Bad Azz Car! U got any picks of how u did that power steering set up?

 

What a cool project. Curious to see how the Continental kit turns out.

Have you thought about using '56 headlight bezels? They fit really well with the forward slant of the C-pillar.

Here's an original '56 Capri.

 

I talked to a friend at BTT50's yesterday that said he had seen the car on a Des Moines car lot (not running condition), more than 20 years ago; before Jay brought it. He said it was built in Texas when it was almost a new car, by a Ford dealer, hence all the different Ford, Lincoln, Merc parts. He got this info from the (then) owner at Hardees when it used to attend the Army Post Road Hardees night cruise in, in Des Moines back in the day. Anyone know anything more or corrections? Please help......

 

Hey! I met you guys at the pile up, glad to see its all moving along!

 

No worries I plan on never opening the hood once it fires for the first time lol

I'll get some pics of the steering once i remove the engine/trans again, you can't see anything with all that crap in place.

Yeah we were aware of the turning radius issue with going with the rack, but I plan to drive this thing super low all the time anyway & I don't want rape the white walls on the fender lip so I won't be able be turning it sharp anyway, plus the dang this is 17'4" long the way it sits!

Yep CC you're right! we met you guys there!

 

I'll definitely be following along on this build. Sounds like you have a great plan going and the progress is looking great. See you in Salina!!!

 

WAY COOL !!!!!!!!!!!! Keep us posted, please ....

4TTRUK

 

Are you going to keep the 52 / 53 dash in it ? I always thought the 54 dash was one of the best looking ones they made. No, I don't have one for sale,....

4TTRUK

 

personally i hate the 53 dash & love the 54 as well...... only problem is it is the only thing I've got right now to work with

Samething goes for the front end, I want to convert this back to an original 54 front end with a 54 Chevy grille w/ lots of teeth but those complete front clips aren't exactly laying around everywhere either lol. I did find a complete 54 front clip at a local swap meet last year but the fenders, lower pan, & bumper were rusted beyond repair.

 

I'm always hunting parts for these cars, if I find a spare 54 dash, ill let you know?

Also, amazing work. Everything is stunning craftsmanship

 

Yeah keep me in mind for a dash & most important front end parts to bring it back to the original 54 Ford
It supposed to be +100 degrees here for the next couple of days, so i'm planning on working on it, i'll post pics of anything I get done or screw up lol

 

That is a pretty cool build!

 

Can and will do, I'll keep an eye out!

 

Not a fan of laying frame, but I like the rear quarter treatment.


I would leave the continental how it is, I personally think the car flows very well.

My $0.02

 

Lot's of skilled work going on there.

It's good to see another 54 coming together.

 

Update 7-9-12
I had some time during the July 4th week break so I decided to more the car around to make more room in my shop & get it on the ground for the first time to see what it looks like. While it was still up in the air I thought this view looked pretty funny so I snapped a few pics laying on the ground looking through the trunk through the front windshield.





Here it is for the 1st time laying down with no air in the front end laying on the front cross member but the back end is not notched yet, the frame is setting on the axle tubes but you still get the idea of what the end result should be. It looks like it'll go a couple inches lower in back yet. The rear tires that are on it are alot smaller than the fronts so it looks a lot lower than it really would be with the same size tires as the front. Either way when it's done it will be on the ground all the way around with a 28" tall tire.





I'll get a few pics of the back end now before the notch.

 

Looking good layin' low like that!

 

Slick car....looks really good!!!

 

agreed, great work so far... not enough of em on the road