Havin some trouble uploading pics but here goes... Mentioned this car in my Lincoln thread, that Lincoln fell through, bought a really cool 60 Premiere 2 Door instead. But ya know.. one of the things I always did want was an early 50s Ford, and the Premiere was cheap enough that if I got SUPER lucky maybe I could also afford a Fordor.. Saw this one on eBay/Craigslist on Long Island and jumped on it. Snagged it for $3300! It's got a 239 Y block, Fordomatic, a 70stastic Velour interior and headliner, the body is SOLID. Being from North Jersey I was kinda hoping it might have been built in Edgewater, but nope, it's a Dallas car. I found a service coupon book in the glovebox from a dealer in Shreveport, Louisiana. The guy I got it from bought it from someone who claimed to have gotten the car from Iowa, so I guess it's been all over. Paint is a real cheap respray but it's presentable, one hood hinge is broken but it comes with a pair of good used ones, some extra chrome, correct NOS extra key blanks, a correct but untested radio, etc. I think I did really well, what say ya all?
Just noticed the "3rd brake light"- it sticks out like a turd in a punchbowl. Unless required by law, I would lose it. Giving you a little hazing...
Feels good man! Oh yeah, that's getting throw in the garbage... fix water pump first, throw that out second. Also eventually wanna lose the velour interior, it's real comfortable but looks wrong IMO.
You made out really good on that deal . Car looks nice and you have a good interior as well . The chrome look to be good driver quality or better too ! I would say you did very well with the deal ! I always did like the grill in the 54 Fords ! One of the better designs they made . I also prefer the fordors myself . They are so much better than trying to crawl into the back seat to get something . They are good to have when friends come along for a drive . I hate having to either get out of the car or get shoved up against the steering column for someone to get into the back seat ! I also agree skoh73 about that 3rd stop light ! BUT it's your car so do what you want to it ! As for the 1975 Velour seats , well they can be covered very easily too , but they do look like they are soft ! I have a 55 Fairlane fordor . Jim
Jim, The seats are REAL comfortable so they may stay a while, the headliner and door panels are in the same material so that's gonna be more of a priority I think. The 3rd brake light is going... I haven't even picked the car up, that's Sunday's task... I took a Dodge Ram pickup with a Hemi on trade at work that we're gonna wholesale.. it has a hitch
Here's a pic I found from 1953 of the original selling dealer.. neat huh? http://www.flickr.com/photos/bossmustang/4214802188/
Wow!! nice fordor super sweet deal for what you paid ,all the emblems and chrome look so fresh,and your rolling on those pinner whitewalls and not some mixed matched blackwalls i say you scored.thanks for shaeing the pics
I think the interior suits the car well I would keep it,as far as the brake light goes 52-54 Fords small tailights are not EZ to see compared to brake and tailights on todays cars.Rocky aka dragonknucks here can tell you how it feels to have your project totaled when He was on the way to the muffler shop when He was rear ended and stopped,before you remove the brake light at least consider switching to LED bulbs for safety.
Finally got all the pics I took yesterday uploaded to my album. Whew! Should have the car in hand tomorrow... going to Motor Vehicle tomorrow for plates and ***le.. wish me luck!
Got delivered today. It's registered.. after some hiccups, I drove it home from work tonight. God I LOVE this thing!
Thanks! I really love this thing... been driving it and now finally getting a grip on what I gotta do to it to make it a reliable driver. Worked on it a few hours this morning before work, got a new alternator for it and installed a new water pump.. the old one was leaking real bad. So I figure I have the following to do.. Throw a rebuild kit at the master cyl. I have new wheel cylinders and hoses for it, lines look really nice so they can stay. Gotta get new tires, going to go with WWW 6.70-15s, just can't decide which ones.... leaning towards the Firestones. Oh and I gotta swap out this hood hinge, have the "new" one soaking in Kroil now just to be safe. What else can I think of..... just wanna get it to Lead East on Sunday!
It would be better all around instead of rebuilding the old master cylinder to convert to a later dual master cylinder,you would only be looking at about $50 in parts to do it.
Jeff, Yup! Saw your posts about it.. that's going to be the plan I think. Vein, yeah I love the look of em, with my Lincoln I had to go with the BFGs, those look good but the raised letters in the whitewall and the pie crust sidewalls look perfect on the Firestones. I am not gonna go with radials, have em on the car now and they look like ****.
Ordered the Firestones today! Knowing Coker they should be here pretty quick.. right now I have badly dry rotted no-name 215-75 radials.. yuck. Over the weekend it acted up.. I had ordered new hoses, wheel cylinders and a master cyl kit, but the front brake hoses started acting as check valves, I managed to find the time to change the front cylinders and hoses and now it actually stops. Still runs a bit ragged but that I can sort out.
Post pics when you get the new shoes on the ole girl! I'm hoping next spring I will be able to get some for my ride.
The Jalopy Journal
