Bought this car about a year and a half ago. I had watched it sit under a leanto on the side of a barn for several years. I was busy with other stuff so never even inquired on it. Then one day it was moved with a for sale sign in the window. Figured it was now or never, checked it out and its all original and pretty straight. Barely started on it then like often happens life got in the way. Bought a little land, built a house and all the projects that go with it. Well now I've got a fairly clean garage for working in, a sweet air compressor setup. And this car is now the priority. My little girls have named the car Ariel after the mermaid. My wife has begun to like the car too and talks about driving it, this helps big time. Original plan was to try and get everything running right and road trip to the hot rod hill climb. Well dates changed and my daughter is in school so thats off the table. Pretty bummed. We decided to do a road trip anyway. Northern California. Some hotels are already booked, so if the cars not ready we'll go anyhow, just not in this car. Its gonna be a push but lets see how it goes. Short term plans are to get everything running right and safe. Hopefully to the point I feel comfortable to take it on the planned road trip. Long term plans are early fifties mild custom touches. Frenched headlights, rear lowered, shaved, shinny paint, etc. Car is from Idaho, last registered in 69, people must have lived on a dirt road because dust is packed everywhere. Is overall pretty solid though. Heres some pics. Day it came home. Cleaning. Glovebox. Other daughter loving it. Fixed a floor brace and some floor. Found some more rot in the center floor brace, and was never happy with the repair on the front floor brace. Couldn't really tell till I got into it cause the undercoating looked pretty good. But floor braces rotted where the dust was caked inside them and held moisture. So tore it all out and gonna try to do this right. Got some braces and floor pans from the Filling Station. Tore out again. Fixed a section of the rocker welding upsidedown and backwards. New braces in, more welding upsidedown and backwards. Well that's where I'm at now. Any tips and comments are appreciated. I'm learning as I go. This site has been a great place to learn and shape the vision I have for this car.
Very nice car.....I really like that look, and you re certainly doing it up right... Good luck and keep us in pictures....
looks like a good project - great that you have a couple of helpers - since you are welding stuff put in really good 3 point seat belt mounting plates, front & rear - as you progress safety of Family has to be priority - look at upgrading brakes, at least replace everything - drums, shoes, lines, etc. - upgrade to 12V system - electric wiper replacement - get heater working - etc - as you are learning, nothing is cheap or easy - but, so very rewarding
looks pretty straight. a "Styline Special" with the rubber fender guard thingies... I have two of those NOS but they are both for the same side. good ones are as rare as chicken dicks. did it come with a back seat from the factory??
Whats under the rubber fender guards? I was planning on ditching them. Yes came with factory back seat.
under the guards there is just a couple of mounting holes to fill. if they are in decent shape I would be interested in buying them, there should be rubber parts below them as well that kind of blend in with the rocker molding. PM me if they are worth saving.
Feel like I'm moving at a snails pace. Didnt get to work on the car at all over the weekend. Got a portion of the driver side rocker repaired. Working on putting in new driver side floor braces. Seems like I'm giving all my weekends away to other people, but thats ok, I get most Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday evenings.
Some progress. Got passenger inner rockers repaired and new floor braces in. Hopefully finish the floor next week.
You weld better upside down and backwards than I do right side up and forwards! I am Butch/56sedandelivery.
Neat car. My first car was a 49 cpe when I was growing up in Florence Or. I was 16 in 57 and loved that car. I filled the trunk lid,removed the fender pads(rusty underneath),filled the chrome mldg holes on the top of the fenders,filled the front orn depressions,filled the split hood(what a job),installed 57 Corvette taillights in top of 1/4 pnls. Lots of fun. Good luck with yours. Bill
Right on. Those are some of the long term plans I've been thinking about, except the corvette taillights.
Was able to check the floor off the list this weekend. Filled on unneeded holes in the floor. When I was wire wheeling found a weird piece of rod under some of the nasty black tar. and found an old repair that had to be from the factory. Got everything wire wheeled down pretty well, left some of the nasty tar stuff and painted over it. Cut out a bigger hole for master cylinder access, made a cover. Not perfect, but good learning experience. Flustering when I want perfection but my skills are far from it. Everything is butt welded except at toeboard and at the rocker, same as factory.
Making some progress. Got the gas tank cleaned and resealed with the por15 kit. Fuel lines cleaned out. Did some pressure washing underneath. Wow, hours worth of scraping and pressure washing but looks pretty good under there now. On the list next is to try and get this thing to run.
Ok, I need your guys help. I have been searching for two days and cant seem to find a definitive answer. I want to upgrade my brakes from the huck brakes to 51-54 bendix. The fronts seem fairly straightforward if you can find donor backing plates, everything else can be bought new if needed. On the rear brakes I'm seeing different information. So, what does it take to swap the rear brakes over? I'd like to just change from the backing plates out. I already have 3:55 gears so would like to avoid finding a whole new rear end. Thanks for the help.
For the rear brakes you MUST change the rear housing. You can keep the torque tube center section. The '51 and newer Bendix style backing plates will not fit; the rivet pattern is different as well as the flange-to-flange distance and the off-sets for wheel cylinders. I know this from experience.
thanks for buying some of our parts from THE FILLING STATION, they are one of our best dealers the ems guy www.emsautomotive.com
Thanks so much for the info. Found some backing plates for the front today. Think I'm gonna swap over in the front and keep the Huck brakes on the rear and see how that goes.
The braces and front floor pans fit pretty good. Have to go to Corvallis for a graduation on Saturday gonna spend a bunch more hard earned money at the filling station as it's close by. No shipping that way.
For the front backing plates you need the later spacers that fit between the plate and the spindle if my memory is correct, outside of that it is an easy bolt-in.
Got seat frames sandblasted and painted up. Forgot to take a picture. Dropped them off at the upholstery shop. Got insulation in the mail yesterday. Ordered from Automotive Insulation they give a discount to alliance members. Thanks for the quick delivery.
Still chipping away at small things. Got front backing plates from a 54 so I can upgrade the brakes. Probably clean those up this weekend. These showed up from Coker last night. Got a pretty good break being an alliance member.
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