Man, that interior metal is pristine! That's nearly a brand new car in there! Congrats on the beautiful car and keeping you family heritage alive.
Heres where things get interesting (and possibly controversial), I never really cared for the soft top. I didn't care for the texture, dark color, or the big s-bar. I chose a Ford/Lincoln pearl white and got busy removing the original top and emblems. I made a temparay paint booth in my garage including a $10 door from the discount rack at Home Depot and a few box fans. Total cost for my paint booth was @ $220 for everything and it works good.
How dare you do what you want to your own car! The HAMB police may argue with this one, but not me. I always thought vinyl roofs look bad, even when they were new. The landau bars are supposed to recall convertible top irons, I think, and the best thing I can say about them is I dislike them less than vinyl roofs.
Here it is in the Lincoln pearl white. Epoxy primer, block sanded high-build primer, 3 coats of white base, 4 coats of pearl, and several rounds of clear. I lost track of how many hours I had in the roof but I am extremely happy with it!
^^^^^^ I'm liking it! Those vinyl roofs where bad for holding moisture and water at the bottom rear panel and rusted rather quickly......good move.
The roof looks great. The red T-Bird that I posted the pic of earlier originally came with the roof painted gold, if you can believe that. I did some research and found out that the Red Cross ordered a few red ones with gold tops. I wasn't too crazy about that combo so I had the roof painted red....
Great looking Thunderbird, Gnon Oldest brother bought a 1yr old 63. What a car..... egg-she'll white with black interior. Later on kids and practicality took over and they got a Pinto ! Wagon! Just a year ago he found another 63 in great shape and has been having fun driving it Didn't and still don't care for the vinyl roofs. 'specially later GM products like Cadillacs And...... why the heck would the Red Cross need T-Birds?? Another example of public's contributions being diluted to a cause so that a few "execs" can ride in style
Good move taking off the vinyl roof. Looks a million times better with paint. There just rust collectors anyways
That mouse pee smell can be hard to get rid off. But if you go to a pet store there is a chemical for it that works great. I forget the name. Had to apply it twice in my 41!! Smells nice too.
Hope to get to mine this winter. Had it for sale but no bites so I have decided to keep it and finish it.
I have little to no experience with upholstery but with a little help from my Daughter we managed to get a fresh headliner in the car.
Yeah I only needed to patch a very small section of the floor under the back seat. I brushed oil based Rustoleum on the floor and installed sound deadening.
I started restoring some of the interior pieces. I quickly realized everything needed to be taken apart to clean it properly. Besides scrubbing everything with soapy water, I again used sos pads on all the interior chrome, polished the stainless, and scotch-brite on aluminum.
Very nice sir.Looks like the kids are having some fun too.Please keep the updates coming. Good luck.Have fun.Be safe. Leo
Shortest staples I could find. If the car ran I would have outsourced that job. It did not come out perfect, I have a few wrinkles. I can see where experience would really help.
It's nice to see your kids deep into the project too. Brings families together, and builds their confidence too.
The Jalopy Journal
