1952-59 Ford Finally finished my 54 Ford Customline restoration

My 54 Customline has been in our family since it was new and I am very excited to have it completed. It's been a long drawn out restoration, (my fault) but its finally completed and I'm ready to take the car out crusin. I want to give a lot of thanks to this website, along with the 54 Ford Customline web site, for inspiration and ideas to make this all a bit easier. Not that it was easy, but it sure helped. Like many on here, I am a guy that likes to do his own work so this took some time, especially after changing my mind after first restoring the car to original. I then took a 180 degree turn in my restoration to make the car a more enjoyable ride with some modern comforts, like AC, auto ******, and some horsepower. Ended up installing a 351W stroked to 393 cu in, C4 Auto ****** and Vintage Air Gen IV system. I have shared my experience in my album ***led Kooser's 54 Customline, and have uploaded about 120 pictures of my restoration, if you care to look. I have done this to share pics of the many upgrades / mods that I have done, and I hope that it can help others and possibly to help make their restoration a little easier. If anyone sees something that they would like more info on I will be glad to help if I can.

Again, I want to thank this group for their help all along the way.

 

Cl***y ride!

 

I wanted to post a couple more pics on my original post, but the forum prevented it for some reason, so I added them as a reply. If you would like to see the full restore check out my album Kooser's 54 Ford Customline, Thx

 

Thank you...

 

Here is a link to his album,check it out! https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/media/albums/koosers-54-customline.46414/

 

Fantastic car!

 

Terrific job, beautiful car.

 

What are your wheel and tire sizes?

 

DIYGUY nailed it!!........cl***y ride. I like your change of direction from restoration to upgraded......you'll enjoy it much much more. Very well done, love the black.

 

Very Nice good job

 

The fronts are 16 x 7. The rear are 17 x 8. I'll have to check the tire sizes when I get home. I have them written down. Just can't remember of hand.

 

Uber tasty. Don't change a thing.

 

These are the wheels I put on. Still looking for tire sizes, but car is not at home so it may be later when I get them to you.
American Racing Custom Wheels VN515 Torq Thrust II 1 Pc Polished Wheel (17x8"/5x114.3mm, +8mm offset)

American Racing Custom Wheels VN515 Torq Thrust II 1 Pc Polished Wheel (16x7"/5x114.3mm, 0mm offset)

 

That's a really nice car. Great job.

 

That is one good looking car, nice job.

 

Looks great! All that hard work is now a memory. Now you can enjoy it. I dream of the day I finish my car. Gotta feel good!

 

Fabulous cka, congratulations.

 

Very nice!!!

 

Awesome job.

 

Very nice work.
The drive train is very similar to my set up. 351W stroked to 427. Plus I have the champion radiator with an electric fan which seems to be cooling the motor down fine.

 

Thanks. I tried Champions 16 in electric fan but once I added the Vintage Air Condensor, I had to move the radiator forward and there wasn't enough room for the fan so switched to flex fan. Very tight clearances once a.c. was added. I'm sure you could have shed some light on my engine and ****** install. But all in all I'm happy with the install. I'm still hoping the radiator will keep me cool in the Florida heat when a.c. is on. My first cruise will be this weekend. Right now it holds at 190 with a.c. on sitting in the driveway.

 

Nice! I have not added AC yet but that will probably be over the winter. I will be curious how your set up works in the heat.

 

Nice!

 

Looks great!! This gives me some inspiration to get back to work on my 54!!

 

My dad had a '54 Mainline so I'm partial to the '54 in general. Very tastefully done and looks great in black.

 

Very sweet ride!