Hello, From NE Ohio. Picked up a 54’ Victoria. This is my first venture into anything pre 1960's, I have a 69 Bronco, so I'm pretty hyped to own another cl***ic car. I've had the car for almost two summers now, I've been finishing my shop and I had two baby girls between starting the shop and getting the car ..... so my free time up until this point has been zero. I have been picking up a few things here and there for it and I'm hoping this fall to start getting serious about it. I have very little info on the car. The gentleman that built it p***ed away, and his wife didn’t know much or anybody that did.I believe it has a 292. It has a 4 speed that I haven’t identified yet. It has the same shift pattern as a Muncie , Saginaw BW. I gotta get under it and do some research. Car has a lot going for it. The body is super clean, with only a few soft spots (pretty rare in the rust belt) which is the main reason I bought it. Fires right up and runs really nice. It has A lot of personal touches from the previous owner... some I like... some... well not so much. Paint job is a 30-40 footer... but it was a pretty good amateur attempt at metal flake. Very polarizing paint. Some people love it, I can’t decide if I really like it, or really don’t... A lot of issues here and there with imperfections and dark spots... some days I'm all about it, other days I think I want to paint the body white and leave the flake on the roof. Has a more modern steering column with a rack. I found some pictures in the trunk along with some email corespondents about the original steering box needed to be rebuilt so he did the swap. Steering is really odd and the column set up bugs me. Turning radius is about the same as a 50 foot limo.... the steering column is just very strange I still don’t know exactly what column is in this car, but the key and ignition switch look like they are from the 90’s. Needs a rework or back to original. I really don’t like the bumpers or whatever they are. Having trouble finding correct bumpers. Went to a few swap meets, and have been searching craigslist weekly. There are some on eBay but shipping costs more than the bumper.... Hoping some people in this group can help out. Wondering what other bumpers that are more available might work and look nice? Exhaust tips are some racer boy bolt ons from the pep boys clearance rack.... they have to go along with the taped on hood scoop. Wiring is pretty messy... most of those wires under the hood aren’t even connected to anything... most of the gauges aren’t working, radio is out, so I’ll tackle that this winter. Main wiring issue was the electric cooling fan wouldn’t engage at any temp. It was connected to a small box with a knob on it. Then a small coil of wire unwound to a small piece of metal that was attached to the back of the radiator. Some type of thermostat system that looks like the aftermarket kits I have found online. I wired up a toggle switch so I can turn the fan off, Having some trouble with it running hot. Even with the fan wired to a toggle switch and running it all the time. Not sure if that fan is pulling enough air. Think I’m going to get a shroud and put a mechanical fan back in. I need to do some seat belts for the little ones and the wife. Trying to find a solution that won’t look out of place with the hardtop. Wish I had more time to spend working on it, but that’s life right now. Glad to be part of the group!
Welcome to our Group ! Looks like a good base to work with. I agree you need to ditch the "nerf bars" for bumpers previous owner was probably friends with a plumber but since the car now has the rolled pans the stock bumpers probably won't fit without some cutting. You might check out the pictures of 1952-54's here and see if a solution might pop up. https://kustomrama.com/wiki/1954_Ford
Welcome to the group. If you need bumpers, I have a friend that has 5 53'-54' parts cars. Last time I saw them he had a nice driver quality set, or at least clean cores for chroming with brackets. He's fair on prices, but of course theyre in the hills of East Tn so shipping is something to think about. Let me know!
I’m in Northeast Ohio. I’m just north of Youngstown. For the bumpers, I was looking at the pans that are on there. They are on well, but look to be attached by some screws underneath. I may look into removing the pans, I’ll just have to try to evaluate what kinda paint issues it will cause. Thanks for the offer Com4 I’ll keep it in might, but shipping is rough on items like that... it’s what has kept me from picking anything up yet. When I first got the car, there was a craigslist add for two front fenders and a bumper about and hour away for $150 bucks.... I should have jumped on it but I wasn’t thinking it would be difficult to find them when I was ready I’ve started to have some issues with the doors closing. I tried to align the strikers but it doesn’t seem to be the issue. The door will latch but the bottoms stick out when the door is latched. Is there a way to adjust the hinges or does it sound like they need new bushings? I spent the weekend working outside around my shop. The weather up here is still nice and I’m racing the calendar... when Late October comes the weather turns and it’s over for outside work... but in hoping to get some work in on the car soon. I did pick up some wide whites for it. Really like how they look mocked up. I want to get the the drag bars that are on the rear axle off and get it a bit lower to the ground with some blocks and aero star springs.
a picture of the door at bottom may help.do not forget back when they built these cars there were no robots.the door bottom may be normal for the time but in this day and age of razor sharp lines and fit.people not around back then think it was in an accident or something.hopefully you an put proper bumpers on it those nerf bars look hideous.the spaghetti by the battery needs attention
54vicky, if you look at the one picture that is taken from the back of the car you can see the p***enger door bottom sticking out quite a bit on the bottom. This has gotten progressively worse since the photo was taken, the doors on either side don't like to shut at all now. The widow of the gentleman that built it said to me "I don't know why the doors are shutting so hard and offline, it wasn't like that when I drove it to the shop to have some work done on it, they must have leaned on them or something" The thing is, with the door open, I pull up on it to see if there is any play in the hinge or bushing and its rock solid. I guess I should just loosen the hinge and see if I can get the door to shut straight and tighten the hinge up. Like I said, the 69 Bronco is the only vintage car I have worked on and it doesn't have doors! haha. The striker setup on this car was confusing at first so I thought maybe there was a trick to the hinges. ya.... the spaghetti wiring gives me a headache thinking about it. I just chased down a bad ground on my friends truck that took way longer than it should have, but at least this old girl only has about 1/16th of the wires the new cars have. I still don't know what those bumper things are. I thought maybe it was some type of period correct thing, or a way to make the car legal back in the day without the metal bumpers..... looks like some type of push bar for a sprint car or something.... Anyway, it's things like that, that probably allowed me to get such a good deal on the car, so i'm glad they were there! haha.
thats a neat car you have mate....love the ol skool metalflake ....even if not perfect it still looks unique i think... if it was mine i would just fix what needs fixing and enjoy it
the problem at rear of door will not be fixed with the hinges.moving them in or out will affect the front also.keep at it
I like the color, but the nerf bars gotta go. See how the pans look less the bars. I would consider re-wiring the whole thing from scratch. The turn radius thing is what goes with R&P conversions. You could go to a Borgeson power steering box pretty easily and another column should work with the swap. look at Ididit or Flaming River, a bunch of guys have done the Borgeson swap here.
I have the Fatman rack and pinion in my 55 and although I have not got many miles on it I am already wishing I had kept the Borgeson.
Nice looking 54 Vicky. I'm also from N.E. Ohio, Geauga county, so I may run into you at one of the local cruises.
So I found a 54 4 Door Sedan parts car for an ok price. I'm wondering if someone can tell me what parts won't work from the 4 door sedan (besides the doors). Should most of the parts be the same? (Steering column, steering box, interior, bumpers, etc) The car looks to be in ok shape, I'm trying to weight my options and decide if I have room for a parts car.
Steering column and box should be the same. Interior, some will be the same, not seats and panels.. Dash parts will be the same. Fenders, bumpers are the same. Windshield is different, same with the rear gl***. Running gear will be the same.
Paul pretty well covered all that will interchange.some body parts will also hood,trunk lid keep at it.waiting for update on the door bottoms
what problems do you have with the fatman rack and pinion,ive installed it but not on the road yet. thamks
Dawson, looks like a good solid start. The y-block bellhousing used the early narrow Ford transmission bolt pattern which was used up through 1964. They changed to a wider bolt pattern in 1965 but most later transmissions retained the early small pattern in addition to the wider pattern. So unless you see an adapter between the bell housing and the transmission, it probably has either a Ford pattern Borg Warner T10 or Ford Top loader from a 60s car. The car would have originally had a 239. I can barely see the carburetor base under the air cleaner, but it looks like the later Autolite/Holley 2bbl that came out in 1957, so it is probably either a 272 or 292 from a 57 or later car or truck. If that's the case be sure to specify points for a 57 or later when you tune it up as the earlier years used a different distributor. All Y-Blocks had solid lifters so valve adjustment should be included when you tune it. They set at .019" hot for a stock cam. James
I agree with Fairlane 62 that it is probably a borg Warner t 10 4 speed. Many people I have talked to that have installed a rack and pinion have been dissatisfied with the turning radius, sounds like you are the same. Many 54 Ford experts on this forum, just remember to take pictures and post them when asking questions. Welcome!
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