Afternoon everyone. I thought this was really cool so I thought I would share. This car has been tucked away in a garage since 1963-ish & I was fortunate enough to be given the opportunity to be the next caretaker. The gentleman I bought it from has owned it since 1960 & purchased it from the original owner. He drove it in stock form for a few years then parked it to install a 327 & powerglide & different rear end sometime in the late 60's, maybe early 70's, he's not sure anymore. Never got it running and it sat since then. It's absolutely rock solid, not a patch anywhere, doors close beautifully etc. Somewhere along the line for whatever reason it got a coat of primer over the original paint & glass rear fenders. Originals are in the back & are going back on the car. Original flathead was included too & anything missing is supposedly 'up in the rafters somewhere- you go find it son' Plan is to update the brakes & fix the suspension, the engineering is late 60's stickwelder so maybe fix a few welds and preserve it as much as possible. Have some questions & some pics below if someone could offer some input I would appreciate it. The rear suspension- I know I got problems- options/opinions on fixing this? It all has to come off anyways as the welding is....questionable. Front end- it looks original but the shackle angle looks wrong to me- front spring too long or it's sitting show it should? Exhaust- it's tight under there. The drivers manifold is VERY close to the steering shaft & there isn't a lot of room to shift the engine anywhere. I'm fine with manifolds vs headers but it has a ramhorn on the other side and I'd like them to match at least. I'll pull it & move it to the pass side if necessary but wondered if anyone knew a set of headers that would fit so at least both sides would match. Factory undercoating- is it usually at least a quarter inch thick & heavy as hell? Or previous owner applied most of a roof to it? I have a model A with original doors & it's probably 3 times as thick as the model A. As always, thanks for any assistance.
fords did have some heavy tar inside the panels for sound deaden-er. usually, its all dried up, flaked off and laying in a pile at the bottom. nice car!
Thank you. I've known the older gentleman that owned it for a number of years. He is, and I say this with all respects, a tough & crusty old bastard. He didn't ask me if I was buying the car- he told me.
Nice car.Look at the 55 Chevy exhaust manifolds.Not the best for performance,but they can be problem solvers.
Front axle and spring are '42-'48 on a '35-'36 wishbone. Makes for a mismatch in spring width. The later cars had the shackle close to vertical and used a panhard bar for lateral control. If you split the 'bones for tranny clearance; minimum is better; brings up the question of what was done to the X-member to get the trans in there. Split 'bones will also require work to return the spring eyes square to the axle. Could always get a new correct width front spring at that time.
Thank you. That is exactly what I needed to know. Crossmember has been torched to fit the trans so will need work but not an issue. Appreciate the advice sir.
Looking at the rear axle it appears the split rear wishbone is the sole torque control.They arent that strong.Consider adding a top one for added strength.
Great find! If you're interested, that coat of primer may be fairly easy to buff off (especially if it's lacquer) to see what that original paint looks like. Figure the car has been indoors since it was a bit over 25 years old (early 60's). Maybe garage kept by the original owner? No telling what that original paint may look like?
I can't get over how nice the drivers side exhaust manifold clears the steering box, almost like it was made for it. What year Chevy is it from? The big issues with headers is the steering box. I wouldn't worry about a match, if it works don't change it. I would however make a heat shield between the header and steering box. As Rusty mentions the sound deadener from Ford works, so I wouldn't do anything about it. If you remove it you will need to replace it to deaden that tinny sound.
I'm pretty confident the original paint is good, this car is super solid & the lacquer primer is worn off in spots so I am going to try and wet sand it off and get down to the original paint best I can.
Not sure yet, the block is tight enough up against the firewall so I can't quite read the numbers yet. I'll leave it if necessary & run mismatched but it's right up against the steering shaft, literally touching it so looking for a bit more clearance there if possible. Might shift the whole operation to the passenger side 1/2 inch or so.
Exhaust manifold looks like it might be Chevelle. Also noticed that the rear leaf spring was bent(heated) near the eyes; an early form of lowering.
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