Projects 1957 Ford Fairlane 500 convertible rescued

Coming along nicely,will you two tone it with a contrasting color?

 

Yes, it’s Colonial White on top and Inca Gold on the bottom.

 

Here’s the color scheme the car was originally.

 

I've used Nason enamel like that in the past and was very happy with it. I feel like that type of enamel is more true-to-period anyway than some of the more modern basecoat/clearcoat systems which sometimes make a car look a little "off".

 

Very good choice ;I like red and white!

 

Great thread! I have some questions though...
1. Is that a ‘59 or ‘60 Vauxhall in one of the earlier pictures? Cresta or Velox?
2. The patch for the lower front right fender looks like there is a patch on it. Patch on a patch?

And the colour scheme is the exact combo my dad had on his ‘57 Meteor four door; my very earliest memory at age two! Been suffering from OCD ever since!!!

 

It's a 1960 Vauxhall Velox, all original, just 29,000 miles. Runs and drives like new. It was sold new by Montreal Buick, they weren't sold in the USA.

It's not a patch on a patch, I had cut the fender too short, I didn't account for the flange on the repro patch. The other fender was repaired with a patch saved from a factory fender and it was butt welded.

 

From there to here.
The bottom of the body is painted. It came out really nice, I have a couple of runs but they’ll polish out.

 

Great job Nads!!

 

Very envious, a great find and sooo happy it was saved! Nice work!!

 

Thanks. We had a ‘59 Vauxhall Cresta growing g up. It held all six of us and our dog pulling a ‘16 travel trailer many summers into the Rockies!

One more question...I thought you said that the car was so.d to someone in PA?

 

Looking good!!!

 

The top is painted. It came out nice. It’ll look totally fab once it’s cut and buffed. H

 

I bought it from the second owner a few years ago. It’s a beautiful car, not perfect but it’s a lovely survivor. Everything is original, except for the vent window and door top rubbers which had deteriorated badly.

 

here’s my 1955 Ford Zephyr Zodiac with the Vauxhall. Me and my son restored it from a $750 barn find.

I’m the first owner of the Velox in America

 

Now I wait a week or so to sand and polish the paint and start putting it back together.

 

I think it's going to turn out too awesome and someone's going to be driving the sh*t out of it.

Great inspiration for me to get to work on my old '64.

 

https://youtube.com/shorts/qabGIKd2C54?feature=share

 

Assembly begins

 

Today we installed the front splash pan and bumper.

 

Looking great!

 

I still have the arduous task of polishing the stainless trim, I have some done but a lot more left.

 

Are the gold anodized inserts for the side trim in good enough shape to use? Stainless straightening and polishing can be very time consuming but it's rewarding in the end. Those inserts are tough though, once they're rough there's not a whole lot you can do with them.

 

They’re pretty good actually, I’m certainly not going to spend $549 for repro ones.

 

In my younger days the first thing I would have done is take these badges off and welded all the holes shut, then I’d nose and deck it and shave the door handles.
Now I know this isn’t a restoration site, but as an early HAMB member I can’t help but share where I am at the moment. I’ve done Kustoms and hot rods, and I love them and it’s my son that’s gotten me to appreciate these cars for what they are. He’s gonna turn 22 on June 23rd and he’s bought a car of his own from the wages of his job at Disney. He won’t let me tell you about it. It’ll come out eventually.

Anyway, I felt a great deal of satisfaction from putting this badge on, even though it’s a Chinese made repro that’ll pit on a few years.

The car’s name is glorious, Fairlane 500!!! How could I not let it advertise what it is?

Also I wanted to share the coffee maker my wife gave me for my shop, she’s awesome. I hope she’ll be riding in the car on a nice evening this summer.

 

Outstanding car @Nads, love ragtops.

 

I thought you sold it to someone in PA?

 

Moving right along, I’m tired. Looking forward to a week off with my family in NYC.

 

did you find any bondo on this car, if you did, do you have any tips on how to remove it?

 

This was a pretty virgin car, there were a few dents and rust but no bondo, there was lead in the trunk covering up a poorly repaired dent. I had to melt it out.
In my experience the best way to remove bondo is to use a wire wheel on an angle grinder. It’s messy though .