where is my 53 Ford custom? Found!!

Man that's great!!! Glad to see you're making good progress on it! They just want to be driven...that's it.

 

Brief update: progress has been slow on the rebuild of my old custom convert. Largely because I am working more on the 33 five window coupe project. I want to have the coupe done by the summer of 2011, and then will start in again on the 53. The good news is that I have been collecting the missing parts for the 53 while it waits its turn. Here is the old custom sitting on its perch above my 34 3 window.

 

Looks a lot better than it did at Daves place.
Good job Steve

Kelly

 

A very interesting story, I'm so glad you didn't pass on your old kustom. There's allot of work ahead, but the main thing is it's in your garage and a big part of your kustom life style. Will be looking forward to seeing it back on the road. Good luck on bring the convet back.

CRUISER

 

Just caught this post, happy for you and your old custom.

 

I'm sure grateful to Dave for bringing my old custom closer to home where I could find it. In January 2008 I bought back a car I had let go in 1977. Still can't believe I found it, but it sure does show the power of the HAMB!

 

really cool that you was able to find it!
it will come our nice for sure!

 

This build has been on hold for awhile because I am putting together a 33 Ford coupe. I recently spoke to Shane, the son of the man who built this 53 Ford custom in the early 60's. Shane provided some great pics from those days.

 

More pics.

 

And more pics.

 

That is such a cool story. I'm really looking forward to see this car come back together!

 

Looks like it has '56 Olds lenses in the earlier pics. Any chance you'll go back to that? Looks real nice that way. Very cool you were able to find those early pictures of it.

 

The car was on its way to being restored. If it wasn't for the tailites I woudn't have recognized it and been able to identify it. If you are looking for a mild custom that has just been shaved and not modified a lot, good luck. There were millions of those out there. The tell on this car was the tailites. The rolled pan had already been removed to restore the car. Pat.

 

It is set up now for 59 Cadillac taillights, so I will go with that. I have 4 new ones all ready to go. I agree with you though, the 56 Olds lenses looked great.

 

Pat was the one who found this old custom. He had the contact info for the fellow I purchased the car from. Thanks again, Pat, its a lot of fun having a piece of my past come back to me!

 

After a two year spell working on the 33 five window, I am back on the 53 Ford now. Getting the convertible top mechanism set up, so I can finish off the body and get it ready for primer - yah, like that is at least 200 hours of work away!
Will post pics soon of how it is going.

 

Can't wait to see some progress!

 

Maybe you can get a better grille this time

 

This time I am using a 54 Desoto grille - never liked the original custom grille that was put in the car back in the 60's at all.

 

Another photo from back in the 60's - on the show circuit. This car will be my focus for this year - sorry, the coupes are on hold.

 

Please keep us posted!

 

This project has stalled so I have sent it off to a local builder for some work, mainly to get the metalwork done on the body and bring it to the primer stage. Will try to post some pics as the work progresses. You know what they say when you have too many projects - nothing ever gets built.

 

Work has been progressing on this project. The body is almost ready for primer. Will be posting pictures in the next few weeks.

 

The rolling body is back and ready for more work. Here are a couple of pics of the progress to date - the car is stuffed in my garage so it was hard to get good photos.

 

More photos.

 

Photos showing the floor - still have to build the trans cover, but want to put the engine and trans in it first.

 

I hadn't seen the thread previously but it's good to see that the car is well on the way to being back on the road again.

 

This is soooo cool! Keep at it. Not many people get this chance.

 

Cool!

 

glad to see another one saved, keep up the good work........................john