I've thrown up better looking things (?) than this car. The day we dragged it home, I had to hurry & put it in the garage so that more FOR SALE signs wouldn't pop up than those existing from Forclosures. My neighbors (over the fence) grandfather bought it new. It's a 22,000 mile original, but the motor was locked up tighter than a drum. The plans are for a low $ build, keep it all MoPar, and prepare it for a cross country future. Sorry, it won't see new paint or chrome.
Thousands of generations of rodents have been born in this historic & rustic resort. I PRYED (out) the last of them with the aid of a couple of screwdrivers before opeing up a "skylight" as shown. It was a sad day the old resort was shut down for good!
You are right, those never were the prettiest car ever made, but they were good cars qualitywise. The work you did on the front clip looks really good and professional. Don
what a nice car, hope you'll not do it to radical, but it's yours, good start! seems to me as a '47, right? btw, the '42 models had the beautiful hidden headlights! Carsten
And that's another story. When we decided to make this a low budget (projected at $12,500 TOTAL) build, my wife said she would take a shot at doing the interior. I then took it upon myself to try to take the headliner out INTACT for a decent pattern. With the bows on one side out of their respective base, I went to the other side to unhook & lower it. BAD MOVE! Thirty five (35) YEARS of rodent s#*$% and urine saturated padding/insulation RAINED down on me. You got it, no mask or goggles. I am lucky nothing health wise came from the event! For my money (or lack thereof) it's stupid things like that that make the build as enjoyable once it gets to the road. If you go turn key, you just cannot relate. jmho
that thing is cool ..reminds me of happy days...............i have included a pic of a way uglier car lol..................nice car
The DeSoto on Happy Days was a Suburban. They were easily recognizable by the roof mounted luggage rack & also the larger rear doors. I would have passed this one over if it was a Suburban.
Big, ugly and all too comfortable when you are done. My bet is that when it's done that will be the long trip car of choice.
That's the plan. The Mother Road East to West, Pacific Coast Highway North, Highway 2 back to Michigan. Then, if we're still speaking to each other, I-75 to the Florida Keys.
For the most past, the floor was solid. The hole in the floor (not counting the firewall setback) was actually a bolt in from the factory. A lot of THAT panel was gone (rust). The remainder had about ten patches that had to be welded in, either to replace the rust, or to clear the Torqueflite. The last photo is outlining the weld to solidly close the floor in. I figured it was about ten running feet of potential leakage. So I made the decission to solidify the floor. Being a newbie with a MIG, I needed the practice. Notice the Steer Clear. THAT came about when I realized my choice of a MoPar big block was not very wise. By the time I realized this, everything was already located. ($600 not in the budget. Ouch!) I wrote the book on STUPID. Many have read it, but I wrote it. More images to come. btw, we're still on budget. 1/2 Fast Eddie
One of the first clues I came upon that I had made a lousy choice of engines was when I found the oil filter on a big block wanted to be in the same place as the input shaft of the power rack. The obvious solution was a remote filter. I didn't want the usual filter mounted on the inner fender panel. All along I thought that it would be unique to have the appearance of the 40'2-50'2 era cannister filter. Now it became a necessity. I fabricated a mount that comes off the two forward intake bolts on the drivers side. My son-in-law located an old Willys cannister for me & I was off to the races. I purchased repo oil filter decals, utilized the factory bungs on a pair of motor home maifolds, fabricated support rods out of 1/4" rod, & did my damndest to make it look OEM. Note the 52 Hemi (repo) decals on the valve covers. No chrome, polish, billet, performance pieces under the hood. The whole car is a put on (joke) and the engine compartment is set to look OEM (at least to the un-trained eye). The two lines that come out of the cannister are fakes. They may go under the support bracket, but they go no where else. Inside the cannister is a spin off oil filter that's accessable when you drop the lower cannister (see second image for clarification).
Two more shots of the "fake" cannister & plumbing. The filter block off plate comes from Milodon and is made for Mancini Racing in Detroit.
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