To restore or not to restore...that is the question.

If percentages hold up, your daughters wont want the car when they get older......Also, do you really want your daughters to have a car with that much room in the "back seat", if you get my drift

I vote fix the rust on the floorboards, and nothing else, just enjoy it until your next must-have car comes along (they always do)

Nice car by the way!

 

VERY TRUE!

I have a 16yr old daughter who has wanted one of my car since she was 4-5yrs old,& still wants it!so i sold it to her for a $100 only if she finishs school with half way good grades,it's a win-win situation! a kid with good grades & the car stays in the family

 

"Sophie" is a homage to my wife's late aunt who left me a small inheritance which I used to buy the car. It's a way to honor her memory.

 

I agree. I would go with a color on the rims that compliment the body. Maybe a light blue.

 

Go cheap & fix the ford.You don't have to put 15k into it.
Or sell it to me.

 

I have followed your project for quite some time. What you have done is nothing short of remarkable. I checked out some classic wagons for sale on Cars-On-Line today. I could not believe some of the prices. Sure, Woodies and Nomads, but others are creeping up there as well.

 

My feelings are that bone stock will draw more looks that flat black and red rims. And I'd be willing to bet if you keep it stock your daughters will want it when the time comes. Keeping it stock may have its constraints but wagons look cool stock.

 

I dunno, it looks pretty good as-is. If the rot down low behind the wheels, rockers and lower front fenders bothers you, fix just that (although usually there's no stopping there), buff the rest up as good as you can and call it good. Survivors have a charm all their own, and you lose it with a restoration. Especially a quick and dirty one...

Brian

 

What I know of others restoration experiances.

A.) It will nickle and dime you do to death. You will find so much that really should be replaced that you didn't count on. New parts a probably gonna be hard to find. Used parts probably won't be a whole lot easier.
B.) Alot of bodyshops who do restoration first of all think they're chip foose meaning they want 10x what's reasonable to do something so you're in luck if you found a reasonable one, and second of all they usually take their good ole' time. And I'm just talking about for body work. Not for putting the car back together.

I think it's a personal choice based on your pocketbook. I think later in your kids life they will appreciate the car if it's around to hand down to them. Especially with the story attached and if they go for rides and tool around in it.

I'd fix the few little things wrong with it and drive it.

/Can't wait til every car driving around is in black primer with red wheels. Cause nobody in the old days ever had paint.

 

Thank you to everyone who responded to my query. It seems like the consensus was about 50/50. I love the car and plan on hanging on to it. (I've never seen another like it in Northeast Ohio. They only made about 50k of that model that year.) Does anyone know a good individual restoration guy in Northeast Ohio with low-overhead who might be interested in taking on a project like this over the Winter?

A few closing shots...