Projects 1950 Ford Business Coupe build

Oohhh. Me likey where this is heading!

 

I am planning on adding a crest similar to the one in the last picture or similar.

 

Love those wheels

 

Hello,

When my wife and I were in the market for a hot rod project, we saw plenty of nearly finished for sale, some partially finished, and in need of some work and what the owner thought was a finished project, but it was not for us.

We wanted to have a lockable hot rod with “stuff” hidden from view when parked away from our view. Such as indoor dinner at a nice restaurant and having to leave the hot rod by itself. Or shopping at various places including newly constructed larger out door malls, etc. When we traveled in the 65 El Camino, it was always cramped behind the seat as our photo equipment had to be sight unseen as we left the vehicle in the lot or parking garage.

When we were finished, we had to take all of the stuff locked in the small cab to be placed back in the open bed, strapped down.

The final thing was besides a lockable trunk or cab was a space for my shorter longboard shape to fit inside, locked. So, we measured the surfboard and it could be placed inside of the locked trunk and open backless seat of the 50 Ford Coupe. If anyone saw a 50 Ford Coupe parked in a lot the board was low enough to be out of sight. And, the trunk able to be locked.

Jnaki

So, we looked as several cars and narrowed it down to one black coupe with a nice fuzzy material upholstery. The outside was very nice and the wheels were black with small center hubcaps. The whole picture was going to work. Except the owner had an aroma that did not agree with my wife and his attitude of buy it at my price or leave seemed to be pointing to the doorway. So, we left. We found another coupe, but it was no longer in the picture, since we now found a 327 powered 40 Ford Sedan Delivery in a nice stage of build.

It looked good and drove ok around the block. But upon driving it home, the handling, suspension and brakes were terrible. It made awful noises when turning and we deemed it not safe at any speed. So, it took us a long 6 months to get every thing worked out with new parts, better suspension, brakes and “round” tires + wheel balancing/alignment. Now, it solved all of our where to put the surfboard and suitcases for our camping/surfing/ photo adventures… YRMV

But, the artwork was what we thought our 50 Ford Coupe would have looked like if we had bought the black one we originally saw and continued to do the check off list down the line… Comfortable seats, good brakes, A/C, and a good running SBC motor no need for a 400 hp motor, we just wanted enough power to get us to where we were going and in style…

 

Looking at the engine placement and problems fitting a left manifold my neighbor suggested the motor could be moved back. This might add some more room to clear the manifold. So that has been added to the list.

Should be able to come back a couple inches. At this point I almost want to do away with the Jamco parts and just sub-frame it as I keep on running into more problems. One of the drawbacks to taking over someone else's project.

On a positive note I turned up a shifter knob which I will epoxy on once the lever is painted.

 

In-between various projects i was able to pai t some small parts.
Steering column and shift parts
Seat parts.
Steering wheel

 

Regardless of manifold fit id have to move that engine back if it were my car. While access to bell housing bolts is nice you should never be able to easily see the full casting number lol

 

Agreed. It was not my initial intention as I was not looking to make extra work for myself however the current location (set by someone else) is causing too many problems.

I milled one of the stock manifolds I hoped would work at a slight angle which allowed it to almost fit. Once the engine moves back that manifold may work.

 

popped a few pieces together.
Window cranks, steering column and e/brake.

Steering wheel looks good but I have a couple more details to finish up.

 

Spent an hour on the hood this AM.

Pic #1 as expected I found some pitted rust under the epoxy.

Pic#2 Stripped 1/2 hood and it did not look terrible.

Pics 3 & 4 are the 1st and second applications of Ospho and the rust it is pulling out of the pits showing how much more rust there was.
This is why shops do not like to work over someone else's work. If i worked over the primer it would have been a time bomb.

 

Time well spent

 

3rd coat of Ospho

L

Finished up the steering wheel.
Jury is still out. Not really happy with the results of the wrap. 1st attempt and definitely something I doubt I would do again.

 

Unless I missed it somewhere, what color is that blue? Beautiful color.

 

50s Aston Martin.

4th and 5th coats of Ospho, a little spot grinding and the rust is gone.
I'll do the other side next. Then sand the inside with 320. This will be followed by graining the outside with a fiber disk. Epoxy the whole hood and paint the inside.

 

Other half of the hood. Rust pops right out with ospho a

 

After the Ospho treatment what do use to insure all the Ospho residue is cleaned off?

 

Very nice work sir!
Dan

 

I let it sit overnight then apply again.
Once convinced the rust is gone I will wash with water and blow it off. I then either hit it with the graining tool or 80 grit and clean prior to epoxy. According to the instructions I could just make sure there is no residue but I don't really trust that. Maybe it would be OK for frames, railings and bridges.

Thanks.

 

Couple hrs this AM and the hood is ready for epoxy.
Went over it with ospho and steel wool. Then chased rust spots with a squared off drill and ospho.
Cleaned with water
Dried
Pass with clean and strip disk on the rotary / graining tool.
Chased the edges with a Roloc fiber disk.
Removed one accessible dent.
I'll mix epoxy and spray it later today.
Tomorrow I will prep the inside and spray epoxy and the color.



Now back to my brother's project.
Alternator in an 86 Lotus ‍.


3 coats of epoxy later.

 

Couple coats of color on the inside.
Realized I forgot to shave the emblem but it's in an area that is easy to touch up.

 

Welded up the emblem holes

 

Ground repair.
Did a quick skim.
I should be able to chase a few more spots and get it into primer by the end of the day.


Forgot to take a pic of it with bondo. Needless to say there was a tight skim on the nose. Filed a few pits and 3 small dents.


Blocked out the hood this AM.
I'll hopefully seal it with epoxy tonight and spray it tomorrow night.

 

Epoxy nibb sanded
Color going on today.


Hood came out well.
I'll give it a quick wetsand tomorrow and Thursday.
This means the only large pices that need paint are the front fenders. As the plan is to do some frenched headlights and not knowing the door, fender and hood gaps. Along with wanting to move the engine back further body work will be on hold.
Next is to get a headliner, find some coupe headliner bows the install the headliner, buff the body, and install the doors and windows then it should be weather tight.

Tossed it outside for the bake cycle.

 

I really like your speed and the quality of your work. But your working day has got definitely more hours than mine

 

I'm at the shop from 8AM until 5 or 6 PM.
I try to spend 1 hr a day on the car. Yesterday I spent a little over an hour but worked on other projects in-between coats of paint. It is tough to block out a day to work on the car, but spending a little time each day pushes things along and shows progress.
Other things that have helped show quick progress.

I have been restoring cars for 40 years.
The panels I have done have been straight with no dents.
I avoided spots that would become problematic. Not stripping the doors or quarters.
I have passes on details I might have changed. I might have filled a few molding holes on the door and stopped the molding short of the fender.
A lot of the engine bay parts could have used filler work and a high build prime but sealed them and straight into color.

All little things individually but they add up. It is also the details that take the time.

 

Spent my hour this AM nib sanding with 1000 and 1500.
Blocked out 1 side with 2000 and 2500.


Another hr in. Got the 2nd side sanded with 2000 & 2500. Made a pass with 3000 on the DA. Going to make a pass with 5000 and Times up. Should be able to get the 8000 done tomorrow AM and begin to buff.

 

I agree, trying to spend every day at least a little bit of time on the project gives a constant flow of progress. But that’s also a characteristic I adore

 

Buffed but not polished.
1st pic is 1/2 buffed and sanded to 8000.
I'll final buff and polish after assembly is completed.