1952-59 Ford Its more than just a car (a 54 mainline story)

This is my dad on his 100th birthday party, last August, yup 100th.

He is where my love for cars all started. As a boy growing up in the 20s cars were not all so common especially in Italy. He taught me to love and appreciate all cars. My dad had me way way later in life, he turned 68 the year I was born and my mom was 41. He met my mom where he worked as a matradee at La Scala restaurant in Beverly Hills. Any way, he owned many vehicles in his 100 plus years. He had Harleys, Hondas, Fiats, Pontiacs, Audis, Nissans or Datsuns at the time, and many many more. In 81, two years before I was born he came across this 1954 Ford Mainline Business Coupe and fell in love!

He bought it as a second owner and used it as his daily drive all the way til 97. Along the years he and my mom redid the interior and the tackled converting it to 12V. My dad installed a universal under dash heater, and put in a back seat and buckets up front. He wanted to pretty it up and removed all the chrome pieces to get re dipped and the guy disappeared with all the pieces. We moved about 65 miles north from where we used to live in 87 and my dad towed a b******* trailer 2 to 3 times a day for almost a week with his mainline, straight six 3 on the tree work horse. He used to take me to school in it daily and I remember a handful of break downs, fuses or fuel filter were usually the culprit. I have so many memories in this thing and that is why its more than just a car.

In 2002 I was working doing home loans and making ok money, so I wanted to fix up my pops ride, I wanted to give disc brakes power steering and an auto trans. A buddy of mine was maybe a little more excited than I was, He took this picture the day after we left town to visit family and this is what it looked like when we got home…

He even removed the entire interior. Most of all the pieces were all placed inside the vehicle.

 

Awesome history! So, has the car been sitting torn apart since 2002? Tell us more..... Your story was kinda like riding a roller coaster up the big hill to the top, then it stopped!

 

What's neat story, more please.

 

Cool story. How does the car look now?

 

OK...now I understand why you were concerned you had lost a post you were working on, lol
100...that's Awesome.
"and now, the rest of the story"...?

 

Such an awesome story. Don't leave us hanging buddy!


Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

These kinds of stories fuel the motivation for all of us, yes please fill us in on more when you have the chance.

Thanks

 

Great story....can't wait for the rest of it.

 

Hey guys, Thanks so much for your kinda and funny remarks!
So...its now a couple of months since my friend took my dads car apart. I had to explain to my dad why his car was a jig saw puzzle, and at the same time try to keep him from killing my friend, lol. I ***ured him everything would be fine and it was all for the better. I purchased a 302 interceptor motor and aod trans from a guy on ebay. Try to guess how that went...It arrived a couple weeks later and the motor was rusted through in the number 6 and 8 cylinders. That was a pretty bad blow, It cost me $1400 and at 20 years old my wallet was crushed too. My enthusiasm fizzled and my friend had disappeared. Im pretty good at taking things apart and putting them back together again, but since i didn't take it apart i felt like i was trying to make sense of another language
I got married in 08 and my son was born in 09 so really time was escaping me. My dad and my wife were really close and my son was his youngest grandchild by a looooong shot. But we were all very close. My pops was always laughing! he could always find the best in any situation.
Fast forward a bit and we get to 2012 when my dad went to the DMV and got his license renewed til 2017! Yes at 97 years old he p***ed a written, visual, and driving test!! He is my HERO! He would always ask in p***ing..."so hows my car coming along?" never in a nagging or make me feel bad way but i felt like i should really get on it. It wasn't until March of 2013 that i finally got enough courage to start a 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle.
When my dad saw it like this he was so happy! He came over with a hand written list of little things he wanted to do, It was really cool to see him so excited again!

 

You are doing an awesome job with the writing, hope you do as well with the car ! Keep it coming!

 

Keeps getting better!

 

I'm loving the story so far!

 

Happy new years Fellas! We made it till 11... theres always next year! hahaha
My dad has always been an optimist. His list had everything from upholstery colors to car colors and even to practical thing for a car at this stage. lol For instance down at the bottom of his list was replacing the rear right lens cover. You see what happened was back when i was around 10 years old my dad was helping out my mom. My dad would do anything for my mom
My mom has a property management business and she had a tenant move out that left a bunch of stuff behind. So pops hooked up this little 10 foot pop up trailer that he gutted and drove it about 45 miles to Hollywood to empty out this apartment. We brimmed this little trailer to the very max, the load was well above my dads 5'9". Well, right when we were finishing up it start to rain so we quickly strapped everything down and headed down the road and the first right turn he made there was a loud pop sound....there was a pole that stuck out toward the car that got a little too close. My dad started cursing in Italian and got out to survey, Luckily it was only the tail light. But now the rain was really coming down and we realized the flaw in the vacuum wiper system. I tube with holes in it doesn't really hold any pressure, and being that we live in southern California and it rains so much, checking the condition of that tube may have been overlooked. So were stuck right? Nope! Pops ingenuity at its finest!! He tied a string to each wiper arm and ran the string inside through both windows. He asked me to sit in back and pull!!! Ya it actually worked! for about 35 miles... We were coming down the last grade and the rain came so hard that even new car wipers couldn't keep up! I pulled as quick as i could until the strings wedged itself in the window, My dad locked up the wheels with a large load and we started sliding down the grade. My dad had quite a bit of experience behind the wheel, having driven since the early 30s, he regained control and thankfully no one was in front of us. We got home shaken up and my dad was talking about how if we had disc brakes and powered wipers we wouldn't have gone through that. So my wheels started turning then, I wanted a safe vehicle for my dad. It took a while but finaly started makin some progress. This was done late 2014 My dad bought a bushing kit i found on ebay it was about $400 but came with pretty much everything. I used a bench press to get the old bushings out and press the new ones in. Then i found this Disc brake kit. it was a good deal but you know what they say, hind sight is 20/20. I wish i bought the kit from drop em stop em. Anyway guys thanks for reading and all your comments!

 

After I got the a arms and brake ***embly together, i realized the same friend that took the car apart had thrown away the centerlink pitman arm and idler arm and pretty much everything that had to do with steering! He even dismantled the steering box to remove it...and left it apart. So a decade later of being exposed was not a good thing. Lol. No worries though my pops and i found a donor car and got everything we needed and more! Including that rear taillight lens. My profile picture is actually the day that it rolled out of the garage all by itself! Thats a pretty cool feeling! I wish i had more time to work on her over the years. And i wish i started sooner. I guess it was just intimidating, being in all those pieces. 2015 was a rough year my dad was in the hospital twice, once for 7 days and then for 13 days. That took a number on him. The second time he got out was in July 2015 and By August 1st he and my mom Flew to Peru to to visit family and celebrate his bday early. 3 weeks! he got back and we went out to dinner...
My son was trying to hold a crayon on his lips and my folks had to show him how its done! hahaha They both have a great sense of humor! I was barely one year old in this picture. My father p***ed away on the 10th of Decemeber 4 days after their 35th anniversary. My dad never got to drive his car...But a**** many other things he thought me how to appreciate a car! Again ...Its more than just a car. Since last December a lots happened with my car and im excited to share it with you guys. Ive been lucky enough to pick several of your minds and im very thankful for it!

 

Sorry to hear your dad p***ed, it would have been great if he could have driven it again, but at least he knew it was being saved. It's had to be an awesome experience sharing the project with him, something you'll have forever. Thanks for sharing your story with us....it puts life into these old cars.

 

Thanks Texas! Ya it was and still is a great journey! The car itself had pretty little rust considering. Really besides the bottoms of the front fenders, the only other rust was on the driver side floor board and toe board.
It was pretty clean underneath. I bought my sheet metal from EMS. They really are a quality product!
This was my first time welding. I went to harbor freight and picked up their little 90 amp flux welder for $100. Dont look too close to my welds, I got super discouraged. I watched a ton of videos on how to weld and everyone makes it look so easy. LOL! But this step really helped to get the project moving!

 

Nice job on the floors!

 

I'm sorry to hear that your Dad p***ed. But, I know you have great memories! I really appreciate you taking the time to post up the story so far. It's a pleasure to read. I have similar memories about my Dad. Keep up the work on the '54, and NEVER get rid of it.

 

Lookin' good.

 

It's probably not the fact it's HF, but that it is the flux core. Harbor Freight actually makes some good migs, but NOBODY I KNOW gets really good welds with a flux welder. You really need a mig that can be set up with the shielding gas. I've used their 220v (forgot the amp rating, but their top model). I bought one 10 years ago, and after fiddling with it for months using flux core wire, I finally spent the $ and set it up for the shielding gas...what a difference right from the start! About 2 years ago, it finally quit. I was close to finishing my project, and really wanted a Miller, but couldn't jusify the $ since I didn't know if it would ever get used after I finished the '57. So, I bought another Harbor Freight. Their top of the line 220v again, but a huge improvement over the first one I bought. Thin sheet metal (gas tank) or 1/4" plate...welds both with excellent results...except of course for the novice using it, lol.
That car is amazingly clean under the floorboards! Wish mine was that good when I started.
With that said, if all your using it for is floorboards, you'll be ok. Just make sure your welds are hot enough to get penitration. Just keep turning up the heat til you start blowing thru, then back off a smidgion. When your cooking just right, it should sould like bacon sizzling in the pan. I'm not a welder, so take my comments with a grain of salt.
Also, HF wire really ****s if that's what you used. Go to Home Depot and pick up some Lincoln wire.

 

Thanks again guys! The memories are really what give anything value. I wouldn't dream of selling it ever, except a nightmare...lol. Texas i did a bunch of blowing through then tried to teach myself filling gaps! also not too easy.
So then i started a new project with my welder. I cut out the spare tire well
and started building a battery box I didnt have a bender so i resorted to
using what i had. i put a cut off switch and the starter solenoid in there too.
and just to be sure the welds would hold.... My helper tested it out.
I finished the box and im pretty happy with it, but ill share that picture in my next post. After this project i was getting a lot more comfortable with my little welder but then last month a buddy came by and helped me weld up the rear shock mount cross member. The factory welds were garbage, they looked like someone had their eyes closed! He let me use his mig with gas shielding and wow! I thought i was an expert. Then he used my flux, and ****, hes good. I realized how user error can affect welds. haha.

Kind of out of order chronologically but my dad had left me an envelope with my name on it and it had $500. He had talked about how it was for the car so what better to spend it on the new power plant! Its out of a 93 Tbird with 42092 miles on it! and it ran!!!!!!! i paid the guy $700 what a steal
it did need some minor body work, haha. But after i cut it all apart you could see what im working with! So i picked this up pretty much after doing my floor boards. Its still not in yet but every week or so i start it up and move it around the yard. I bought the mounts from Jeff before i even got the motor, i was a little excited.

 

Is that the point it is at now? Not too different from the Mark VIII sheet metal/clip I pulled mine from. I love those newer cars for extracting the drive train...you don't even need a cherry picker. Except for stuff I was trying to salvage, I removed everything from the front with a sawzall!!, to clear a path for the engine/crossmember ***y. to be rolled out from under the car on some furniture dollies. I even used the sawzall on the wiring harness. Car was headed for the salvage yards anyways.
Ron Francis in your plans?

 

Here's a pic of mine just after rolling it out. The cherry picker was used to pic the engine off the K member so it could be reinstalled in the MK VIII to make transport easier.
I think I was at the "Holy ****, what is all this stuff on the engine" stage when this was taken.

 

Forgot...your floors do look good, btw, and that battery box is a good idea...nice job there also. Learning how to weld opens a whole new world of posibilities, doesn't it? Wish I had learned 50 years ago.

I'm surprised at both the similarities and the differences between your '93 T-bird donor, and the '93-up Mark VIII's. Totally different drivetrains, which is surprising since both are Ford sporty versions of a sedan/coupe.

 

Thats true they are very similar! I actually picked up an 01 towncar,4.6l, I saw they make an intake manifold and ignition kit to make it carburated so i figured if i couldnt figure out the wiring i had a back up plan, but after seeing that i would need a new front clip, or a ton of fab work i decided against it.
The car is a bit farther than where you saw it last. But it seems like you have to go backward sometimes to go forward. I pulled the fenders off again because i wanted to make room for the motor but im still a little bit away from that. So i filled in a bunch of the holes in firewall
and primed it all
I did the top gray because i havent figured out what color to paint the car yet and figured light is better. I also used a bunch of seem sealer Then i s****ed the bottom and use 19 cans of rubberized undercoating with sound deadener. Pepboys has this deal, you can order online, pay in store and they give you 20 to 30% off!
The last pic was what i looked like when i finished up. My wife didnt want to let me in the house hahaha! The coolest thing though was a couple days later. My wife and son left on a couple errands, when they left i started prepping the inside for some POR-15. Degreaser and phosphoric acid and a lot of rinsing. Just as i finished up my family came home and my 7 year old boy asked to help! For the next hour or so we coated the whole inside! It was awesome we both had black paint on us for like a week! it was some cool bonding time!

 

Look's real good keep up the good work

 

You're doing great on that. Yep...never could figure out why por-15 takes 4 hours to dry on metal and 4 minutes to dry on skin. That's some tough stuff. Wouldn't do a car without it. Mine is 100% por-15'd on the underside and inside, under fenders, under splash pan, behind grille, inside doors, etc.

 

That looks awesome. It's great your little one shows interest. My 3 year old likes working on the "old car " and I have the scratches from her screw driver to prove it. Lol. Keep up the great work!

 

Its funny the black marks he had were behind his ear on his shins and knees were like his battle wounds. I think if you get them exposed early they really take off with it. When i was about 3 i could tell pretty much every car on the road by mark. My dads doing, he could tell you the trim difference between years even! Well one day i was with my much older cousin as she was driving and i saw a car i didn't know the name. She, being a teenager said " Oh that, Thats a piece of $h!T!" to which i replied " Oh my uncle Harold drives a P.O.S!" haha i had no idea what i was saying and now 30 years later she still brings that up. Similar story, My son in preschool would walk up and down parking lots saying, Ford, Chevy, Nissan, Honda etc. We walked into his cl*** and his teacher had her keys on the desk and he asked her if she drove a Lexus, it was hilarious she was blown away!
So after the POR-15 I Hooked up my battery cables and ran them to the front
This is where i grounded it to frame and body, and i had to run the power cables out of the box and into the inside
rear quarter panel. The rest of the cable runs up the wheel well then down into the rocker safe and hidden from the elements.
And then started running my new wires from American Auto Wire. What a mess!
My folks converted the car to 12v in the early eighties but man im glad i went through it again!

 

This was supposed to not take too long. Every time i completed a task i felt like the end was close. Im not sure where the end will be... On my list i have to run new brake lines and hook up the booster and master cylnder, Install the Fuel pump from tanks inc into my new tank and install onto the car, Then i can fit my 5.0l aod. I am still running my electrical also. I haven't had much time in the past few months maybe an hour or two a week.
I just cant wait to drive it again! I was 12 the last time i drove it. only about 21 years ago.. I was trying to show my best friend how good it sounded. I found out later it sounded so good because the exhaust looked like swiss cheese, HAHA, but the battery was dead. No worries though i watched my dad roll it down the drive way and jump start it 100 times! so i attempted it and i didnt quite have my dads finesse. So here in the middle of the street are two 12 year olds and a 54 ford. We tried to push it back up the driveway but no luck. It was like pushing against a wall. So being gifted with great ideas i said to my friend we have to push it down the hill so i can jump it and get it back in the driveway! He reluctantly agreed and pushed me down the hill. I had it in second and pooped the clutch a half dozen times and still nothing, worse than that i was quickly approaching the bottom of the hill. So many thoughts were flooding my brain of how i was going to explain that my dads car was a half mile down a road. Then I realized....The key was turned to ACC, I clicked it over to ON and POP! She roared to life and i drove it around the block, picked up my friend and cruised another block! Now I live in a neighborhood where everyone know everyone and what they drive so I dont think i really got away with it although Pops never said seemed angry. He often told me that i got my driving abilities from him. Great times