Projects Nineteen Fiddy Ford (aka Lilly)

Ok guys, I've been putting this off for a while now and I'm finally in the stages of being able to start my build. So what we've got here is my first custom build that I've named Lilly Munster. A lot of learning is about to happen. I've built muscle cars in the past and I'm a mechanic by trade. But this is a lot different than the BMW's and Mercedes that I work on every day. So hopefully you fine people can help me along the way with some tips and tricks. I'm starting off with a project that someone else never finished. The car has been lowered, converted to disc brakes, and the grill has been changed. Other than that, it's pretty much untouched. I've gotten as far as taking the body off the frame to and will soon be putting air ride under the back of the car. Enough talking. Here are some pictures.

 

Appears to be a good solid body. HRP

 

Its not too bad. The guy before me loaded the rockers with bondo, and there was some less than desirable patches done on the floors

 

Frame off resto? Pretty hardcore, mine just gonna be ratty

 

Awesome!!

 

cool ride ill be watchin this tread i just traded for a 50

 

Well I though it was going to me a simple ol' fix some rust and keep driving it. But then I got a wild hair up my ass to go ahead and take the body off the frame and just go nuts with it. I am a little bummed that I will have to wait so long to enjoy a car that I've only owned for 8 months. But like my dad/mentor says.. "The juice will be worth the squeeze"

 

I love shoeboxes! Well, chopped shoeboxes. What are your plans? Check out my recent comments on a chop/no chop thread....

 

Vey cool. Subscribed to your thread

 

No major updates. Just pulled the engine and had to straighten out the frame. Apparently Someone smacked something pretty hard at one point in time and pushed it over about an inch. But thats nothing that the old porta power couldn't fix. Now I'm waiting on some more money to come in so that I can go ahead and order my gambino trail dragger kit.

 

WOW you have been busy!! I need to come check it out

 

I try to stay busy. I tell ya what, If i didn't have one of those job things... I'd really be able to get some work done! lol

 

Don't it SUCK the way life gets in the way of havin a good time!!

 

Man, Thats no joke!

 

You are not fing around.

 

I am now, I have run out of things to take apart and clean lol. Hopefully soon I can buy some new stuff to stick under the frame. That air ride stuff is expensive!

 

i just bought a 51.im not sure if im gonna go as far as you have and pull the body.but i probably will. we cant seem to leave things alone here...lol. you are startin with alot better car than we are.and i havent even gottin the old girl home yet.but i got plans....lol oh boy do i have plans...lol ill be watchin yours so get busy!!! lol just kiddin.

 

I don't mean to hijack this thread but could someone explain to me why so many guys talk baby talk when referring to their cars as in Fiddy Ford. What is up with that. I get the name thing a lot of guys named their cars when I was a kid but the baby talk. Maybe I don't see things clearly at my age but don't get it. Hell, now that I think about, your car talk baby talk if you want. I am done.

 

Damn, Sloppy! You move quick, AND you're just down the road! I've got a Shoebox, or two, or three myself that I plan to build someday! The 29 Model A is first though. We should grab some beers & shoot some shoebox b.s. sometime. I'll be watching your build progress. Good luck!

By the way... Tedster, the word "fiddy" is hardly baby talk. (It means 50.) It's closer to modern gangster slang. The guy didn't say hoochy coochy coo! Enjoy the thread & find something else to say, or better yet, start your own thread asking questions like that.

 

Gangster slang, I did not know that. Thanks for setting me straight.

 

Sorry there tedster, I'll make sure to run everything past all of the old people that don't have anything better to do than be grumpy all day. I'm just a 26 year old kid... I'm still trying to figure out how to use the English language.

 

Man you guys are testy. I apologized right off the bat for hijacking the thread and just asked for a explanation. You will find out life is too short to get jacked up about something this stupid. Mello!

 

I'm just teasing you man. No worries. Lets just get back to talkin about cars.

 

Amen. No worries here either! Just saying, talk cars & don't nit-pick something negative to say. Shit, we could pick every thread on this website apart for days if we got into every spelling & grammer issue! Don't sweat the small stuff there will be plenty of sweating when the wrenches start turning!

 

Well, Turns out I have a friend who was turning a maverick in to a circle track car. Sooo... I got myself a free rear end. Now I just have to rebuild the dang thing. No pics, but its not much to look at anyways.

 

Called the guys over at Gambino Customs today and ordered my tail dragger kit. I'll finally be able to make some headway on my car here soon!

 

Sloppy a couple of things I have learned from my shubx, the stock steering sucks. Unless you like sawing at the wheel going down the road think about an upgrade while you got her all apart. Second thing, if you decide to chop it and take 4 or 5 inches out as I did be aware I have NO airflow through the windows. It gets a bit toasty in the summer.

 

Thanks for the heads up man, What kind of set up did you use on yours?

 

On my 1949 (stock) I used a volvo steering box, you have to fabricate your own bracket that attaches the volvo box to the frame. I also used a collapsible knuckle off a Chrysler Pacifica, just because its what I had, I suppose there can be other choises like a borjeson u-joint set-up. I think Jamco makes a kit or Fatman.

Made a big difference getting the slop out of the wheel, personally I like my oldsmobile clipped 1950 shoebox better than the stock 49 but it did help it.

Brent

 

Finally something to talk about. I received my tail dragger kit from Gambino Kustoms, and picked up a new Hobart 210mvp welder. My old welder just wouldn't do the job. Hopefully sometime soon I will get around to getting everything all put together.