1964. I've kinda got it in my head that I like the 62's better. Oh well, next time around. I paid 5k about 3 years ago. I see them for about half that now, all the time.
Thanks! here's the before & after of the fridge Moondog is talking about (He previously owned it). It was only empty for about 10 minutes...
That's some nice work on the rust repair. Being from where you are you are lucky a couple of "keys" weren't stashed in there somewhere.
So, I'm sticking with the original velour upholstry but the seats need some new stuffing. I found some couch cushions behind a furniture store, new enough for me. This is the **** that was in there. Cut down and use the cover again before stuffing. I could have spent $50 on foam for the backs but I chose to spend $50 on back m***agers. 5 m***aging motors and foam, seems like a good deal to me. All stuffed and back together. New carpeting going in. I had an audience. I got my door jambs painted and am wiring up the door poppers. Terror alert Red. Here's where I'm at. The fur is faux Yak. I ordered it from the folks that made all the muppets fur. It just looks punk rock.
Here We Go. From this: To This: Here's what I did: As anyone with TBird experience will tell Ya the trunk is the worst. I have been in the trunk for two months, No lie. The only thing that makes me feel better about this is that on Overhaulin' they had a bird that was in better shape than mine and on day 5 they were still chasing rust and decided to replace the back 1/3 of the car with a cleaner one. That was a team of 20 guys working 24 hours a day. I don't think I did to bad... Rotten corner: angle: Radiused: Flat: Tacked: Clean: Fitment: Inner Radius: A Channel: One corner down: On the other end of the car, i wanted to quickly clean under the hood and get some white paint under there, and cover the original baby blue. Gloria helped out. Before: During: After: Okay, back to the trunk! This is what 24 hours of Miami humidity does to bare steel: This is my lil' Bro. This is my Lil' Bro learning how to lay a bead.
Fast forward many weeks. Priming the trunk: Making some panels: I found out why my headlights were so wacky, fixed for $7: I don't know why Ford would intentionally cut holes in the trunk then make paltes to cover them, anyway, they were shot. Before and after. An old stop sign cut down and polished. Ahhhhhhhhhh, that's why my car always smells like gas (that's my gas filler tube, it runs right through the trunk) Luckily I had picked one up thinking the problem may have been in that area.
The badges I shaved from other parts of the car. Also the paint is Homemade Rhino Liner. Industrial Floor Paint ($35), Sand (duh) and a texture roller ($7) for the first coat. Second coat, no sand and really lay it on with a normal roller ($3). I don't call her Tequila Mockingbird for nothin' Oh wait, this is what $700 worth of paint looks like...
PAINT! I'm gonna Tarantino this part and take Ya back to the begining. Priming. Base Coat. Lace. The Day After I finished (It took me 20 days total) The Pics. The Story: All was going well. I was 10 days in, it was a sunday. Laying down the last coat of clear. An enormous fly sticks to my driver side quarter panel, and proceeds to swim about 5 inches through all 3 really, really wet coats I had laid down. No Problem, wipe down that panel and shoot it again. What the hell I already have a batch of clear mixed let's give everything else one more coat. Crack open a beer and watch the paint dry,,, whats that? Ah ****, rain. A 3 minute downpour, just enough to mark every inch of the car. Go to bed pissed, wake up ready to wet sand the marks out all day. Before I get to the garage I hear the wind howl, then CRASH! I knew exactly what it was. Hood had blown over and landed on a pile of rearends I had stowed nearby. Lifting it up the damage was BAD, a yolk stud had punctured the hood as well as caved it in. Luckily the dent popped out pretty well. The bad part was, I had my primer, base and multiple layers of clear pearl that I had to match the rest of the car, on top of the body work and I was out of white base coat so i had to buy more paint as well. The days that I did the lace it was perfect temp and no humidity, but 15-20 mph winds. I really wish i had more patience when I laid out my lace, it has some serious flaws, and i will redo it in the soon future, all in all I am happy with the results.
Just saw this thread, I hate Keystones but they are PERFECT on this car, neat thread man. You mention bicycles..........is that a BMC hat above your severed schnoz?
you've been a busy bee! looks good! 20 days huh? thats fast! did you do it at night? or did you have all day???
Come out to California and you can paint my '61 while I have the Engine out! BTW,I DIG the pic of "The Guy in the Bushes"!!
Thanks for all the kind words fellas. Sorry I didn't respond sooner, I posted all those pics and left the country for a few weeks.
I love it. I've always had a soft spot for these old birds. My dad has had a '64 convert gathering dust in his garage since the early 70's when it was just a used car. I used to play in all the time as a kid. He's gonna fix it up one day
Good job,man. That was one rusty sumbich, but you weren't afraid. I especially like the laced roof. BTW, what's up with all the drunk dudes in your hood ?
Are those the infamous and rare North American Chicken Ducks? I heard they like thunderbirds... ****ing sweet build thread man, You didnt miss any touches in my opinion. right the **** on!
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