OK , I have been a Ford Guy all my life. Retired 13 years ago now and I have already restored 4 cars....57 Ranchero, 61 Starliner, 54 Mercury , 51 Ford Convertible and 40 Ford Coupe.....I guess thats 5. Told my wife that this is "mylastproject"....55 Ford Ranch Wagon 2 dr. Just got it from a retired FORD Deerborne Michigan engineer. Great guy who bought this car 17 years ago and tore it all down , meaning to restore it. He didn't get it done and decided to sell it. Its an original Nebraska car , no rust , very nice body , and he did a great job keeping all the parts organized and in good condition. Anyway , I like to do as much of the work myself , except paint , I always believe you let the experts do that. And usually you get what you pay for. I would like to keep this one as original as possible with one exception.....its a 6 cyl engine and I have always loved the y- block V8. So I plan on building a good solid 292 for this car. Keeping the 3 speed overdrive as original.
So what I am looking for is a source for the decking material Ford used on the interior rear cargo area and on the surface of the tail gate. It was glued and then screwed onto the metal surface of both the rear deck panels and the tail gate upper surface. on this 55 Ford Ranch Wagon. The original stuff is a reddish vinyl material about 1/8 thick, I will try to attach some pictures. Thanks in advance for any help. Second question would be what did Ford apply to the interior surface of the rear wheel well housings on these station wagons? Here is a picture of what they look like now. I scraped lots of a mastic glue like black material off the painted metal surface of the wheel well housings , but don't know what was originally on them for covering.
Nice project. The answer to your first question is a "cargo area vinyl", and it available from SMS Auto Fabrics (www.smsautofabrics.com, 503-263-3535). I priced it for my 1963 Country Sedan last year in July, and it was $89 per yard then. I don't have an answer to your second question though, sorry.
HotRodRacer....thanks for the info.....was that a rigid laminate material or is it a fabric ? The stuff I took off was about 1/8 in thick and was rigid.
It is a very thick fabric, about an 1/8 inch like you say. Since it has a lot of vinyl in it, I think the rigidity you are seeing is the fact that it dried out over the years and became very hard. On Tuesday, give SMS a call at the number above, tell them you make and model and that you would like a sample of the cargo area vinyl for your car. If they have it for the '55, they'll send you a sample so you can see it and feel it. I got a sample about 2 x 3 for my '63.
Hot Rod......I will do that, and thanks for the explanation , that makes sense. I will ask them too about the wheel well housings and what they might have for them. If anybody else can offer an idea on that , I'm sure Ford used the same material on the interior surface of the wheel well housings for many years during the 50's and 60's.
Nice project.... was the car originally red? The tailgate and floor material is also known as army nenolium. It’s a thick plastic/rubbery type surface that’s pretty resilient. Don’t know what the Ranch Wagon wheelwells were covered in, but the panels that go along the rear fenders are a thick cardboard type of cut out that fits in the moldings. The wheel wells May have had a vinyl type material applied to them. I know the County Squire and 9 pass Country Sedan had that type of covering on the wheel well, but they were Fairlane based. The 6 pass Country Sedan and Ranch wagons were Custom Line and Mainline based. Good luck with it. I’d be curious what the original color(s) were. Welcome by the way.
60Mercman....the car exterior as originally Aquatone Blue....kind of a Robins Egg blue/green color. Don't know why these vinyl material coverings were this reddish color, probably because the interior seats and door panels were originally in the brown tones. People ordered cars with some strange color combinations in those days. Exterior did not always jive with interior.
True that. I have a friend with a lime green ‘55 Merc with a turquoise interior. Yeah that’s right. Light blue with brownish interior is an interesting combo. Seems like it may have been an ordered car. Of course dealers probably also ordered interiors that they thought might look good.
mylastproject welcome to the forum. Counting the '40 Ford coupe you have a great assortment of cars and other things. I still have the '39 Ford deluxe coupe I bought back in the early 60's. The paint is 1975 Ford truck red and the interior is a mix of mid 60's bucket seats, a Camaro rear bench seat, and other non original interior pieces. The engine was, is, a 60's 307 from a then new Nova and Powerglide. All I've ever done was repaint the green exterior red and drive it for years. It's been stored in a garage for over 45 years waiting for my next last project! Good luck on what seems to be a great wagon project. 2-dr wagons are kool. After that's done, what's your next last project?
Did some asking around and don’t know whether it was true for ‘55 and ‘56 that color interior was apparently all you could get in a Ranch Wagon. I know the ‘56 had a really neat branding/horseshoe design in the seat material. Good luck with it.
Welcome aboard. Sounds like a great car you have there. I'd love to see some photos of it, even if it is in pieces.
