1958 Country Sedan project

Don,
Thank you for the generous offer. Got a rear bumper?

Actually I have most everything I need right now. Still working on the few electrical woes that plague this machine. Might be bugging you later about the strange heating system in the car. Seems different from the images in the '58 repair manual.

At least the car is dependable for everyday driving and seems to have lots of power. Solid might be the right word.

 

Yup, this is my favorite too, but I like the posts painted to look like the wood. Jarius, you are definitely one talented artist.

 

NICE WAGON!

I am goofy I suppose, but if there is not a lot of surfing in Oregon I would leave it like it is.

Rodney

 

Actually, there is quite a lot of surfing that goes on here at the Oregon Coast. While wearing a wet suit of course... but that is not the reason for the "look". The car is to be a rolling billboard for selling my line of hot rod tee-shirts. The new company is Rat Hole Customs (established Jan 2011) and we already have a web site and are on Facebook. (ratholecustoms.com)

This is our second vehicle, the first being a 1964 Chev Belair wagon.
While I do use it as a daily driver, its primary purpose is to create a persona and haul the shirt stock from car show to car show.
Eventually we will be selling 90% on-line, but till then the face the public sees is important.

 

Great promotional ideal (and fun).

 

Today I drove about 20 miles to Stayton to hand paint some door graphics on my Son-in-laws Hot Rod. The wagon cruised smoothly and effortlessly the entire distance and I think I could drive this baby for miles.



Took a pic with the two together and aged it just a bit....
That's Stella, my granddog in the front seat. (Love that mutt)

 

-Nice. looks right out of a 60's photo album.

 

Air Brush

Since you are an artist why not paint on your woodgrain completely. All of it! There's a guy near here, Ocala, who has an airbrush and pinstrip business. You wouldn't believe the painted woodgrain designs he's put on older wagons. You can do it!--As motomike said that big ole Ford does look great.

 

That big 'ol Ford looks great!

 

Well... I would have published this in the "What did you do to your wagon thread". But I am sooooo proud of myself and the work accomplished today that it deserves to be here.

First off, this afternoon after lunch I tore into the steering wheel hub looking to see if I could fix or repair the turn signal switch. Up to that point all I had was one brake light and no signals at all.

Pulled the wheel and dismantled the switch assembly.

Completely took it apart expecting to see broken plastic bits... instead I found well engineered and heavy duty components that show little or no wear!
No wonder we went to the moon in the 60's!!
A bit of cleaning and light use of grease here and there... and it works! Both brake lights now shine and after replacing the fuse the signals blink continously. :banana:

The dash lights were another matter.... had to completely rebuild the light switch soldering on a broken tab and adding a grounding tab to the rheostat which seems to have busted off or... ?
At any rate, I now have full working lights inside and out!

Tuesday I go to the DMV and get new plates and swap the title over. But for now I want to take a shower and go for a short cruise in the Long roof!

 

That's awesome. You should be proud of yourself. Makes you wish most things were that easy.

 

Seven hours work... never said it was easy.



But... didn't cost me a dime and that is PRICELESS!

 

Lol, but that's still easier than breaking the thing as you take it apart, finding that everything inside is trashed and unrepairable, disabling your car because the part can now no longer go back together and even partially work, learning that no replacement parts are available and finally having to wire your own series of switches just to make your car legal to drive. Just sayin'...

 

+1 on Burners comments, some things were over engineered in the 50's/60's(compared to today's standards anyway) and would either last forever or at least be repairable compared to more recent "stuff." Lean on a fender on your old Ford compared to say today's Fusion and see what I'm talking about. Thanks for sharing.