Hello! My name is Mike, obviously im from the Detroit area, but grew up in northwest Indiana, about 45 minutes from Chicago. Moved out here a couple years ago to take a job with Ford Motor Company. In March of this year I bought my 67 Country Squire. Its in the Garage section, but its a 390 2-barrel (H-code for the Ford guys) with fresh powdercoat on the air cleaner and valve covers, along with a rattle can overhaul, though it looked pretty nice to begin with. C6 automatic trans, Its pretty solid rust wise but has a few trouble spots. Frame is solid as a rock though. Im in the middle of overhauling the front suspension, Ive had all the components powdercoated black, and I cut half a coil off the front coil springs in hopes to save a buck, and lower it just a hair and stiffen them back up a bit. If it doesnt work out, Eaton Detroit Spring is right up the road. PST will be supplying the rebuild parts and bigger sway bar. While its apart it's getting 69 Thunderbird disc brakes, and the rear will be getting new control arms, a sway bar added, and 2005-2014 Mustang rear discs. Already bought Torque-Thrust wheels, 17x7 front, 18x8 rear. I've already gone over the interior as best I can as the budget allows, as being an Arizona car, everything vinyl was trashed. I changed the color from saddle (tan) to black/gunmetal/carbon fiber. Lots more to talk about if anyone is curious.
Thanks, I still have yet to drive it, other than off the trailer and into the garage. Snowballed from "I'll just fix the brakes and drive it" into the full suspension rebuild. I got in there to do the brakes, and it has the 11x3 inch drums on front that are tough to locate and vey expensive, and naturally they're already way outside max diameter,and found a good deal on all the T-bird swap parts, and of course found dry-rotted suspension components. Being a mechanic for 15+ years, I know better than to let it go. Take it apart once, do it right, and not worry about it for another 40 years. So its been on jackstands for 6 months. =)
our story is very familiar around here. Sounds like you have it all under control...not like some of us. The interior color sounds amazing, send a pic or two when you have a chance. hope you like the joint.
Welcome, nice introduction and a really nice wagon. These jobs do seem to snowball and since the snow is about to fly it's a great time to work on it. You'll be floating down the highways and backroads of Detroit soon.
Those that wanted to see interior pics, Tan is before, black is after. Along the way the car had a blue dash put in it at some point. I'm on a budget and didnt want to remove the whole das or make a paint overspray mess all over everything, so I bought some carbon-fiber look vinyl wrap and wrapped the visible parts of the dash. Dyed the mis-matched rear seat black, and painted everything else.
By the way, Im still looking for a set of black door panels as well. My original tan ones are in rough shape, otherwise Id dye them black too and cover the woodgrain with the same carbon fiber from the dashboard...
Welcome aboard Mike! It's a good lookin' wagon...love the patina. It was obviously a wood grained side car, do you plan on replacing the faux wood and trim...or weld up all the holes? The wheels look great on there as well.
Thanks! I want to put the woodgrain back on and keep it the factory color (I love that green when its shiny) but am looking into trying to do it on the cheap, yet not do it with junk at the same time. Its gonna be wood-less and patina'd for a while though. Mechanicals first. Doesnt really need much, I just am on somewhat of a limited budget. This winter will have big results, should easily be driveable by spring, but looking as-is. Im in the middle of getting the fiberglass trim ready for coating in some way right now. I do have all the wood trim, but some sections were in pieces, and I had to track the driver rear quarter section from a California boneyard, it just got here yesterday actually, along with a couple other small but hard to track down wagon-specific parts. I love the wheels too, those were my first purchase for actually, lol. 17x7 on front, 18x8 on rear.
Every car I've done was and is on the cheap. To me that's part of the fun. Not a lover of big wheels but those look great on your wagon. I still have a set of the original Torque Trust D 14" wheels on my '39 Ford coupe.
Mike, I'm not a huge fan of green, but that happens to be a nice shade...and along with fresh woodgrain and redone trim, it should look awesome. You've got the right idea about taking care of the mechanicals first. You're fortunate to be able to track down the trim pieces, etc. Many yards that take in old cars don't keep them for too long. They hold them for awhile, and then end up being crushed. There are still some designated old car junkyards out there. These people are usually enthusiasts, and see the need to stock old iron. Jack
