OK...I'll try this again...I bought this Courier in 1972. It was parked in the trees and retired because it was too rusty. I paid $150 for it, pumped the tires up, installed a battery, poured in some gas and backed it out of the trees. True story. I drove it for a year with the 6 cylinder 3 speed, then installed a 390 and 4 speed. I had it mechanically usable, then found that none of the local body shops would touch it,,,said it was beyond fix. I pulled the engine and trans and put it in a 58 2 door sedan. I let the Courier sit and rust further until 1999 when I decided to try it again. Still,,,the body shops didn't want to work on it. I had never even replaced a rocker panel before, let alone tackle a mess like this, but thought I would give it a try,,,either help it or totally wreck it. I cut the windshield posts off and cut the floor a foot or so behind the seat and replaced the whole floor/cowl/rocker section in one big chunk. Then I replaced the rear 1/4s and front clip. Then a body shop friend of mine did the finish body work and paint. This came original with the 58 front and 57 rear, as did the 58 Ranchero. There were 3,352 total produced. I met a guy in 99 who had one and they had done some research and there are supposedly 72 remaining somewhere. Quite rare. The grill is a 58 Canadian Ford Meteor, minus the center star. Center tail lights are 58 Olds, sunk in the 1/4s a few inches. Outer tail light trim is headlight bezels from a 51 Plymouth. The tail gate is one piece, top hinged. It originally had a 3 piece rear window, but I mated the upper half of a 58 Ranch Wagon (one piece glass) to the bottom half of my existing tail gate. It has 2 cylinders now that hold it open. I removed the outer latch handle and it now has an electric latch. Color is Ford Dark Torreador Red with silver ghost flames on the rear panels with matching flames inside. Seats are full electric late model Explorer. Center seat/arm rest is from a Dodge Dakota. It has Vintage Air, front disc brakes, etc. Mostly stock 302 and a T5 5 speed. We have driven it around 35,000 miles without any issues. It is showing some wear with some rock chips and a few rust bubbles here and there, but it still looks ok and is a great cruiser. Any other questions, feel free to ask. Thanks for the kind words and warm welcome.
Welcome aboard. Nice Courier. The grille looks like its from the Canadian version, the 58 Meteor. The 58 sedan deliveries and Rancheros always confused me. I find it strange that they used the 57 tailgate and tail light housings, rather than the 58 style found on the rest of the 58 Ford wagon line.
Thanks for the explaination Hipocketz AN YOU TO K.K. DON'T KNOW HOW IT HAPPENED HIGHPOCKETS BUT YOUR ANSWER GOT POSTED BEFORE MY QUESTION. THIS NEW FANGELED 'PUTER STUFF LEAVES ME GOIN' HUH:banghead3: IF IT HAZ FINZ I LIKE IT AND I DON'T CARE WHAT FACTORY SPAWNED IT:2_thumbs_up_-_anima WAGONS-HO, Jer
Love you car, I didn't see it in previous threads, but what did the grille come out of..... Welcome from Weeki Wachee, Florida. David
David...in post #16 he explains all the parts used in the build....... "The grill is a 58 Canadian Ford Meteor, minus the center star."
Sweet looking ride and to the madness. >>still looking for a tailgate window crank for my '64 Impala<<
The wiper motor is vacuum,,mounted inside, behind the dash. 57s had the motor under the hood, and I think they were cable operated. I do have more pictures, I will try to add more later.
