1958 Ford Ranch Wagon build "Class Project"

What an opportunity they had! I've done my own backyard exhaust, but I've never seen how those swedging and bending machines work or how they guesstimate the curvature.

I happened to pop into one of the 50 junkyards I'd never visited, last week, and they have TWO 1958 full-size Ford sedans, if you need that A-arm.

 

Are those brake lines that run from behind the tranny, under the exhaust and to each wheel?

 

Those are the E-brake cables.

 

Session 19

Today was our second class in two days - on Mother's Day no less - but we've got work to do...

We tinkered on a few things that we discovered while the car was up on the rack, spent some time sitting on the grass talking about our previous day in the exhaust shop and then got to work grinding.



We've got it almost completly down to bare metal now.

We're gonna try to get it into a paint booth for a coat of primer before the show, but time is running out...

 

Session 20

Today it was just me and two of the students. We don't have much time left until the class runs out (and we're officially working overtime, as the class was originally booked for 18 sessions) so we're working on our checklist of things we have to get done before Billetproof.

One of the things we're working on is our sign for the car show. I want to get the layout done this week, so we needed to get a decent "after" shot of the car. That was a good excuse to get the hood put back on drive it out into the sun for a photo. I won't do the official "before" and "after" shot yet, as there's still a chance we'll get primer on it, but I'm pretty happy with this shot.



We also worked on getting the last door panel back on, bleeding the brakes some more and working on the design for some lettering we're going to put on the window to promote the class.

 

Yeah, it was great to see a pro at work. It would have takens us weeks to do the job he did in a couple hours.

There's a classic car junk yard in the south end of the state that has a couple '58s, but I've decided not to try to get the front suspension fixed this school year. If we keep the car for next year that will be a top priority and I might hit you up if we need the A-arm.

Thanks!

 

Coming together!

 

Thats some rad progress on the beasty. I also think it's cool those kids were so dedicated. Alot of times they lose focus. Good on yah for keeping them interested!

I was also stoked to see the Iron Maiden "Powerslave" and "Aces High" posters on the wall. Subtle, but still sending the message!

 

The class is actually subtitled "heavy metal appreciation". Some of my favorite work sessions are when we're making too much noise to talk so we crank up the music and everyone is just in their own world working on their piece of the beast.

I really felt old when I realized that Powerslave was released 6 years before these kids were born! This is just like when I was a kid working in the garage with my dad listening to the Beach Boys and other "oldies".

 

Session 21

This last weekend was our final official class session. We took apart the turn signal switch to get the brake lights working (finally), did some final grinding to get it to 99% bare metal and took care of some other details to get it ready for the car show. Then we took it for a cruise...

We're still working on some signs for the windows to advertise the class and we've got to get our car show sign mounted.


We're going to show it off at the church picnic in two weeks, then at the school the week after and at Billetproof WA on June 26th.

The original plan was to sell the car, and I think I'll make some attempt to do that over the summer, but I've already got a long list of things we can do to it next year if it doesn't sell - so I don't know if I'll try too hard to unload it. Plus, I've kinda become attached to it now.

Those of you in the Northwest - look for the article about this class in this month's Cruzin' magazine.

 

Your class got a good amount of work done on the '58. Looks good. Good luck with it, whether you sell it or keep working on it & enjoying it over the summer and next school year.

 

Great class and a wonderful service to all the students; I'm sure what they learned, they'll use for the rest of their lives.
The wagon has not been painted yet, right? If you do sell it, be sure to tell the buyer about our forum; I'd like to see what he'll do with it.

 

That 'ole '58 looks pretty cool with most of the chrome off it. Gonna make somebody a cool ride when it's done...

 

looks good with no paint too how about just clear coating it?

 

Yall did a great job! I wish my High school would have had an auto shop class like this. I think I would have chosen a different career.

I hate to hear that the project is over, for now. I, like others have said, would love to see her finished through. I imagine the guys involved would like to see the same. Any chance there could be a Summer I & II session ???

They gotta get ready for college right??? A 6 week turbo session getting the full semester material in a 6 week course???

Thanks for all the photos, I have really enjoyed them. Good luck to all!