I purchased this wagon last July, and have been slowly stripping it and picking up parts for it. I have been blogging about it HERE. Here it is when I first saw it. It is pretty rough. Infact, this is the biggest project I have ever undertaken. When I am done with this, I will be brave enough to tackle anything! I will be posting updates on its progress.
I began by cleaning out the wagon. It had been used as a Squirrel house for decades. The car was parked after having an accident in 1969. The interior was filled with pine cones, nut shells, and Squirrel turds. 41 years worth! Here are some pics of what I had to clean up. I eventually the got the front seat removed and found that the floors were extremely bad. So much so, that when I put my knee down to lean in and start scooping stuff out, it feel through the floor!
I cleaned out the car completely. This gave me a better idea of what I was working with. I almost wished I hadn't!!
Welcome to the 2 dr wagon restoration world! I have a '65 2 dr falcon wagon that I am doing the same with....What you have there is quite a nice project with HUGE POTENTIAL....nice thing is it appears not too rough and you have alot of the original pieces to it....any sheetmetal can be replaced with time, patience, tools, and $ regardless of how bad it may appear....I will tell you that is going to be a real head turner...Are you going to do alot of the work yourself or is it going to the shop? One thing I can suggest is enjoy the time it takes to restore it now matter how long. I have seen so many guys jump into something without thinking things out and quit on it....Obviously that won't happen in your situation but that is why we are here on this forum to help you out....Keep up the pics on the progress!
Yea but you have to know. That will be a great wagon when done. I love that 58-60 Tbird like front end on those. Ford sure made good looking cars in those days.
I have found and purchased many parts to get the wagon back on the road. With the help of a good friend, I was able to find many of the sheetmetal parts like Fenders, doors, hood, inner splash panels, tailgate (upper & lower), rear spare tire well, and other misc parts.
I have purchased a parts car. It is a '58 ford Fairlane 500 4 door. The floors are in very good shape, as are the firewall, and front sheet metal. It has a running 352 V8 engine, and an automatic transmission. I will using the whole car from the front cowl forward as a donor engine/cowl floor pans for my car. It was the most cost effective in the long run. It came from dry central Oregon, so the sheet metal & chrome are incredibly nice.
Nice! I see you got a factory radio with the parts car also since the wagon looked to be one that came without one.
Yes. The car not only has a radio, it has the optional Town & Country radio, which is a highly sought after radio. This parts car is turning out to be an answer to many of my wagon's problems.
Like Andy, I was gonna suggest a couple parts cars up here, so its great to see you found the stuff closer to home. Nice work.
Are the 1958 2 dr. ranch wagons worth much ? I'm looking at one that needs front and rear floor pans on both sides but the body is in real good shape with no rust seats are there but the interior is shot . Mouse house ! Has the motor and tranny in it ( 6 cyl ) but don't know if it runs or not . 3,500 dollars
I would say that the price is right depending on how complete it is. You can spend that much again acquiring missing parts so check it over carefully regardless if it runs. Finding another engine is easy and a modern 5.0 will drop in with a minimum of effort and a torch. The nice thing about the '58 is it's different enough to be noticeable on the street. I know, because I have one. And Dennis Carpenter makes lots of parts for the '57 and '58 wagons so finding pans and patch panels is easy. That said, try to offer less and get a bargain if you can.