Reply to craigs Garage on November 12, 2011 at 07:36 PM

Thanx Craig! This is the start with extended quarters, 62 Mercury taillights, and full bubble skirts being the next big things on the list. Keep stopping by and check it out every couple of weeks!

Reply to StitchesInteriors Garage on December 10, 2011 at 10:11 AM Thanx Rod! After a dude made a comment about the Shoebox Fords have been done to death & they all start looking the same, I decided to bring some different ideas to the table

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I’ve got another one up my sleeve that I haven’t seen before, but the customer isn’t sure if we should follow through with it or not. In the next couple of months we’ll decide if we are gonna do it or not. Keep following along, as I will try to post pics every week or two all winter into the spring. C’ya!

Reply to LOUD PEDAL Garage on December 17, 2011 at 05:14 PM

Oh yeah! Didn’t realize how long those quarters were until I started welding on the skirts- lots of jumping around with 1/4” welds trying not to warp it. Decided not to use the 62 Merc taillites and french in and extend the original 49’s by 1 inch, and use his parts cars quarter panels to make some bubble skirts. The original plan was to remove the wind splits on the bodys’ quarters and the donor panels, but he and I thought that’s what defines a Shoebox and I like ‘em. Was gonna slide the donor quarters ahead a foot and whack off the front edge behind the doors, but when I slide that panel up with the lites and wind splits still intact, we stood back and thought “Wow, that looks kool! Kinda jet age? And it make the car look longer.” So I decided to go with it. Now I need to french in and extend 4 taillites and come up with some filler pieces to tie into the edge of the trunk. Pretty sure I’m gonna make a roll pan with a license plate recess for below the trunk, but thats a few weeks down the road. Thanks LOUD PEDAL, it’s the positive comments that keep us all forging ahead on our projects. I appreciate it. Jim

Reply to LOUD PEDAL Garage on December 18, 2011 at 01:17 PM

You’re right Beppie, without a good network of close friends to bounce ideas off from, it would be hard to finish some of these “parts cars” I’m building. The cars up here are so rusty that you have to spend lots of hours just repairing the floors and body mounts and stuff before you can even think of chopping it or shaving that. It becomes frustrating sometimes right from the start, but you fight through it with support from your friends-and the fact that it will be kool when it’s done and you can’t wait to drive it! Thanks again and keep me updated on your latest projects and keep stopping by every couple of weeks to check up on mine.

Reply to Rat Nest Garage on December 19, 2011 at 12:28 AM

Not sure about the front yet. His rear bumper was in fairly nice shape and the brackets were straight, so I thought I could drill out the front rails to locate the bumper farther in or out on the front end, then weld the studs on the backside and fill in the existing holes and have it rechromed. The owner wants all Ford, Lincoln, or Mercury parts only used, and preferrably ‘62 or earlier. So, a grill bar or section from a mid-50’s Merc or ??? Maybe I’ll whip up another tube grille? I think I’m gonna add lips to the ‘49’s front fenders from a mid-50’s Ford and use the eyebrows over the headlites from the same car. We also talked about adding a mid-50’s Merc faux hood scoop to the hood but more out to the front edge. Illija said you’re from Iowa so you know what I’m talking about with rust in these cars up here. Even the “good” cars we used to drag out of the Dakotas that weren’t exposed to the salt are getting scarcer as time goes by. Even the occasional “barn find” up here was still exposed to a decade or more of salted roads, so it’s pretty rare that a barn find lead turns into something worth a crap. You get there all excited, see the 1968 tabs on the car and are still excited ‘cuz the outer panels don’t look too bad, then you crawl underneath and you could throw a cat through the frame without touching any metal! Speak up all you Midwest Rust Belt brothers if you hear me!! We should post some albums of the rust we’re talking about so people from the warmer climates understand- that would be interesting…with the Salt Belt cars it isn’t what you first see, it’s after you drag that turd home and cut out a section to patch it-then you get to look behind and see what the salt did in every nook and cranny- it almost makes you wanna cry…and the “fun” begins all over again, after you’ve told yourself this one will be easy…hahaha

The worst one I ever did was a 59 Eldorado convertible that literally fell in half, (frame & all) on the trailer before it got to my shop. It took parts from 13 doner cars to save this number matching jewell. After going across the auction block at BJ’s it ended up in someones prized collection. Beauty is only “SKIN DEEP” ! (”,) If cars could talk! LOL

outstanding!!! :)

Reply to firewisinger's Garage on December 19, 2011 at 12:11 PM

Thank you my friend! Alot of cold weekend all-nighters to get this baby in primer and running for Back to the 50’s…

Just tooooo KOOL!!