Derek's 1950 ford coupe shoebox build and introduction

Hey there,
i thought i'd start a thread of my 1950 ford club coupe and introduce myself as i have been reading on the hamb for a long time but never done a thread.

so HELLO i'm Derek from Castlemaine Australia.

thanks to everyone out there for putting up usefull info and pics, and bassically giving me a good reason tosit on my computer and read interesting stuff.
i have read alot of thread on shoebox ford and thought i'd let you guys see mine.
i recently sold my Xp Falcon station wagon and had been looking at 49-50 fords for couple years so when i found mine i had the money burning a whole in my pocket and jumped on it, found it on ebay america, it was located in texas being sold by a guy that has a used car bussiness specialising in classic and muscle cars. seemed like a decent car for the price so i did the "buy it now', worry about it later button.
i'l keep this short, did all the necessary paper work and emails and stuff and 2 and a half months later i went up to melbourne to pick it up, around an hour and a bit drive from where i live, me and my buddy mitch went there in my vc valiant to pick it up and after a long day of havin a little issue with customs i jumped in it started it up and drove it home on an unregistered vehicle permit, had the vc's boot full of tools, water, oil, brake fluid. all the stuff so that if something happened we could get it home, but i am happy to say i cruised it home all the way without missing a beat, was pretty happy with that. the only downside was that somewhere between leaving texas and arriving in melbourne the door trims, 4 new ones and 2 rust repair panels for the front floor pans were gone and it copped some nice dents and scratches to the roof as well as a lot of oil leaked on the roof and down the rear window. but i can live with that as i am doing an insurance claim on it.

anyway, i want to start this thread to show the car its progress and the good times had working on it, drinking beer and eating food.
so i plan on putting a heap of pics and stuff and any feed back or ideas are welcome,
my xp wagon was a mild custom paint type thing, lowered white walls, all that stuff a nice cruiser, but i'd like to do this a mild to full custom, lowered aventually airbag set up, shaved door handles, nosed and decked bonnet, smoothed boot lid, keep the trim down the side cause i think that looks good, roof chop, dressed up flatty, firestone bias plies with spider caps or caddy hub caps. and satin green metalic paitn one day, but for now registered and lowered and cruise it for a bit,
i picked the car up around 3 weeks ago and have had a bit of a play around and will post pics,
i am in the eldorados of south muckleford car club with me and 10 other guys all interested in hotrods, customs and classic cars up to the 1960's.
were a good bunch of guys that have club meets once a fortnight at each others sheds, bassically meet up have some beer, pizza, spit roasts whatever and talk shit, work on each other cars, and have a laugh, really good stuff, its a great club as were all mates and have the same interest and all willing to get in there and help eachother out, all have good car car knowledge. some professional tradesman and others with a good knowledge and do it yourself attitudes.

anyway here is my car let me know what you think and i hope its a good thread to look at and read,
cheers
Des

 

here's a couple more pics of it when me and Mitch (the chicken man) picked it up.

 

deleted. double post

 

welcome from another mexican. looks like a fairly tidy car, any hassles with importing it? (aside from the scratches etc. you mentioned)

 

after a beer and a few pics from a long day i took it in the shed and waisted no time removing the sunvisor and making myself a little more happy with its appearance. the chicken man stood back and said "man that looks a shit load better already" jumped on the harley and went home.
he is currently in the process of importing his 53 olds coupe from north carolina, looks like it'll be a cool car when it arrives on our shores. hopefully he doesnt receive any damage to his big ass car.
a good look over the car was then had by me straight away to see how much work i had before i it could be road worthy for victorian roads and registration.
after a quick once over without jacking it up to checkout brakes and suspension she looked like a good thing, there was an obvious exhaust leak from the passenger side manifold which is an easy fix and a few tail light issues due to 60 year old cloth covered wiring. blowing fuses straight away, no big deal. and a leakey rear main seal. not the best but it has to be done.
the body is pretty damn good, minimal rust in the front floor pans and a few little wholes in the sills, and not a thing in the boot area, pretty happy with that, no other rust to speak of as yet and from the look of how old and shitty the paint is i cant see an major filler issues or rust hidden as i think by now it would have possibly started to creep out, but you never know untill you start stripping it to find all the hidden surprises, all in all pretty happy with what i have got without actually going to the states and looking at it in person.
i should mention this car cost $8250 and the aus dollar is stronger than the us dollar at the moment so it was a little less than that in aus dollars. i think it was a good price thats why i jumped on it and bought it after it had been on ebay for around 4 hours.

 

hey mate, thanks, na no hassle at all buddy, apart from what i said it was a breeze, yeah not a bad car im happy with it should be cool.
import is really easy if its stock.
des

 

we had a club meet the next night and decided to have a roast out of our custom made spit roast that me, Ahron and chicken made out of a carton united breweries keg that i aquired (stole form outside the pub one night), it runs, repo model a hinges, ford 170ci rods and slugs ford the legs, a cut down camshaft for a handle and a spit kit from the hardware store, we use heat beads to cook with, ebo brought a fresh massive leg of lamb that im quite sure he chewed it off with it teeth that afternoon before that club meet (he's a farmer by the way).
a few potatoes and home made salsa by the chicken man and corn chips, a nice amount of beer saw the night out,
anyway i jacked it up and started having a look over it and was surprised to find near brand new brake shoes all round and good wheel cylinders and new shocks in the rear, a new exhaust which sounds nice, and new tierod ends, a little rust repair required in the floor and an idler arm kit, and of course the rear main seal, pretty damn good driver.
a quick brake adjustment the wheels went back on, the tyres are also brand new coker classic radials, but they will be going for some bias ply firstones soon. have too...........
we also decided we may aswell drop the front bar to give it that fat spinner look to, it amazing how much an inch and a bit lowerin of that bar can make the whole front look better,

 

Welcome to Shoebox Central of the Universe.

 

ok so, i had the easter long weekend was reading alot of hamb and talking to a few guys about changing the rear main seal and thought theres no time like the present, so out comes the flatty,
i spent a bit of time getting everything ready to come out, was just going to use my block and tackle but chicken thought he'd rock up with the engine crane, he's a good egg, no pun intended ha ha.
so me and chicken started to get it out and tex rocked up to give us a hand.
in the mean time i had the rope seals soaking in oil all afternoon,
we ripped it out and flipped it over onto a tyre and got the sump off and crank out, too easy when you have a shithouse exhaust pipe that crosses the front of the block, we were calling it the wheel barrow cause you can pretty much pick it up and move it around with the exhaust like a wheel barrow.
a good bit of help is great and a few beers and a bbq doesnt hurt.
but we got it replaced and everything torqued up, i should mention that all the bearings were in really good nick and could still see hone marks in all the bores which is a good indication of a rebuild not to far back, bassically it looked like a good flatty, not 60 years old and tired.
so it all went back together and a little prep work and paint, thanks for coming,
we were out talking shit and stuffin around till near 2am.
good club, good blokes always willing to give a hand.
the nest day i threw it back in, cleaned a few bits uo and got here singin like a bird again.
good little job.

 

thanks royal shifter

 

so me flatty is back in again, out one afternoon back in the next, thats what i wanted, i removed the front ford badge cause i had some time to kill the other arvo and welded it up, will require more work but its done, and started locating my wiring issues, i now know why shoebox owners get a new wiring loom kit, cause the old cloth shit is fairly stuffed and rubs through on every chance it gets, but i eventually found it in the boot area, to to wire with no insulation wraped around each other, might explain the now tail lights and blowing fuses as soon as i turn the lights on, re-taped them seperately and then together fixed the problme but i think i will start re-wiring parts with all new stuff and just work though the car.
but i have all the light and interior dash light and stuff working, one step closer to roady, and now i can drive it at night.
oh and i forgot to put this pic of tex up, just cause i love it, beer on top of the crank will cleaning it all up to put back in with no shit on it.

 

Welcome from the north coast .Looks like a good car ,gotta love the high dollar right now its getting me to bonneville ha ha. have fun with it.

 

oops, i got carried away, when i got the car i was like oh the paints shitty, ill just drive it round like this for a while, i may have been curious to see what it would be like if i wet rubbed and buffed a little section, next thing you know i did the whole fender, only to find this cool metallic blue colour just beneath the surface, the more i rub and watch the top blue come off to reveal the nice blue colour underneath i keep going, "why the f#*k would someone paint over good cool paint with shit"
so its patchy and stuff, but now half the car is shiny and has a cool look to it.
sometimes, all you have to do is mention food and beer and mates rock up outta nowhere to give you a hand rubbing, awesome, i had 4 blokes on the paper and just following each other around, going through the grades.
if i spent the time i could possibly get all the top blue off and have the metallic kinda like an old free paint job ha ha, but it kinda like the look of it the way it is, and when its low and cruising around i wont care.
so its by no means anything special but i feel its a major improvement to the look of the shoebox. some would say its shit, but f#*k em, its my car and i can make it look as shit as i want lol.
its only until one day i strip it anyway, i also took all the front grill pieces out and polished them as nice as i could get them to come up.

 

hey mate thanks, yeah the dollar is awesome, ive got a month cruising around the states in an rv motor home, each day the trips gettin that little bit cheaper. got to love it
thanks

 

oh yeah, got it road worthy last night, passed, so it will be registered next week and then i can lower it a whole lot, no bags as yet just drop spindles and blocks, see how it goes.

 

Looks like you're moving along at a great pace, keep up the good work!

 

thanks buddy, heaps of motivation at the moment and really keen to see it starting to look different and cooler each day.
cheers
des

 

if anyone, in the states or aus has a halfway decent but nothing really good steering wheel for the 50 for sale i am after one..........

 

colour looks shit-hot mate, sometimes i pays to rub it a little. did a similar thing when tryin to sell my O/T car, started to cut and polish a few stone chips and before i knew it id polished the whole damn car

 

Ha ha a good rub really can make everything better lol.
I really want to having lookin cool by sep for the chopped show down here..

 

Looking good, looks like you guys are having fun!

 

il hafta check it out in person, missed last years "chopped" then saw the coverage in ASR. i wont miss another i guarantee

 

Yeah mate see ya there, I'll be the guy hangin out with a beer in my hand all weekend. Yeah thanks SlmLrd, nuttin but good times with mates and working on old stuff.

 

welcome from TN, nice intro and enjoy the 50

 

looking good, can't wait to see it in the flesh..

 

You've got a great looking shoebox there. Fixing a bit at a time works well.
Having fun straight away is definately the best thing to do.
It kind of reminds me of a time not too long ago . . . . .
We got ours on the road in '99 and drove it everywhere,
almost everyday for four years. Then on and off for a about
five years and now it waits for a well earned 'rebuild'.
Other projects have sidelined it big time.

Stock rebuilt motor and Overdrive really got around. Lowered it with
four inch blocks in back and cut coils in front. Went through two
sets of 6.70-15 'stones. Rode great. The clutch gave up soon
after painting it so out came the motor,
with some highly appreciated help as shown in photo.



Sorry about the blurry photos. the memories are a bit blurry too.
Look forward to seeing it at Chopped in Oct. Keep up the good work.



A day doesn't go by without my 'Helper' asking me when
am I going to get that car back on the road.
You just can't not have a great ol' time in a shoebox Ford.
CM

 

hey michael, i think i need to get me a helper like that, she looks like she's doind a great job. i deffinately remeber your wife, she cried at the dinner table at the pub last october cause she watched our mate eat his steak then commence to comb his beard with the very same fork and she lost it when she saw that she couldnt stop laughing lol.
mate you make me wish i painted my flatty gold cause that looks really cool. but thats ok cause that isnt the last time mine will come out you can be sure of that.
yeah the stock flatty is great, hummms along fine on the highway and sounds cool. i just won 3 97's for it off ebay but am unsure whether to run progressive linkage of just have one dummy cause three carbs is probably way to much for a stocker.
thanks again for your help with the shocks, i am going to order some for the front asap so whil'e ive got the springs out to lower it i will chuck some new ones in.
cheers again.
des

 

thanks mate, its nothing special but its all fun, untill one day after i drive it around for a while and have fun then ill strip it back fully and rebuild it all.]
cheers

 

cheers, i will,
going to your kneck of the woods in july, maybe i'll give ya a wave.lol

 

love the crawling under the dash fixing up wiring and installing a indicator kit, people in aus dont like it that much when you throw your arm out the window to make a turn........