sitting pretty

5.0 efi ford engine

a little progress

here it is november with all the holidays coming up soon and i'm still chugging along on my projects as would be expected. i've been doing the last of the yardwork before it gets really cold. i have been working on the 54 coupe some and i have managed to get it running and moving under its own power. it has brakes too!! imagine that. long ways to go yet but at least i can drive it in and out of the shop. the next step for it is to take it all back apart and rebuild the engine and suspension. for right now i will probably get started again on the 63 chevy with the block sanding and more primer. keep watching cause you never know what i will do next. until next time.

nearing the end of summer

summer is drawing to a close and as the temperature cools i will be able to spend more time in the shop doing my thing. i finally finished the initial bodywork on the 63 chevy and have applied the first full coat of primer. several months of block sanding will ensue i'm sure. i finally found a donor vehicle i could afford for the 54 ford coupe and have made some progress getting the running gear installed in it. it will have a 5.0 fuel injected ford engine and overdrive transmission. i have lowered the car considerably and it should be a really good driving car. i'm going to post a few pictures with more to come soon. until next time

a long slow process

well things are happening in my shop but at a snails pace it seems. i'm working a lot but don't have a lot of progress to show. i have the chevy partially primered and found a good stock hood to replace the badly warped one that had the big scoop. it really looks different but i think i like the sleeper look better. the floors in the ford coupe were just about completely gone so i have been forming and welding a lot there. when i bought the coupe you couldn't read the odometer cause the letters were peeled off so out of curiosity i took the speedometer out to see if i could figure it out and to my great surprise i could read the other numbers. this car has just over 15,000 original miles. wow what a terrible waste that it sat out in a field for 35 years and the whole bottom 3rd of the car is rusted away. i am in the process of curing that problem though. as always---until next time

sneak preview of things to come

new subframe in place

hot summer fun

since i finished the stepside i have been real busy working on the two projects i have going. i did a lot more sanding on the chevy and then switched over to the ford coupe and installed the subframe from the donor. i'm pretty much done on the coupe till i acquire ane engine and running gear. we've been to a couple more shows with the flamed ford and got one more trophy to add to the grandson's collection. the summer has been so hot that i have been working early in the mornings and spending the afternoons in the ac comfort of the house. progress has been somewhat slow but i'm still hacking away and one of these days i'll get caught up. (not gonna happen). until next time

getting 'er done

well since i finished the stepside i have been busy sanding on the 63 chevy.after a few days of that my hands and arms get tired so i decided to go ahead and start on the 54 ford coupe. things were going well so i have worked on it several days now and have quite a bit of progress. i got the frontend all off and pulled the engine and then cut the front frame rails off in preparation of the S-10 subframe that i am installing. that's as far as i'm going for right now so back to sanding on the chevy. when you retire the fun never stops. until next time

here we are at the show---they look good together

custom built floor by me and jeremy

sweet little truck

finished the stepside

well the stepside is finished and gone back to its home in tenn. i had a great time building it and i think it turned out pretty well. son-in-law was tickled to death so while they were here we took it and my 54 ford to a car show only a couple of hours after we got it back together. guess what? we both won a top 25 trophy! it couldn't have turned out better. besides winning we had a great time at the show just hanging out together. drove home in the pouring rain and with the vacuum wipers on the ford it was interesting to say the least. so now i will get back to the bodywork on the 63 chevy. i'm having a ball. until next time

the new engine in the truck

79 stepside--jeremy marchbanks

more bodywork

bodywork underway

spring fever

well the seasons have changed and i am up to my usual antics. trying to see how many of these warm days i can spend in the shop. i'm having a ball doing what i love to do. the last month or so i have taken a break from my chevy project to help my son in law get his stepside truck redone. i promised him a couple of years ago that i would paint it and it somehow turned into a big rebuild--lol. i'm having a blast working on it and should be finished in the next couple of weeks. i'll post a couple of pix for your consideration. then i will be back to the bodywork on the chevy and getting started on my 54 ford coupe. boy this retirement stuff is alright. until next time.

james long's 53 ford

winson pistole's 53 ford

more babble from me

with the advent of warmer weather i find myself buried with projects both automotive and otherwise. no problem though cause i'm ready to get busy after laying around all winter. kinda makes a fellow lazy but i'll get going real soon. i'm not the only car nut in the world and not the only person that loves these old 53-54 fords. my best friend and my nephew both have one and they love them as much as me. i'm going to post pictures of theirs because they are both worthy of getting exposure on my blog. amongst the three of us we have shared pictures, ideas, and shared many bull sessions regarding our rides. so wins and jamey here is my salute to you guys.
until next time

my current cars in various stages of completion

two 54 fords with a view of the shop

1954 ford coupe after a little cleaning

finally a warm day

we finally got a warm day so i decided it was time to get my toys out of the shop so i could sweep and clean after a long winter. it sure was nice to hear the 54 ford sedan running along with the 63 chevy. man they both sound good and it is definitely music to my ears. who needs a stereo when you can listen to the pipes growling. for now i have moved the 54 ford coupe outside so i can concentrate on the bodywork on the chevy. i've been working on it for a year and a half and it's time to get going in a big way. i did take a few pictures while i had them all outside so everyone can see my current stable of cars. don't ya' just love it. until next time

sure is a pretty little thing

latest addition to the stable

i saw this little car and it looked so lonely and forlorn i just had to bring it home. it will make a good partner for our 54 sedan. right now i haven't really formulated a game plan for it but sooner or later i will. it has the usual rust problems for this body style car but not any worse than some of the others i've done. i have a little time right now so i have been cleaning it up and checking things over to see what all it needs . it very well may be a long term project because as soon as the weather warms i will be back to doing the bodywork on the 63 chevy. we'll see how it goes. until next time.

long time no see

i can't believe it has been almost a year since i posted on here. we had a rainy summer last year and didn't get to go to many cars shows so there really wasn't much to post. i have been working on the 63 but the progress has been painfully slow. sometimes life seems to get in the way of progress. i do have most of the 63 in primer and have a big part of the rough bodywork done. i would really like to get it painted this summer but i'm not going to hold my breath. i'm really in no hurry now because i want the bodywork to be as good as i can get it. we'll see how it goes and i'll try to post more often as progress continues. until next time