Hi all,
I have a 57 convertible that is in paint. I find my hood and trunk lid don't match the contours of the body the way they should. I have been told that the ones I have may be Custom parts and not Fairlane parts. Is there any truth to this? Is it possible to get these mixed up? Are they close enough in appearance that you wouldn't notice until you tried to do final fitting? I bought the car from someone who found it in AZ and did all of the preliminary body work. He had it on a rotisserie and said it was ready for paint, so I assumed he had test fit the hood and trunk lid even though they were loose when I picked up the car. I don't know if the guy I bought from got it from an individual or a salvage yard so I don't know for sure if all of the parts came together. Are there measurements I can make to tell if these are from a Custom or a Fairlane?
My painter thinks he can save the hood but he said the cost to redo the trunk lid will be high, it looks as if the crown in both directions is wrong. If these are Custom parts I will just sell them and find parts for the Fairlane, but I need to determine if this is actually the case.
What makes this even more frustrating is that I sold a complete parts car and an extra deck lid at last years Portland Swap Meet and helped the buyer load them in a container to ship to Alaska. I thought the ones I had were good because the guy I bought from had primed and blocked them and said the car was ready for paint. Not hardly!
Any help would be appreciated in identifying if these are Custom or Fairlane. I am also looking for replacements if anyone know where I can find them. I am in Washington State so west coast would be better, but I would be interested in any available parts.
Thanks,
Bob Maddix
(360) 601-4558
I bought a trunk lid for my Custom and it was about 4" too long, I found out it was from a Fairlane.
Tee Pee Auto wrecking had a pretty good supply on both 57 and 58 cars. I don't know where your located but they are in Outlook Wa. That's just west of Sunnyside. I got some parts for my 58 remodel but that was about three years ago so don't know what their status is now but may be worth a call.
All the 57 hoods are the same. 58's bolt right on if you like the scoop.
Ron.
mad dog, go to the parts supply area on this board, go to Oregon first guy there is Clayton Bauer just south of Portland, he'll be able to set you up with both your needs. You will not regret dealing with him, believe he's rancho57 on here but won't swear to that just not sure at this moment.
Zap- :unitedstates:
As those above mentioned, it doesn't appear to be a difference in Fairlane vs Custom. Only difference in anything forward of the firewall are the various trim holes. You didin't tell us where the nonconformity is, so I'm wondering if it's posible your front fenders have a crown in them over the center of the wheelwell? That is a common problem with '57's caused by the bumper brace being attached to the front fender. A tap on the front bumper can cause the fenders to buckle at their weakest point. One of our members here in the past had a body man tell him every '57 he had worked on was like that, and he wrongfully assumed it was suppose to be there.
As Donnie mentioned, the Custom trunk lid is in the neighborhood of 4" shorter. What I don't know is if there is a difference in your convertible trunk lid vs a hardtop trunklid, and 2 dr vs 4 dr. I could see where it would be feasible that the area between the trunk lid and the roof would be a different crown on a hardtop vs convertible. Someone with a parts manual could check the convt trunlid and 2 dr hdtp lid to see if they are the same numbers.
My hood and trunk on my Custom do not match well at all. My hood is too flat at the cowl. The trunk also does not follow the body contour on the lower edge. I can tell the car was in a minor accident and I think that may be the issue in the back. I also believe the hood is simply bent. I plan on addressing these issues at some point but I feel your pain!
You would be amazed at the hammering and bashing that went on in the factory to get the fender to door and hood to fender contours to match up! I'm talking rubber tipped tire hammers, tire irons and dum dum blocks wrapped with tape. Saw this every day at Dearborn Assy in the 70's!
I've seen a film from the British Ford factory from the 1960's, on the production line for the Ford Anglia 105E (the Harry Potter flying car model) you can see the fitters trying several front fenders for fit before they chose the best and welded it on!
I guess there could be some variation if panels have been swapped over time with panels made by a different supplier?
please keep in mind that our cars were very afFORDable back then, they were really cheap and the fit of body panels was the least problem they had in production. I haven't seen a OEM 57 where the lower front fenders fit the rockers. They used rubber mallets in production and the body manual shows how you would bend a door with a piece of wood. all of that was common practice and as easily as body parts can be twisted by hand, it was just a bad thing to get everything painted before trial fit. hopefully you will be able to adjust without ruining the fresh paint.
I was amazed at the shop manual door adjustment directions. I plan on bending my hood and jacking out the tailpan to conform. "Beat to fit, paint to match". :001:
Yep, that's how it was done. Sheet metal varied a lot from run to run. There was a complete heat beat and hammer to fit rework book in the factory for convertibles!
My body guy had to do some monkey business to make some of my panels fit.
A 2x4 and a BFH are nessessary body tools!
Ron.
LG...since you worked in the Ford factory back in the 70's, I'm wondering if you have an answer for a discusion we've had a few times. How did they staple various components like fender well seals onto the metal parts?
Hi all, especially those of you who responded to my initial post;
I wish I could thank everyone individually for the responses and info, but I don't have the time right now. I have been busy running down parts for the 57 convert thanks to you guys here on the forum, and now I need to move them to Idaho where the car is. I think I found everything I needed and got a lot of good information and advice as well. I have to take the parts from Washougal WA (close to Portland OR) to Boise ID, where the car is being painted (long story), so I'll be leaving tomorrow before dawn to get these to the car and check the fit.
As many of you have indicated the panels won't be a perfect fit, but the current deck lid is out from the body at least 3" on both sides at the bottom corners and there is a 3/4" gap at the hinge end where it meets the body. I am sure the car was hit in the rear and they just didn't get the deck lid fit properly when it was fixed. I'll let you know more when I get the new parts to the car and see how they line up. It might be the job they did on the body, or both the body and the deck lid.
I will be gone for two or three days. I will post an update when I get back on what I find on the fit issues. Maybe it will be a help to someone in the future.
Thanks again,
Bob M.
Good luck, I'm hoping it isn't actually as you described. If you said the deck lid was 3" short of reaching the tailpan, I'd say you obviously had a Custom deck lid, not a Fairlane. But you said the deck lid was out 3" from the body. Maybe you don't even have a '57 deck lid at all. I can't imagine the body itself being 3 " in from where it's suppose to be. That is waaaaay beyond not getting the decklid fitted properly. Post some pics if you can, this is getting interesting trying to figure out.
Rich,
To answer your question on fender seals. The Mustang/Cougar, Maverick/Comet and Fairmont/ Zephyr that were built during my time at Ford did not have the fender rubber seals you asked about. I'm sure it was done on a heavy duty industrial stapler of some type. But I never saw it. Sorry. I've had to drill holes and use pliers and hammers to install these on my current '57 as I'm sure most of you have.
Hi all,
Back from Boise (left yesterday afternoon trying to beat the storm coming in). The new deck lid fit much better, what we found was the old deck lid was not bowed enough from side to side leaving large gaps on both sides. the new one conforms to the body very well. It also looks like some rebuilding was done at the top end of the deck lid channel on the body and instead of having a 90 deg edge where the deck lid meets the body it is beveled! This makes the gap along the upper edge much wider that it should be. My painter said he could weld in a small piece of angle iron there and bring it back to 90 deg. I think most of the problems came from having the crown from side to side too shallow leaving the ends out from the body. I think this deck lid could be fixed but the double crown L to R and top to bottom makes it difficult and expensive.
We didn't get a chance to put the new hood on the car (my painter has another job he had to go to) but we think the crown from side to side on the hood may also be a little shallow, and from front to back might be a little too much crown, making the hood an eighth inch too short. I am still waiting for info there but the hood was never as big an issue as the deck lid.
I'll keep you posted as things go forward. I should have taken some pictures when I was there but didn't think of it. My painter may have some or I can ask him to take some and post them here.
Thanks,
Bob M.
From what I hear you saying about the crown on your hood and lid, I believe they have been in a sandstorm. at a careless sandblaster that is. when somebody takes the blaster to thin metal like this without taking care it will cause severe warpage. when the skin shrinks it will take out the crown ( metal gets hot from friction and will shrink while cooling off. about 300degreesF are more than enough to warp a panel. you might get that heat by touching the skin with a dull grinding disk for only a few seconds) I have seen many of these cases and have been working dozens and hundreds of hours of panel beating to undo this on several different projects. it might also have caused the lip to warp ! I would not weld anything there but try to push out the lip in the original position with hydraulics.
Quote from: djfordmanjack on 2015-02-26 17:55
From what I hear you saying about the crown on your hood and lid, I believe they have been in a sandstorm. at a careless sandblaster that is. when somebody takes the blaster to thin metal like this without taking care it will cause severe warpage. when the skin shrinks it will take out the crown ( metal gets hot from friction and will shrink while cooling off. about 300degreesF are more than enough to warp a panel. you might get that heat by touching the skin with a dull grinding disk for only a few seconds) I have seen many of these cases and have been working dozens and hundreds of hours of panel beating to undo this on several different projects. it might also have caused the lip to warp ! I would not weld anything there but try to push out the lip in the original position with hydraulics.
Guenter, can I send my car to Austria for you to do... maybe get you a place in New Orleans so you can do it here? You are my metal working hero from what I have seen on the site.... :003:
Lynn, that is too kind of you... well sure, send it over :002: and I have never been to New Orleans before :003:...just joking, but I know that there are many craftsman from all over the world that have gone to the US to work on customers projects. English, Swedish, Japanese, Kiwis, Aussies probably many more. and Gene Winfield has been flying all over the world to paint customers cars :002:
although the factory line had it share of mismatched components and trickery to make em fit, a piont to remember is that 60 years of hood and trunk lid slamming takes it toll on the fit of these parts, how many times do you see a trunk bouncing up and down on some oversize item bought at the store it takes it toll on these parts.