My first post, please be gentle....

[Cecil]

I live in a little community called "Valley Center", north of San Diego.  We all have our 3/4 to 2 acres...we are for sure in the country.  My next door neighbor has over two acres and he also has a passion for buying old cars.  Now, he doesn't always get them working, but he collects them.

He was reported to the county a while back for having a junk yard in an non-business zoned area, so he has been scrambling to find home for his babies.  I talked to him and said he could store a car on my property temporarily  until this whole kerfluffel blew over.  He brought over a '57 Country Sedan.

I said to him..."Jim, you might not want to leave that car here...'cause I'll probably fall in love with it."  He left it anyway.

Dammit, Jim.

After four days, after many hours spent with the car, I went to talk to him...and he has reluctantly agreed to sell it to me.  With a spare 292, 'cause he says the one in it has pieces of piston floating around in the oil pan.

This is my new '57 Ford.

I and '57 Fords go a long way back.  When I was just 5 the family went to a Ford dealership and bought a brand new '57 Fairlane 500.   So what I feel about this machine goes deep.

I intend to put it back on the road as stock as I can get it.  I'm funny that way. 

Anyway, please be friendly, I'm a newbie here with a passion that has four wheels.

[RICH MUISE]

Welcome to the forum Cecil. First thing you'll notice, if you haven't already, is everyone is friendly here. Doesn't matter if you're doing a restoration back to factory specs, custom, restomod, or into racing. If it's a '57 Ford, we'll all into it. That's going to be a gorgeous car when done......it's already pretty just the way it sits now. I love that color combination on a wagon. Thanks for the intro and the pics.

[Cecil]

Thanks, Rich.  I just wanted to say hello in a careful manner, I tend to be a little too verbose sometimes, especially when it comes to something like this car and what it means to me.  I'm just happy that I've found a like bunch of folks who feel as I do about the '57 Ford and I look forward to sharing where this restoration is going as time goes by.  For now, I'm gonna visit the different topics, learn what I can, and hopefully share the joy of this journey with people who understand.  :-)

[Contibob]

Great Car, That color, Coral Sand, was pretty rare on these cars. I am guessing it has the brown interior. I live in San Diego and have a few 57s. Lived off West Lilac many, many, years ago. Welcome to the site.

[junior58]

Very cool wagon, love the story. Welcome to the group, the best bunch of people I?ve never met and being from way down in New Zealand, probably not likely to meet  many. But they are the most friendly, helpful bunch you could ever wish to know.

[John Palmer]

Hello from up the road in Orange County (North Tustin). 

I have a 57 Ranch Wagon that we use to tow our vintage camper trailers.

Watch out, your going to have your friendly neighbors calling code enforcement on you next.  They have nothing better to do than bitch to the government, then the neighbors come by and tell you how much they enjoy your vehicles.  Go figure?  You would think a guy living on a couple of acres would have some piece and privacy.

Welcome,
John

[djfordmanjack]

Welcome Cecil !
Good story and a beautiful project car!  looks great in its og patina and I don't see too much raingutter or rocker panel rust from here. 57 Ford wagons are the most!
Greetings from another Country Sedan owner from Europe
Guenter

[hiball3985]

Welcome. You may see me driving by on the 15 at times, I travel to Poway to visit the daughter and grand kids and pass your area. Enjoy the restoration work to what every degree you decide to go.

[CobraJoe]

Welcome aboard Cecil, cool story and beautiful car!

[FiveSevenLiter]

I had one of those Kerflufuls once, but it was a Tudor!

[hemidave]

  Welcome Cecil,
        That's a great looking wagon. Of all the sites I go on, this is the most friendly and helpful group I have ever seen. Other sites have bad mouthing, stupid remarks, and unneeded drama. Here, everyone has been great!
                                                                                                                       Dave

[Cecil]

Great Car, That color, Coral Sand, was pretty rare on these cars. I am guessing it has the brown interior. I live in San Diego and have a few 57s. Lived off West Lilac many, many, years ago. Welcome to the site.

Somewhere, under about 12,792 National Geographic magazines, three inches of dust and a radiator from a Volvo it did appear to have a brown interior.  The good thing is that the seats are free from rips and tears so I'm hoping most of the interior work will just be a good cleaning. 

I'd love to hear more about your '57s.

Very cool wagon, love the story. Welcome to the group, the best bunch of people I?ve never met and being from way down in New Zealand, probably not likely to meet  many. But they are the most friendly, helpful bunch you could ever wish to know.

How awesome that you're in New Zealand, one of the most beautiful countries in the world.  You must have some fantastic roads picked out for cruisin'. 

Hello from up the road in Orange County (North Tustin). 

Cool.  I went up there quite often in the early '70s when OCIR still existed.  *sadface*

Good story and a beautiful project car!  looks great in its og patina and I don't see too much raingutter or rocker panel rust from here. 57 Ford wagons are the most!
Greetings from another Country Sedan owner from Europe
Guenter

Thanks Guenter!  I see that you're from Graz, my wife was born in Wels so there's a connection there.  :-)

Welcome. You may see me driving by on the 15 at times, I travel to Poway to visit the daughter and grand kids and pass your area. Enjoy the restoration work to what every degree you decide to go.

Oh, yes.  Poway.  It's certainly a different place from when I lived there in the mid '70s.  Heck, back then there was one stop light and one main drag.  I don't get out to 15 all that much anymore, heck, everytime I do I feel like I'm driving at Talladega.  *scary*

Welcome aboard Cecil, cool story and beautiful car!

Thanks for the welcome.  With a little advice and a lot of elbow grease I think we can make it even more beautiful, just as beautiful as she deserves to be. 

I had one of those Kerflufuls once, but it was a Tudor!

I had a Kerfluful too, but it got stolen.  It took me weeks to find someone willing to take it.  It wasn't a very good car.

That's a great looking wagon. Of all the sites I go on, this is the most friendly and helpful group I have ever seen. Other sites have bad mouthing, stupid remarks, and unneeded drama. Here, everyone has been great!
                                                                                                                   

Thanks Dave!  I have scars from some of those other sites, as you say I'm seeing none of that here.  Life's too short to be anything but friendly.

[SkylinerRon]

That's the color combo on my Skyliner.  It looks DYNOMITE on any 57 Ford!

Ron.

[Jeff Norwell]

Great wagon Cecil........and W E L C O M E !

[Cecil]

Thanks, everyone.  Now comes the fun part, getting the car cleaned out, learning more about it by reading the posts here and by examining the car and how it's put together.  Next I need to get my garage in order, making room for the wagon and taking inventory on what it will take to rebuild her.  This is gonna be fun.