1957 Ford Del Rio Rock'n'Roll Ranchwagon

[djfordmanjack]

Bob, thanx for your comments. it was a real pleasure to see and take part in So Cal life, even if for a very short time only. the scenery is just beautiful and we met so many nice people. Everday life around LA seems to be quite stressing (probably is in any large town on earth), but while on vacation you sure won't get bored, especially not a car nut like me 
I hated to get up that early but the Doughnut Derilicts is such a nice show ( is it a show ?) and worth starting early. Real people with real cars, Sunday morning, hot coffee, gas talk. cool cars everywhere.
funniest thing on earth, while on the LB swap meet, I got back to the wagon, and a guy asks me about my 57. turns out Blair, he's the one who owned and buildt the car firsthand ( in og inca gold/col white) around 1993, 20 yrs ago and he even still had a pic in his new car, he gave it to me. What a small world.
It's a long flight and costs a lot of money to get there, but I hope to be back in future. My dream is, after restoration of my wagon to one day ship it back to the east coast and from there drive the 57 cross country to Cal on back roads. I will have to save some for a trip like that.

[djfordmanjack]

While I'm at it, here is a pic of my Del Rio I wanted to post before. It's the one that I got from Blair, the former owner. Maybe someone here remembers the car from 20 yrs ago. It originally came from the Ontario/Chino Cal area. still have the 63 blackplates and they will never be parted from the car.


Here are some pics of my old Courier, sold it to a friend  he later on painted it the oxblood candy.
I loved that car. also a SoCal car.My friend sold it to Germany and I couldn't trace it anymore, would've bought it back.

[hiball3985]

Thank you for posting all the pictures from your trip. I hope you can come back to So Cal sometime in the future. I love that Courier, always wanted one.

Bob: The Big Boys is the old Harvey's. Spent many Friday & Sat nights there in the 60's but haven't been there since.

[RICH MUISE]

Great photos and a great collection of cars. Thanks for posting. Now we'd like to see pics of that car at some Austrian hangouts! We've got a saying here in the US...you must have hired an Indian Guide to find all those SoCal spots.

[djfordmanjack]

haha ! no, my guidance came from a German ! one of my best friends came along, he has been visiting the US twice a year for decades now, he knew some good places. but some of the places we simply ran into. that is the beauty with roadtrips.
I will see what I can come up with European spots in future, but you will have to wait until the Rio is a driver again. (still roadworthy, but will not pass our tech inspection and therefore no registration)
to Bob and Jim, you should try Bob's Broiler again ! there is a small car show each Wed. evening starting 5pm. lots of vintage and traditional stuff and nice milk shakes too.

[57AGIN]

djfordmanjack:

The yellow/white Del Rio is a spitting image of the car my parents bought in 1957 when I was about 12 or 13 years old.  During rainy days I often threw my paper route from the tail gate.  I was really upset when they traded it ion on a 1959 Rambler Ambassador.

Bob
57 AGIN

[djfordmanjack]

Bob, we will probably never know , but it could be your parent's car ?! I'd say it wasn't the best thing to trade a gorgeous Del Rio for a rather odd looking 59 Rambler, but in the end those independent car makers like Rambler or Studebaker, they made teriffic practical wagons and they look so strange, they are yet really interesting. Wouldn't want a Rambler with that dip in the roof but for sure love the 63-65 Studebaker Wagonaires with their sliding roof.

[djfordmanjack]

I have started work on the Del Rio, doing little things like repair moldings and stuff.











I will post a question concerning these panels in the general topic.

[RICH MUISE]

Beautiful craftsmanship!

[Limey57]

Agreed, excellent work, I've always fancied having a go on an English Wheel, I even bought some plans to build one a while ago.

[djfordmanjack]

Gary, I actually bought mine from England and it wasn't so expensive. around 400 pds. If you want I can dig up my old bills and look for the business name and adress.

Agreed, excellent work, I've always fancied having a go on an English Wheel, I even bought some plans to build one a while ago.

[djfordmanjack]

finished the new door panels from marine birch plywood.

[djfordmanjack]

while dismantling the old panels I found something interesting. The rear cargo area panels looked more like some homebuildt stuff from furniture board to me at the beginning, but while pulling the naugahyde I observed the hand writen dating, with July 3rd perfectly matching my Aug.1957 buildt wagon. I could see that the panel was diecut with crisp outlines and a few originally cut mounting holes.

[djfordmanjack]

Disassembled the lower tailgate today 

[djfordmanjack]

Here's how I drilled out the spot welds. When done carefully it just touches the second metal layer and you can easily seperate the sheets with a small chisel.