Hey there, long time lurker, first time poster. Figured it was time to share my Country Sedan "Shorty". This project started in 2006 with my dad buying a 1957 Country Sedan on populare auction site that had been sitting in a field in Oklahoma for the last 30 years. He and his brother towed it back home to Portland and got to work. We like to say somewhere between Salt Lake and Denver they lost a couple doors. 11 years, hundreds of man hours and many thousands of dollars later he ran out of money, time, youth and patience. I bought his baby to keep it in the family. After towing it home to Seattle, we enlisted the help of a local hotrod shop to finish it. Mostly wiring, interior and misc finishing at that point. We finally "finished" last year in time to take it to Hot August Nights. Finished is in quotes because you're never really done, right?
If memory serves, it originally had a 272 with a Ford-o-matic, no air and manual steering. Somewhere along the way the data plate was lost, and they don't exactly remember what they tore out as it wasn't running anyways.
Now it has:
- Full running gear from a nice little old lady's 77 Granada
- Refreshed the 302, bored .030 over, stock cam and valve train
- Edelbrock 1406
- Holley StreetDominator intake
- 68 dizzy w/Pertronix
- Rebuilt the C4
- front disc spindles
- rear end, if memory serves the diff tag said 2.47, it's pretty tall
- Power steering from an Isuzu Trooper
- Split bench from a 60's Ranchero
- Vintage Air (no A/C)
I've got hundreds of pictures during the restoration process, so I picked a few of the better ones to share. Hope y'all like her as much as we do :) Looking forward to getting her out to some more shows this summer. Thanks for taking a look!
Part 2
What do you think OG AR Torque Thrusts or Wide Whites? I'm torn...
Welcome, beautifully done! Definitely like "shortened" look with the Wide Whites.
Welcome to the forum. Wow, I never, NEVER, thought I'd hear myself saying I liked a shorty. That is an impressive build, I like it a lot. Your dad's perserverance started right off with that long haul all the way from Oklahoma. I also am torn between the full discs/wide whites and the TT's. How does it handle/drive?
Back in the mid-80's there was a shortened 57 wagon in the Northwest. I only saw it once at the Ford only drags in Bremerton. I'm pretty sure it had a 427 and a 4 spd. it was pretty fast running high 10's-low 11's with huge wheelies of coarse. It was painted a bright yellow from what I remember, I might even have a couple photos of it.
Yours turned out really nice BTW.
Always wide whites!
that is about the coolest personalized plate I ever saw ! ABBRV8D :003:
seattle86, Is this the same car that was in a garage in Vancouver Wash., years ago I bought a couple of 57 doors from a guy in Seattle and he dropped them off at a house in Vancouver I went to pick them up and there was a blue and white 57 shorty under construction in the garage. I was pretty impressed then, I would love to see it in person now that its done.Where is the car located now.
Thanks for the warm welcome!
Quote from: RICH MUISE on 2019-03-27 07:06How does it handle/drive?
It cruises really nice actually. Very comfortable. Need to get it aligned with more modern specs though, it doesn't like to re-center after turning. Needs more caster. I will say, with such a short wheel base, it has a fantastic turning radius :)
Quote from: rmk57 on 2019-03-27 10:43Yours turned out really nice BTW.
Thanks!
Quote from: 57chero on 2019-03-27 22:29
seattle86, Is this the same car that was in a garage in Vancouver Wash., years ago I bought a couple of 57 doors from a guy in Seattle and he dropped them off at a house in Vancouver I went to pick them up and there was a blue and white 57 shorty under construction in the garage. I was pretty impressed then, I would love to see it in person now that its done.Where is the car located now.
That's the same one! Dad lives in Vancouver and it was in his garage for years. If it wasn't there it was at one of a couple different rod/body shops in Vancouver or Ridgefield.
Now it's in my garage in Snohomish. We'll be showing it at a few local car shows this summer
- the Dream Builders Car Show at the Evergreen Fair Grounds in Monroe, July 14th
- Hot August Nights, August 6-11
- 32nd Annual All Ford Show & Mustang Roundup, Kent WA, August 17th
And a few others if time permits.
Stop by and say hi!
Welcome and cool wagon! The shorty 57 wagon RMK was refering to belongs to John Haskell from Puyallup. Here is a shot of Haskells wagon at Bremerton, chasing down me in my old 70 R code Mach 1. I believe this was in 1983.
Good looking car, I am going to try to get to the Monroe show in July.
Terry
:canada: