just curious about something, i recently got a line on a 57 retractable thats been sitting in a guys yard FOR YEARS ive heard its almost buried to the center of the 1/4 panels
the guy that owns it has a foriegn car resto shop and supposedly bought the 57 early in his business's life to showcase his talents
so he partially stripped the 57 and collected a few parts and then pushed it into the grass and left it (i believe the guy told me in the early 80's)
i havent went to investagate yet as we've been under few piles of snow around here , so i dont know anything about the car except what ive typed
if you were me would you bother with it? if so could you ballpark a price on it?
the most interesting part of the story is supposedly the guy still has all the parts he collected for it and the stuff he took off of it in a shed behind the car i'll prolly end up going just to see if i can get the parts he has
thanks for any insite or opions
Sedan,
As far as would this be worth you're time depends on how much time you've got. More than likely this retract you're looking at is unsalvagable. The biggest problem to a retract is the trunk area where the pistons bolt in. Anything can be fixed but how much expertise do you have in forming metal, welding and fabricating parts you can't find or can't afford.
You can look at the under construction pictures of my 57 and get an idea of what you'll incounter with a car from Montana. Anything east of the Rockies I wouldn't even attemp to rebuild. My advice would be to look for a retract out of Az or NM. You'll pay probably $15-20 K for it if it needs restoration but I'd rather pay 15K and have the metal good. The interior, paint, bumpers, stainless, glass, running gear etc. will cost the same no matter where the car comes from. But, the metal and having it installed is where the big money comes in. You can get a good paint job for 6K and be proud of it. But you'll pay 25K to have metal replaced like I did.
Some cars aren't worth having someone give them to you if restoration is what you have in mind. I know, I restored one of those cars and I thought I got a deal by paying $5200 for the car plus shipping from Montana. Jim
thanks jim, but actually i wasnt thinking of restoring it i was thinking of parting it out or maybe re-selling it to someone who wanted to restore it ,
i guess i should of been a little more clear in my first post
sedan, sometimes half the fun of our hobbies is going out looking and searching for stuff. and now and again you find a diamond in the rough.
but unless you go see you'll never know.but thats just my two cents worth.
Sedan,
Thanks for bringing this up I just found a 57 Skyliner originally from Texas that had sat in a guys garage for 20 yrs waiting to restore, it came with Select air, power seats ( seats missing) glass all good except passengers and drivers, roof works after a little nudging..312, turns over, new rear brakes? Body in great shape just surface rust. I'm going to do a frame-off. I gave $4K for it and actually felt pretty good about it.
Quote from: Dlandau on 2010-03-16 11:05
Sedan,
Thanks for bringing this up I just found a 57 Skyliner originally from Texas that had sat in a guys garage for 20 yrs waiting to restore, it came with Select air, power seats ( seats missing) glass all good except passengers and drivers, roof works after a little nudging..312, turns over, new rear brakes? Body in great shape just surface rust. I'm going to do a frame-off. I gave $4K for it and actually felt pretty good about it.
Great find! Congrats!
That is a great price for a Retractable with a working roof!!!!!!!
Thanks, I really felt lucky... initially it was stuck, Its working now, I'm going to do a frame off on it as soon as my 13 yr old quits doing demo's to all of his friends.... the lid actuators seem to be a little iffy, its acting pretty slow on the initial lift and the final close. I'm running it on battery with a fresh charge so I think you had metioned they are cranky with out the generator on line.
As soon as I figure out how to post pic's I'll have to show everyone my progress or lack thereof....
Doug
ok guys i went and looked at the poor old thing its there its complete (except for the driverside glass) and it is the most rusted pile of a 57 ford i have ever seen it almost made me sad but anywho the body shop where its at doesnt really want it sooo, more then likely its mine for little of nothing (less then 400.00)the only thing is i have to cut it up where it sits when i go cut it up i will take pics of it and post them
the guy at the shop told me it came there about 25 years ago with ablown up engine and has sat out side in the mud ever since the trunkliod is rusted soo bad the passenger side hinge has actually came up through it
the good news is they have new 1/4 panel patches and all the trim and another trunklid (for lack of another word) and some other parts and they said i get it all
im guessing its got a y-block in it even though it blown and prolly cracked by now would the heads intake and front of the engine stuff be worth getting? and the trans?
it also still has the title and i get that aswell
the guy said he will call me on the next couple days soy..to let me know how much he wants for it
im gonna take anything that us even remotly usable
I can use some of the parts if you get to cut it up. I will be out of town until Thursday noon but would like to talk to you about what I need. I can help with the cutting if you would like and we can work out the $$$$ for what I need....just don't need to let that thing get crushed before it's vital orgins are harvested!
Take the whole car if you can, you will not be live some of the parts people are looking for. I had a rusted Fairlane hardtop that I had bought as a parts car for my 63A and 63B restoration projects. I took what I needed and over a 2 year time span sold almost a $1000 worth of parts off the car.
well i made the deal today its mine it will be a couple weeks before i can get it
well here is a link to some pics of the poor old girl
http://s10.photobucket.com/albums/a148/69runner383/57%20retractable%20hardtop%20ford%20%20parts%20car/
enjoy