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.
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.
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. :-)
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.
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.
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
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
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.
Welcome aboard Cecil, cool story and beautiful car!
I had one of those Kerflufuls once, but it was a Tudor!
:canada:
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
Quote from: Contibob on 2019-03-30 23:01
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.
Quote from: junior58 on 2019-03-30 23:13
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'.
Quote from: John Palmer on 2019-03-31 00:29
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*
Quote from: djfordmanjack on 2019-03-31 05:59
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. :-)
Quote from: hiball3985 on 2019-03-31 07:52
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*
Quote from: CobraJoe on 2019-03-31 17:17
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.
Quote from: FiveSevenLiter on 2019-03-31 19:01
I had one of those Kerflufuls once, but it was a Tudor!
:canada:
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.
Quote from: hemidave on 2019-03-31 22:40
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.
That's the color combo on my Skyliner. It looks DYNOMITE on any 57 Ford!
Ron.
Great wagon Cecil........and W E L C O M E !
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. :003:
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*
Isn't that the truth :005:. When ever I hit the road for a trip :burnout: I leave at 4am to miss the insanity.
You are indeed a wise man, Jim. :003:
Cecil
Welcome to the most friendly and helpful site on the internet. Whatever questions that you may come up with for your new 57, you will find that there is someone here who will have the answer and be willing to share it. l Have loved 57 Fords since they were new in the dealerships back in the old days.
FWIW There is no known cure for this sickness. Jay
Quote from: Ecode70D on 2019-04-02 20:57
l Have loved 57 Fords since they were new in the dealerships back in the old days.
FWIW There is no known cure for this sickness.
Thanks Jay. I know well of what you speak. One of my earliest memories is when I was five and we went to a Ford dealership and saw the new cars. That was where I saw my first port hole T-Bird. We left in a brand new '57 Fairlane, red and white. Just like you, I've loved them ever since and I can't help but feel that I found the perfect '57 for me. I love this car.
My gosh, I just visited "The Boneyard" photo forum......heartbreaking, man. All I can say is that I know of one '57 Country Sedan that I'm going to work my ass of to keep alive and on the road.
you have a good candidate there. seeing the tailgate has little to no lower rust, and assuming that what we see form your pics, the rain gutters and adjacing roof areas are solid, you are one step ahead already. As much as we all love 57Fords here, we do know they have some shortcomings by design, mostly rust problems like the front floorboards caused by leaking vent drains. This is one of the first things you will have to inspect. they are to the left and right under the dash and they are intended to direct water out to inbetween A pillars and inner fenders. they always crack and leak water INSIDE the car on front floors.
another problem area is the wagon roofs. theay have bad or non existing internal drainage holes for condensed water running down inside the roof skin. if your headliner is out or worn, be sure to inspect those areas for rust, debris and old insulation material clogging the drainage holes front and back or add further drainage.
You will get aquainted to many of these problem areas during the build. there are also many build threads here dealing with rust problems.
For now, let's hope that rust is very limited on your wagon. it sure does look quite nice in the pics.
Interesting that your wife is from Wels. I have many friends in Upper Austria around Linz and 2 of them are also working in Wels. Wels still has the only active vintage scrapyard left in Austria. cars go back to the 1930s ( it is a real old junkyard), mostly German and French makes. There are also a few old American built cars there.
Quote from: djfordmanjack on 2019-04-03 05:52
... As much as we all love 57Fords here, we do know they have some shortcomings by design, mostly rust problems like the front floorboards caused by leaking vent drains. This is one of the first things you will have to inspect. they are to the left and right under the dash and they are intended to direct water out to in between A pillars and inner fenders. they always crack and leak water INSIDE the car on front floors. ...
Cecil, here on page 2 of this 4 page thread is what I did about those cowl drains. Compared to what some others had done this seemed much easier to do. Didn't have to have the front fenders off to do it either! ; )
http://57fordsforever.com/smf/index.php?topic=3895.msg65607#msg65607
Thanks Tom. There is some rust on the floor, driver's side. But a bigger worry has come up. My neighbor now seems reluctant to sign over the title, even after I gave him a check for his asking price. And the engine he said would go with it has disappeared.
Worried..... :confused2: