Morning coffee

[CobraJoe]

 

[hiball3985]

This weeks road trip we headed for the mountains. Five hours of winding roads and just one stop for lunch. Restaurant was take out only of course so we had a tailgate lunch.

[RICH MUISE]

Nice road trip, Jim. Nice to see the wife obviously likes them! Wish mine did.
I did take another road trip last week in the Subi. I was working on some issues on the '57, or it would have been taken instead......but now it's ready! That roadtrip was 1002 miles, a big loop around New Mexico. Did tourist areas that are normally busy. Some looked like ghost towns!....Ruidoso, Santa Fe, Taos.
I found out I missed a car show in Lubbock this past weekend. Sure wished I knew about it before it was over. Also, a bunch of guys got together and did a parade at the VA hospital, didn't hear about that one 'til it was over either. They had a bunch of the patients outside to watch. Good on them!!
I guess I need to join a local car club so I'll hear about these things.
We did have about 25 or 30 guys show up for the first Saturday of the month cruise. In normal times, a great Saturday weather in early spring would have had 100 or so.

[hiball3985]

Thanks Rich. She always goes with me, she loves road trips in the 57. I wish we could do longer trips as we planned for this year but I'm only good for 300-400 miles a day and I need to rest We aren't comfortable staying anywhere over night at this point.
Our local guys do 3-4 shows at convalescent hospitals each year but they have all been canceled.
Or morning coffee meets don't happen either.

[glenmichael]

Just want to sat Thanks for posting the video, Thinking Bout a Woman, made my morning does not get any better than a 3 piece band !!

[FiveSevenLiter]

I remember in the past couple weeks a posting with some 1950's Ford showroom banners with the Four Letter Dealer program.  A couple hours after looking at the post I dug into a bag my sister left for me back in March and found these from the dealership my Father owned.  I will go buy a lottery ticket.
I do not remember him having these displayed and he has been gone for almost 30 years.

[mustang6984]

Those are GOLDEN! Wonder why he never displayed them? Glad you have them now...excellent mementos! 

[RICH MUISE]

Is everyone else's life as boring as mine has been the past few months? Tired of this non-socializing, but I am getting a few things done.
I finally got my compressor lines finished up, and got the garage pretty much straightened out.....at least a lot better.
Last weekend I did take the '57 (finally) to Colorado, but just for a day. I did the highway of legends (hwy 12) out of Trinidad thru a few mountain passes. I've been to Colorado from Texas a zillion times, but this time I came home a different route, at least for a few hundred miles.
I think I am going to do a car show this weekend. Yes, a real car show! It's at the racetrack in Iowa Park, just a few miles north of Wichita Falls, Tx. It's on the first page in Hemming's events listing. Maybe nothing much, but I'm betting there's a whole ton of guys in North Texas anxious for something to do, so it may be real good. Yes, I'll be social distancing....got to!! I did call tonight and confirm it is still on.
My trip to Colorado was 670 miles, this one will only be about 450. We've got to do a "drive by" Graduation congrats with one of our cars decorated early tomorrow night, hope to get out of town by 7, should be in Iowa Park by 11ish. If I remember correctly, there's a rest area not too far from there. I'll sleep in the car.

[CobraJoe]

Well, morning has come and gone, but got a bit more work done on the Fairlane. Headlight doors/bezels are fitting really good now. Had to Port-A-Power the nose out a bit, and then reshape the drivers side fender up to fit the headlight door, but looks like it will work.
Also made up some dummy panels to fill in the old turn signal holes, sandblasted and painted the headlight buckets and buffed out the grille.



Getting closer as I moved it to my buddies body shop so he can finish and paint....

[mustang6984]

Comin' along nicely. Soon you will have a BIG problem on sunny days...coupe or Fairlane for the drive? What a grand problem to have eh?

[CobraJoe]

I know that you are speaking from experience....

mustang6984:  2 '57 Ford Couriers
                       4 Mustangs:
                       '68 coupe
                       '69 fastback
                       '84 SVO
                       '88 Saleen Convertible
                       '50 Dodge P/U
                       '82 RX-7

[mustang6984]

Yea...but sadly I don't have all of them finished...yet.
And add a 65 Chrysler New Yorker in that list too! The Saleen and the Chrysler are my drivers...one of the '57's is in the rebuild stage as is the '69, '68 and the SVO needs paint.
Seems like when I have time, I don't have disposable cash, when I have the cash...time is a mysterious luxury. This process of trying to get moved to Missouri has been eating up both over the last 4 years. Soon to come to fruition though...may have a house finally here in Missouri. with any luck at all will be finished with what has been a 11 year effort with the last 4 years being the most intense of the time frame. Finally.

[RICH MUISE]

Nice garage, Joe! Those headlight components all look like new......were you able to find nos buckets as well? We know about the headlight surrounds. I had to salvage buckets with major rust issues.

[CobraJoe]

Thanks Rich. The buckets and bezels I bought were used, but they were in really good shape. Once I sandblasted them and repainted them, they looked like new. I was fortunate, I paid good money for them, but they even came with the original wiring harnesses.
Now that I have everything I need for this project, I will have two large (front) fender  repair panels and one headlight bezel for sale. I think I'm going to keep the extra passenger side eyebrow I bought, just in case something happens. I'll probably sell the shaved down hood emblem also, if someone wants it.
I'll take some pic and post them up in the "For Sale" section later.
Really anxious to get this project done so I can drive it again.

[RICH MUISE]

Had an eventful weekend, could have had a few major issues, but all worked out well. My plans were to drive down Friday night 220 miles to Wichita Falls for a Saturday car show, and just sleep in the car near the area. Friday was going to be hectic as we were doing a graduation parade at 6:30 and had to decorate the wife's car including finding stuff to decorate it with. In the morning I took my '57 to a car wash to do the engine and outside, and top off the gas. I cleaned the inside Thursday. Friday afternoon, I was packing my travelling stuff, went into the garage and there was a puddle of gas under the '57's gas tank! I had in the past a problem with a rubber fuel line coming out of the in tank fuel pump, so I figured that was it again. Went to start the car to back it out of the garage, and nothing. No power to anything. WTH? There was no way I figured the two were tied together, so I figured I must have got something wet under the hood, although I've frequently power washed it in the past. The three of us pushed the car out of the garage and I put a pan under the leak.
Emptied the trunk, removed the access plate, and after a lot of poking around, and crawling under the car, I determined it was not a fuel line. I'm getting long winded here.....after some poking around, I realized the fuel sending unit was a little loose, and that's where the gas was bleeding out. I opened the gas cap and got a big whosh, so I figured my vent lined was clogged, and it was. I disconnected it from the fuel pump flange and blew it out with my air hose (glad I got my compressor rehooked up last week!). Probably a mud dauber got in the vent line again.I retightened the sending unit locking flange, and no more gas leak. At one point, I was sure it was some welding I had done to install the fuel pump mounting box, so I was greatly relieved my welding was still good and the tank didn't have to come out of the car for repair. Problem #1 solved. After checking a bunch of fuses, and fusable links, I finally figured out my cable off the battery to the starter was loose, so that took care of that issue. Car show/ road trip back on!! More eventful stuff to follow.........