Morning coffee

[JimNolan]

If I was building my car back to factory specs it would be staples for me as well. HRD

You're exactly right. When it came to the body and interior of my car I just had to have it done with original parts and appearance. My fender mirrors had to match what came on them in Sept. of 1956. But, when it came to the drive train, motor, radiator, brakes, transmission, rear end, sway bars etc, I didn't want anything to do with 1957. Go figure.

[petew]

I guess we are all wired differently. I like to make a few mods like radial tires , gas shocks and sway bars but otherwise I like to leave them pretty close to the way they were originally built. Sure the have vague steering and perhaps the acceleration isn't what it could be with a bigger engine but heck it's 1957 !
Guess the beauty of this hobby is to make the car fit your vision. At the end of the day they are all cool.

[Jeff Norwell]

Agree completely

[Ecode70D]

Usually I like to keep them pretty much the way that they came from the factory too except for a few minor changes that I made in a weak moment about two weeks ago.   It's nothing to worry about though because  I can fix it back up again with Bondo.  That will take care of everything.

[electricalan]

To each their own!

[Ecode70D]

To each their own!

electricalan
    I'm very happy to see that you feel that way.   Except for photo shopping it on paper, there's no way that I would really do that to my car after working on it for many years.   This is what it actually looks like now and I look forward to driving it this summer.    Jay

[Limey57]

I've gone to both extremes with cars in the past, 100% stock to radically modified. My problem is I drive 27,000 miles a year in a new car I change every 3 years and it spoils you. With my Ranchero I firmly believe Ford got the design right. No mods or changes could improve the looks and lines (apart from lowering, all cars look good lower IMO!) but I want it to drive with the comfort and reliability of a newer car.

[hotroddonnie]

Usually I like to keep them pretty much the way that they came from the factory too except for a few minor changes that I made in a weak moment about two weeks ago.   It's nothing to worry about though because  I can fix it back up again with Bondo.  That will take care of everything.

Paint it gold and call it done.

[electricalan]

Ecode thats a little more up my alley.Glad to hear you will be driving it this summer,looks good.I have not yet decided yet if I will drive my survivor around to some local stuff or tear it to pieces,but I think the latter.I gotta get going on it sometime.Thanks for your picks.

[RICH MUISE]

Arrived in Phoenix area this afternoon. Nice drive in.... temps in the 50's all the way to Flagstaf, then after driving down the 18 mile long downgrade south of Flagstaff, temp was at 77. loving it! Goodguys show tomorrow, maybe Saturday also if the show is big enough.
Lorne,57imposter....hope to be meeting up sometime this week.

[57 imposter]

We got here about 2:30 couldn't believe the weather all the way down. rain in Oregon but blue skies and bare dry roads everywhere else. The mountains in Utah don't even have enough snow to cover the caps. Wonder if anybody is going to have any water this summer. I was thinking about digging the 61 out to bring down, kinda wish I had now. Rich...Will be calling you in the am to see if we can put something together.

[RICH MUISE]

Have had an awesome 2 days in the Phoenix area. I went to the goodguys show yesterday...spent 6 hours there and really skipped thru the car show area only stopping to look at cars that caught my eye. For a change there were 6 or 8 57 and 58 Fords there. Two in particular really stood out. I'll post pics next week when I get home. One was a restomod red ranchero with a 460. I really hope this guy joins our forum as he spent his working life as a Ford parts man. The second outstanding 57 was a convertible that looked like it just rolled off the assembly line.
A 53 Merc hardtop with a 4.6 dohc that I had seen on my last trip here was at the goodguys show. Really got a good daytime look at it this time..outstanding build and very neat engine compartment. When I saw it on mmy last trip, my camera batteries were dead, so I didn't get any pics, but got some this time.
Today I did a baseball game and then went to the Pavillion/Mcdonalds cruise. I parked in the cruise area and walked 5 minutes to the ballpark..they were that close together. I met up with 57imposter/Doug and his wife at the cruise and got to spend an enjoyable  hour or so talking '57's and sharing progress pics on our builds. He's doing a great job changing his '58 Custom to a '57

[electricalan]

sounds cool ,look forward to seeing your pics.

[canadian_ranchero]

the 57 i just picked up is a 70,000 mile original county sedan,repaint about 5 years ago, red and white,223 engine 3speed std.runs and drives nice.pictures coming.now what to do.do you leave it alone or to modify.after reading Rich post on his 4.6 swap,i did keep all the 4.6 stuff when i sold my ranchero.what do you guys think??

[RICH MUISE]

Well, that post sure put a smile on my face this morning....LOL...you know it's YOUR fault I ended up doing that swap.
What do I think?...honestly, I think everyone needs 2 '57's..one with a 3 spd six as mine was originally, and one with a sportier version of whatever determined by what one's use of the car is going to be....racing, cruising, etc. For me the 4.6 dohc is going to be perfect, but at the same time I'm gonna miss the simplicity of the stick six.