Missing in action,new car and apologies....

[Jeff Norwell]

Hey guys...I finally am posting again.....
Bought a new ride... a 57 300 out of Iowa.... Was not looking, but it was too good of a deal to pass.Work has been so so so very heavy since May..as well as family issues(elderly parents) and life in general


The new 57---
Found it online and it caught my curiosity... checked it out and spoke with the grand Master James to get his opinion.... Took a leap of faith and i was very surprised.
57 300,ain't perfect, but a very good driver....460 BB..engine is from a 69 or 70 Lincoln,C-6,The rear nine has a posi in it...i think it's a 3:55 or a 3:91.
The gentleman selling is in ill health and was unloading his stuff.The car is a driver with(had) minor mech. issues.The body is not perfect.but in general good shape(needs rockers and some patches in the lower quarter areas.)
The underside was kinda scary at first.... but when I took a closer look,someone sprayed a heavy white gravel guard which is peeling.under is fresh good old Ford factory primer.No cancer anywhere and the frame is in very good shape.What really attracted me was this is a true heater delete car... ran the codes and it's another Texas born car from the Dallas plant.Someone at one time has put hideous gauges in it and I plan to put an original gauge cluster back in.
Quite a bit of new stuff on the car,new shocks front and aft,new rad,new upper and lower ball joints,,fresh brakes,etc,etc.
The car came with a parts car(no engine or trans..... but a pretty complete rust free car.
And on top of that..more parts that I could have imagined.Glass,fenders,bumpers,etc,etc.
I still have my other 57 and will continue on it.... scored(finally) a fresh 428 ..for the Texas 57.


And APOLOGIZE for the lost leader on them door panels...as I stated,..work and family have taken a massive amount of my time.I am partners with 2 other guys in a local car show up here and it also consumes me.
I did a small amount of research on the door panel issue(Mailing and delivery to the US from Canada..... costs are enormous.... like 250-300 bucks for each large cardboard flat box).... so I am still figuring that out.It may not even be feasible.


The new 57 was really dirty....I mean REALLY dirty... I call it the Iowa Dirty Bird.


Thanks guys.

[Jeff Norwell]

Cleaning the Bird.........

[Jeff Norwell]

Yes.. them Ugly yellow wires have been removed.......

[Jeff Norwell]

Parts.....

[Jeff Norwell]

Fresh 428

[57AGIN]

Jeff:

Looks like you have scored a great project car & engine.  I hope you are able to bring it up to the standards your cars always have without too much hassle.  My 57 is getting close to the re-assembly stage at Santini's and I'm sure I will be spending quite a bit of my time over there during that process.   I do envy the 57 enthusiasts on this site that are able to do their own work on their cars, it is a skill set that I'm woefully unskilled at.

Like you I, too have a goodly amount on my plate.  Rick and I are both heavily involved with the Ford Car Club Council here in Southern California we put on the Annual Fabulous Fords Forever Car Show at Knott's Berry Farm every April. He's the Treasurer and I'm the Secretary (Minutes of our roughly 10 -12 meetings per year in preparation for the show run from 3 to 6 pages each).  I'm also in charge of the Annual Wings, Wheels, Rotors & Expo show held on the Joint Forces Training Base (JFTB) in Los Alamitos, CA.  This year we are fortunate to have the Air Force Thunderbirds based at the JFTB where they will take off and land during our show to do an Air Show over the ocean at Huntington Beach, CA about 10 miles from where we are.  Too bad we won't see the air show, but we will get to have all the ground ceremonies and meet & greet with the pilots and their ground personnel.  Both of these shows are really neat events, but are very time consuming.

Bob
57 AGIN

[Frankenstein57]

Nice score Jeff!

[hiball3985]

That will be a nice project car, good score for sure with all the extra parts. I can't see the exhaust ports or casting numbers on the 428 heads, would be nice if they were CJ's. But any 428 is a torque monster that will pull anything

[59meteor]

Pretty sure they are not CJ heads, no Thermactor holes in the exhaust ports,plus by the looks of the pistons and harmonic balancer, it is a pre 68 engine, so likely a T bird or Galaxie engine. Regardless, great score!
And Jeff, I just received my latest addition of Canadian Hot Rods Magazine, with a nice 8 page colour spread of your 32 Ford Coupe, sweet car.

[hiball3985]

Pretty sure they are not CJ heads, no Thermactor holes in the exhaust ports,plus by the looks of the pistons and harmonic balancer, it is a pre 68 engine, so likely a T bird or Galaxie engine. Regardless, great score!
And Jeff, I just received my latest addition of Canadian Hot Rods Magazine, with a nice 8 page colour spread of your 32 Ford Coupe, sweet car.

I seem to recall there were two different CJ castings, with and without the smog ports, but I could be wrong.. I have the smog port ones on my 390..

[59meteor]

Over the 40 years that I have been drag racing FEs, mostly 428CJs, I have yet to see a CJ head without the Thermactor holes drilled and threaded into the exhaust ports. I have seen some very early CJ/GTE castings that had the 14 bolt exhaust pattern (like a "GT" head, but with the higher exh, port outlet), but I have yet to see any CJ heads lacking the smog holes. I have seen many non CJ heads with Thermactor holes, like a 68 Torino 390 wagon I parted out, as well as some PU trucks, so that is not unusual, even if not really common. Not saying it is not possible that Ford did sell a CJ head without smog holes, but I`ve never seen any, and I have owned and seen many CJ heads over the years.

[Ecode70D]

Jeff
    That's a nice looking car.  I hope that you have a place inside where you can keep it.  With the new car, and all of those new parts, I think that you are going to be a very busy boy. 
     You did good.   Jay 

[RICH MUISE]

Looks good, Jeff, but as usual, I'm confused. First, you said you scored a 428 for the Texas car...aren't both yours Texas cars?...so not sure which one you were referring to.
Secondly, I saw your first one when it was in storage at Bob's, and the great shape that one is in, at a cursary look, makes me wonder why this second one is an advantage?

[JPotter57]

I am happy to have played a small role in this buy.  A friend of mine has joked that when he is faced with buying a new project, I am like the little devil sitting on one shoulder telling him to do it, lol. Great score Jeff...

[jumping jack flash]

Did this Texas car reside in Victoria? Got a guy there who has a few 57 cars and a clean ranchero. He bought my first ranchero and flipped it, and now he won't even sell a piece of trim. He is approaching 80 years of age, and has 5  nice rods in his crowded garage.