1924 Ford Model T Maintenance and Repairs

1924 Ford Model T

Updating the "wedding car"

    This 1924 Model T has a lot of sentimental value for the owner and his family. It was restored a few decades ago in a home garage completing paint and mechanical work to get it ready for the owners wedding. The body was re-painted and interior updated around 1990 and for a 30 year old paint job on an almost 100 year old car it's still in good shape. The only major defect is on the cowl, which needs some TLC after years of the hood scratching it to shut the fuel off for storage.

1931 Ford Model T on arrival to Driven Restorations LLC for a variety of mechanical and body work

There was a long list of things to take care of mechanically. A full tune up with plugs and wires and a carburetor rebuild was first on the list. Oil change, coolant flush and fuel system clean out were also high on the list of priorities. The fan bearing was very wobbly, steering was loose and had a shimmy when turning, brakes were in good shape but wheel bearings needed replacement and rear axle needed new seals as it was a leaky mess everywhere it went.  If you're ever in South Central Wisconsin you just might see it in a parade.

Fresh from a storage shed, the Ford has a significant amount of dirt built up. Underneath it all is an older lacquer paint job completed 15-20 years ago. The cowl and mirrors will be repainted and the rest of the body will be touched up 

Continue reading for more details and completion photos...

1940 Ford Sedan Running Boards: Replace and Recover

Missing or Rotted Out Running Boards? 

No Problem!

Some jobs are more about function than appearance. This was a case of bringing a well used and much loved family car back to life. Our customer wanted their dad's 1940 Ford Tudor Standard Sedan back on the road for the family to enjoy together. When it arrived in multiple pieces, we knew there was a lot of ground to cover before the car would be road worthy, including replacing the original running boards and covers.

 

1940 Ford Standard Tudor Sedan

New metal running boards and covers received and test fitted. ALWAYS Test fit covers to the boards and boards to the car to verify fit.

With the new boards and covers both received we can go ahead with verifying correct fit before we get to much further. ALWAYS test fit!!!! ALWAYS! 

Mom's T-Bird Goes Rogue! 1959 Thunderbird SEMA Build

"MOM'S T-Bird" GOES ROGUE!

Flash back to 1961: "Pop's" is nervously deciding whether to purchase the highest priced car he's ever looked at, a 1959 Thunderbird, for his wife. It's not a new car, with a list price of about $3600 that is out of the question! But a 3 year old car is still a big investment.

It had low miles, was in good running condition and would be reliable for her and the kids to get around town, but still! That sticker price! 

It never would have occurred to him that some day the car will be worth MORE than what he paid. And why would he think that? After all, it's just a car! It get's you from point A to point B and the more you use them the more they cost you until they are worth less than the parts to fix them! Right? 

Luckily, Pop's found the gumption to make the purchase in 1961 becoming the 2nd owner of the Colonial White Ford powered by a 352 FE engine and C-6 transmission. He drove it home to give to his wife and thus, the '59 Thunderbird became "mom's car.

The family pictured in front of the '59 Thunderbird 

The kids are ready for Easter! circa 1965

Last tagged in Missouri in 1992, the car has been mostly summer driven and stored for the majority of it's life, which has saved most of the body of the car and made it into something of a time capsule. When removing the seats and carpet, some treasures from the past were found like Battleship  board game pieces in the back seat, a bouncy ball and a wrapper from M&M Lime Chewies (Curious? Here's more info at "in the 70's" ...fyi these later became Starburst!). 

How did the car end up here at Driven?...

The Fully Restored 1951 Ford Custom Convertible Revealed!!!!!

THANK YOU TO OUR CUSTOMERS!!!!!

The frame-off restoration of the 1951 Ford Custom Convertible was an honor to complete for the family that has loved this car since it was bought from the dealer in 1951. Complete with eagle emblem, original black WI license plate, dealer purchase receipts and service stickers, this Ford is in a class all her own. 

More details about this car will follow in a future blog post.

See more project photos in our photo gallery!

1951 Ford Custom Convertible: BEFORE

1951 Ford Custom Convertible: AFTER complete frame off restoration

Click below to see the video of the complete restoration process

http://blog.drivenrestorations.com/2015/09/the-completed-1951-ford-custom.html
Questions? Please email us at drivenrestorations@gmail.com

1965 Ford Galaxie 500 XL Fastback: SOLD!!!!

3/1/15 Update: SOLD

This car took a long time to finish. We'll admit to that. But we had a great reason for it. Our customers. Due to a very high volume of customer work in our shop, we pushed this shop owned builder to the "back of line" to make sure our customer work stayed on schedule. We kept in mind, that if the right buyer came along she could be ready to roll within a few weeks and could even be finished to buyer specifications upon request. Her future owner called us in March of 2015, saw the car online (we never listed it, just had it on our website) and wanted to know more about it. Well, one thing led to another and she found her new home with a Ford collector in the Virginia area. 

1965 Ford Galaxie 500 XL Fastback

The project started with 2, pretty rough cars owned by a collector in the Eastern WI area. He had left the Galaxies out in the weather to fend for themselves.

However, this story has a pretty happy ending....




 

Leave the Waving to the Driver

Have you ever seen a car wave at you?

 You may have no idea what that means. I'm referring to the shimmer of light as it reflects of the side of a car that isn't quite straight causing you to notice it "waving" as it rolls by. Many car's that are un-restored are understandably nowhere near straight, and appear extremely wavy. However, there are some classics that have been worked on,and even had frame off restorations that are quite "friendly" and will wave at you as they drive past.

Achieving a show winning level of straight and true body lines does not happen overnight. Nor does it happen by haphazardly applying materials and thinking, "yeah, that'll be good enough!" It requires patience, a baffling number of layers of various materials, knowledge tools and techniques and knowing when to replace, fill, sand, prime, and paint. Plus it needs that touch. What you may not see without the shimmer of clear coat can be detected by sliding a skilled hand over the car, feeling the panels for minor imperfections. I watch Steve do this and marvel at how he will know where every last curve should happen and he can find the smallest of indentations.

It takes a number of steps to prep a vehicle, straighten and finally re-paint it in your chosen color. It's not just for looks, ensuring straight and true panels done the RIGHT way creates the longest lasting restoration and return on investment for you as an owner.

 As an example the 1951 Ford Custom Convertible is seen in multiple photos below. It's not finished yet, but it's on track to being a #1 restoration. This is no small task.

The 1951 Ford Custom Convertible as it arrived at our shop.(above)

Glass Replacement: 50's Ford Pickup

So you've got a broken vent window and you need to save the vent window frame... Now what?  

1954 F100 Broken Vent Window w/Broken Glass

There are no vent window frames available, and the ones on the truck aren't "terrible", so really you could get by with the existing equipment if you could just replace the glass. But how do you get the glass out of the frame?

You could call the glass company. 

They would be more than willing to help you out, and charge you for it.

You could check the forums for repair ideas...but that's probably why you're Googling it right?

Well we found suggestions for the glued-in glass on this  '54 Ford F-100 such as:

"break the window and then dig it out"

"Call the glass company"

Are those your only choices?   No.

We found a much easier solution than breaking  the glass and leaving a mess behind OR paying the glass company.

Parts and Pieces: The 1965 Galaxie and "other" Ford's

The good news about having this Galaxie: This vehicle type is growing in popularity
The bad news about having this car: We still have this car...and it's still not done! But, that's the story of a shop owned project.

1965 Ford Galaxie Fastback

We have gotten a lot of questions about where we source parts for this car (and several other Fords) and we will share some of our thoughts on our sources below in this blog post.  We are well on our way to having her up for sale. We just need the "free time"