1955 Thunderbird Rebuild

[Arrowhead]

Over the last year and a half, I've been working on a '55 Thunderbird for my friend. It was virtual bumper car with lots of rot and damage. I have alternated back and forth between his car and my hot rod. For the last four moths it's been his turn so I've worked away at the body work. Last year I did all the structural work like floors, rockers, door jambs, patch panels, etc.

Now I'm no metal fabricator and he knows that. His goal was not a concourse restoration, but a driver that was solid and had all the rot replaced. I did the best I could welding in the patch panels, but the body needed quite a bit of filler work to get it smoothed out.

Well tonight was a kind of a milestone, I was able to paint the body in primer so it's getting close to be ready for paint. Once it's painted, he is taking it back to do the final assembly and then I can get back to working on my hot rod. It's been kind of a double edged sword, it has taken away from getting my hot rod finished, but at the same time it has helped provide the funds for the hot rod.

There are a lot more pictures and some write up at my website, but here are some before and after so far:

http://sites.google.com/site/55thunderbirdsite/