'55 T Bird 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 five months 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.

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/

 

[keith]

WOW! You've done one heck of a job saving that little birdie.

 

[strum456]

That looks really nice, congrats!

Do you generally hang large pannels like that? I bet you get less nibs that way too. I am always afraid of runs. Should I start hanging my parts too?

 

[Arrowhead]

I'm no expert, but it works for me. I find it's easier to spray them and check your work, plus I can spray both sides at the same time. I do get some runs, but if you are carefull and consistant with your spraying technique, it will be minimal. I do think it keeps the trash down. The issue would be if it was a metalic the paint will lay different from panel to panel and won't look right when put on the car.

'70 Mustang did:

 

[strum456]

I'm trying to make it out in your picture, is that an exhaust fan installed in your garage door?

 

[Arrowhead]

Yes, that's the fan. My garage is in the basement so by running the fan, it makes the garage negativly pressurized so ti draws in air from the rest of the house. It keeps the fumes from spreading up to the living areas.

 

[Bob Hollinshead]

You did your filler over epoxy-that's the best! That job will last a long long time if you coated the backsides of the repairs. Your friend is lucky, nice work!

 

[Arrowhead]

Thanks Bob,

Been fighting a fish eye problem for weeks now but I fially got it licked, thought I had it cured a couple times, but it kept commng back. After a couple calss to Barry, I ended up buying a Sharpe air filter / seperator, adding a length of copper tubing between the compressor and the filter, using a desicant in line filter, taking the car out of the garage and cleaning top to bottom, putting plastic on the floor, ceiling and walls. All stuff I should have done in the first place. Don't know what the real cause was, but I don't care, it's gone!

Got color on yesterday and three coats of clear today. Came out ok, but there's always room for improvement.

 

[Chad.S]

You sure saved that one!!

 

[Bob Hollinshead]

QUOTE]

I like that picture!!! The clutter of supplies, parts, tools, dust.... It shows you were hard at it and gettin her done! The shops with tile floors and squeaky clean-are they real?

 

[Chad.S]

even a oven in the corner for late night snacks and powdercoating.. lol.

 

['68 Coronet R/T]

Great work on saving that car.

 

[jeremyb]

QUOTE]

I like that picture!!! The clutter of supplies, parts, tools, dust.... It shows you were hard at it and gettin her done! The shops with tile floors and squeaky clean-are they real?

so true! a restorer friend of mine, you could eat of the floor of his bodyshop room. his showroom/build room is all crown molding and nice baseboard molding, all of which looks the same as it did when it was installed years ago....never see him dirty though....HMMMMMMMM. I like to try to keep clean but at the end of the day you have to say....its a bodyshop.

nice job on the bird! love seeing these cars go from nothing to something.

 

[Arrowhead]

Thanks guys, I'm pretty happy with how it's comming out. I just breached 700 hours and I still have to finish the cut and buff and hang the panels. The owner is going to finish the interior and trim.

Working in a two car garage is curse and a blessing. There's no room to put anything, but I can't afford to have tons of clutter either.

 

[jeremyb]

it doesn't matter how big your shop is, it will never be "enough" lol. could have a 100x100 and it would be filled up in a month. just more space to put junk.

 

[Arrowhead]

TBird is done, turned out pretty good and my friend is very happy. Big thanks to Barry and you guys on this forum for helping get me over some humps. I learned a lot on this project and it was a good experiance.

 

[strum456]

Hats off to you! I would never consider doing a restoration like that as a way to fund my own projects. I wish I was that good at this. The car looks amazing!

Are you going to get on the 33 pretty steady now?

 

[wisch79]

Looks great!

 

[danp76]

Lots of hard work, looks great!

 

[Barry]

Man oh man, you made a sweet thing out of a basket case!

Just looks fantastic!