The Fairlane Comes Undone
I drove the car from my home to Sam’s shop, and immediately the disassembly of my original, 39,000 mile, matching-numbers 1957 Ford Fairlane 500 began.
To “do” the car right, we needed to know what we were dealing with. Unfortunately the more we disassembled, the more problems we found. I’d say one-tenth of the car’s weight turned out to be accumulated Bondo. We also found sheet metal patches, sheet metal screws in every conceivable spot, and - on one particularly bad day - no “car” at all where even the most novice car-guy would expect to find “car” (this was behind the rocker moldings which, when removed, revealed no discernable rocker panels).
Overspray was everywhere. The guy who was to rebuild the E-code “Y” block wanted as much money as it would cost for a new crate engine. As far as I was concerned, we had come to a crossroads as far as how to “do” the car. Faced with so many issues, one of Sam’s guys piped up, “Well, now we know what we have to do; we build a resto-rod.”
I agreed. I decided to keep the body 100% stock, excepting a frenched radio antenna and the elimination of exterior door handles. I would replace everything else on the car, from the engine to the transmission, with the best & coolest “new” we could find. It was at that point that I started having fun.
P.S. Reader, please feel free to drop a line with any constructive comments/suggestions. Thanks.
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