welding the floors of that phat Phord's big bottom

here's the rewelded rearend painted in rustproofing red

putting in the gas tank - twice

after the first tank went BOOM - don't ever try and put heat near a tank!

try again - second tank from a German Ford Taunus P6

next in store: some serious sill surgery

more piles of vintage Oklahoma dirt

rotted out sills were replaced by 2x4 steel tube to get back some rigidity

endless welding of rockers and door sills - and, yes, I simply welded the running boards solid

the trunk lid handle was shaved, so a new opening mechanism had to be devised

click pic for a short Ford infomercial

Corona lockdown left me with time enough to even restore tiny dome light switch

mounted angel eyes running lights behind the turn signal grille bit

homemade long distance adapter was needed for booster to clear frame

here's how it's mounted underneath the floor

service hole now sits under the seat - shucks, guess I'll have a tilt bench seat

motor all dressed up but nowhere to go

...

and when it gets too cold outside, it's time for some indoor winter projects

like doing the interior - Tijuana style tuck'n'roll from burgundy leatherette

flap was attached on the seatcovers to pull them snug around the cushions

tricky armrests need baby bowl for grips

this way pulling the doors shut will be a snap

and yes, more LED stuff - ambient light armrests

...

another winter project is wiring the dash

taking apart the original instrument cluster

by installing modern 12V gauges

do some comfy planning and superglue it all together

the left gauge is Ford Taunus too to match the tank fuel sender (and get correct readings)

fitting some vintage instruments and some repop plastic parts

trying to get about 5 kg of rainbow colored wiring hooked up properly

...

more from last year

 

frenching the headlights old school style

one - remove the headlight buckets and grind away the lip (arrow), two - mount the buckets from behind, three - cut down the headlight rings (mine are Ford 12 m) to fit snugly to the lights, four - weld on the rings and fill as necessary

 

frenching taillights - although the original Ford tail lights really do look cool, I had only one

so to increase my night time visibility, I shopped for some high tech light-guide/LED lights

 

using the gaskets, I marked where to cut the holes

 

creating deep tunnels using a makeshift shaping tool and the wooden bucks I made (see above)

 

following a Youtube tutorial I built these ham cans to get the lights decently set straight

 

each side was measured, fit, marked, and cut to shape - with everything welded up it was time...

 

to sling on that green slime again

 

I like the way the shape of the oval rear window is reflected in the tail lights

 

lots more cool details as we go