57 Ford Ranchero

After working on restoring my 1957 Ford Ranchero for several years, I have reached a point where it requires a professional body man to finish the job. The rust issues and body work are beyond my capabilities and I lack the time and funds to try to fix it myself, only to potentially have to redo it later. It is complete and I have everything needed to finish it. The Ranchero runs and drives great, just needs to finished.

Additionally, I have other projects I want to focus on and my workshop is becoming cluttered with the Ranchero, two Model A trucks, and a Toyota RAV4. In order to make room to work, I need to move two of them out.

Therefore, I am considering selling the Ranchero and using the funds to install radiant heating in my workshop, allowing me to work on projects during the winter months. My wife also has a list of items she wants me to make for her to display her quilts and other crafts.

Furthermore, my welder has failed and I need to look into getting a replacement. Despite this setback, I have collected various items such as old steel wheels, milk cans, and tiller wheels that I hope to turn into unique yard art when I have the time.

Ranchero Update

Work continues on the Ranchero.   I was out to check it out just before leaving for India.  It has been primed and is being blocked.   Then it will be primed and blocked again, then just about ready for paint.   The dash will need to be scuffed and several inside trim pieces.   I am guessing it will be a while before we are done.

Ranchero Update

Today I drove out to Falcon to visit with my paint and body guy.   He has made progress and looks like we will be in primer in a couple of weeks.  He is finishing up replacing the rocker panels and will remount the front fenders and align the hood.   I am guessing it will be another couple months before we are in paint.   Being that his full time job is a driver for UPS, he keeps pretty busy.

What Color?

Originally I was planning on painting the Ranchero blue and white as I wasn't going to paint the dash, but have now decided to do so.  So I can really paint the car any color I want. I have so many options to choose from.  Below are some pictures of paint combinations that I like.

Whats your favorite?

And away we go

OK, so I got the call and we are loading up the Ranchero on Monday and taking it into the body and paint shop.  My guess is that it will take 4 to 6 months to get the car back.  Hopefully the next pictures I post will be of the car with paint done.  I am going to have the dash repainted so will need to have all the door trims, etc. redone as well.

Hood is done

So the hood is done for now.  It still needs a little alignment but I'll let the body guy worry about that.  He's going to have to pull it off again anyway to paint.

Work

I ran by the shop on my way home this evening from work.   I am just about ready to primer the hood and wanted to get a few pictures before I did.

Play Time

Wow, it has been two weeks since I stopped to put anything down in the blog.  Just busy, lots of projects
and not enough time.  I have to make a business trip next week so I spent most of the day working on the Ranchero.  Last weekend I hung the front bumper and found that I was missing the outer mounting brackets. I found a set on ebay and bought them.  They arrived on Thursday and I worked that night and got everything bolted up.

Last week I had a guy come over and help me pull the windshield and rear window.   Actually he did all the work.
 
Today I pulled the bumper, splash guard and grill.    I collected all the window trim and the grill pieces and sent them off to the polisher.   I am scared that something may happen to my trim parts.  I shouldn't be, but I will never be able to replace them, if something gets lost or bent up.  After I got everything pulled from the front end, I sand blasted the bumper brackets and painted them all black.   Also spent a good portion of time today adding rubber gaskets in holes where wires run through.   Don't want them rubbing and shorting out.

Back Again

I have been crazy busy as of late and just haven’t made any time to get entries into the blog.   I was traveling two weeks back and with work it has just been insane.  This is a good thing, don’t get me wrong.

With everything going on I am now back to finishing up the basement remodel.   All I had left was the bathroom and didn't want to do anything until I got the shower done.   About 2 months ago we had gone to the home and garden show and found several companies that do bath remodels. 

They can reface/replace the walls with panels.    We got estimates and went with Bathfitters.  They tore out the walls and hung new concrete board and then placed the panels up with glue, sealed and hung the new door.  They were done in a day and it looks great!  I will never go with real tile again, just too much work to keep up with.

With the shower being done, we went out on Sunday and found a new vanity, sink and faucets.   It took me about 4 hours to tear out the old and replace it with the new.   Candy picked up some paint today, so maybe by the weekend I will have the bathroom done.

When I get a chance I have been over at the shop working on the Ranchero.    I think I have solved my concerns with the hood.   The previous owner cut a hole in the hood so that he could use an aluminum hood air scoop.  It looks cool, but not the look for me.   I had been looking for a replacement hood and found a couple but they wanted several hundred dollars and it would be the same or more to ship it.

So I did find in Denver a 1958 Ford hood off a Ranch Wagon.   I picked up today and this evening I hung it on to check that it would fit and to see if I would like the look.   I do like it so need to pull it off and sand and primer it.  The 1958 hood has a different look than the 57.  The 58 actually has a hood scoop look to it.

1957 Ford Ranchero

I picked up a new project today.  Actually I have been working on this for about 4 months.  Closed the deal today and I am now the proud owner of a 1957 Ford Ranchero.   Have my work cut out for me for the next several months.   Will keep you posted on my progress.

1957 Ford Ranchero

1957 Ford Ranchero

1957 Ford Ranchero

1957 Ford Ranchero

1957 Ford Ranchero

1957 Ford Ranchero

1957 Ford Racherno