With the exception of the chrome and plating work over at Supreme, I did the rest
myself. The re-assembly process took place in a 100 year old single car garage
(thanks, Chuck). The wooden floor was still intact thanks to the oil and leakage of
other 'preservatives' over the years.
When I started taking T-bird apart I realized it had a few stories to tell from before I knew the car. I like to think I new it pretty well. Now we are about as intimate as you can get. I wish I had taken more video, but I did take pictures of every step in the restoration. Some for posterity, some just so I could remember how to get the damn thing back together.
The restoration took about 20 months from the time I drove the car to Bill Thornton's 'Premuim Auto ' and proceeded to remove the engine for the guys at Campbell and begin to dismantle the car. That was another key thing in deciding to do this. One day Bill just suggested that I could put it in the corner of his second bay and go at. I can't thank him enough. I also really appreciate the hard work Jamie Henderson did on the body and paint, as well as Don and the guys at Central for the seat and carpets.
The point of this whole process was for the experience of doing it myself, not to pay someone else to do it. As always, the fun is not
in the destination,
but the journey itself. Now that it's done I don't know what to do with it. It's the same car, but now I am just a little
more
(okay, a whole lot more) paranoid about a scratch or dent; someone sliding across the seat with a ballpoint pen in their back
pocket... you get the
idea. Long story short - it's for sale - everything has a price. It appraised after restoration in 2007 for $56,000
cdn. It has
5000
highway miles on it since then.
This restoration was complete from the 'frame up'. The presentation here of my documentation is a work in progress.
If there is anything
you are particularly interested in seeing, let me know and I will make that a priority. I have before and
after pictures of almost every part
and
every
step along the way. I learned to do things I will probably never do again and would be happy to share what I learned with
you.
