Keepin’ It Original – 1951 Ford Resto

Timeless 1951 Ford Victoria

Ford or Chevy? The oldest rivalry in American car history and one most can easily tell you which side of the line they stand on. For Ameth Gonzales it was on the bow tie’s sidelines until he laid eyes on the 1951 Ford Victoria Hardtop.

Ameth picked up the Vicky in Arcadia, CA back in 2002 and despite it being just over 50 years old at the time, it only had two previous owners. Better yet, the body was straight with no signs of any major accidents or rust which made it a perfect platform for a full restoration.

Several features of the 51 drew Ameth to the 1951 Ford Victoria. For starters, 1951 was the first year Ford produced a hardtop and the three-piece window in the rear adds a graceful accent to the simple yet flowing bodylines. Then, the single chrome spear running the length of the body has always been a revered styling cue of the early 50’s Ford Shoebox.

Once Ameth got the Vicky back to Fresno the restoration was quickly underway. However, with three coats of paint standing between him and bare metal, stripping it down was going to be an exercise in patience and perseverance.

With the exception of the original curved window frames in the rear, all the chrome and stainless was pulled and shipped to LA Chrome for a fresh dip and polish. Once all the trim had been remove he tackled stripping off the layers of old paint before a batch of the factory green with a bit of metal flake was whipped up for the body and a light beige for the roof. With the shiny new light green beginning to dry, the Vicky was starting to resemble her former glory.

Keeping true to his plan of originality, Ameth reused and resurfaced all the original interior pieces he could. His friends at Cal Customs, which unfortunately has now gone by the way side in the recent economic downturn, resurrected the original two-tone white and turquoise interior pattern.

Despite over 6 years since the restoration, there are no cracks or wrinkles anywhere in the interior. A testament to Ameth’s care for his Vicky. Truly a time capsule of 50′s styling.

Although Ameth has invested a painstaking amount of time keeping the car in original factory condition, he did opt for better reliability and twice the horsepower by swapping out the 239 flathead in favor of a 302 from and early 90’s model Mustang mated to a C4 transmission. The modern drivetrain handles the central California heat much better than the nostalgic flathead.

Lancer caps with paint-matched centers and Firestone bias ply wide whites add a tasteful period correct touch and maintain the original theme. It’s all too often we see a great restoration ruined by billet wheels and low profile tires.

Up next for the Vicky, a vintage air system so Ameth doesn’t have to peel himself off the seats during blistering Fresno summers, which of course, means even more time in the driver’s seat.

Surprisingly, this is the first full feature for Ameth’s Vicky. Hard to believe when you consider the time spent, the meticulous level of details involved, and the pristine finished  product of this restoration. Completed in 2004 with just over 2.5 years in the making, Ameth protects the gorgeous Vicky by storing it in the garage under a cover except on the weekends.

Photos by Trent Sherrill

Model Jenna Sherrill

Preservation Not Restoration – 1955 Bel Air

18,000 Mile 1955 Chevy Bel Air Classic

To say Chevy’s relaunch of the Bel Air in 1955 kick started an automotive revolution would be a understatement. As the first entry into what would become known throughout the world as the “shoebox Chevy”, the 55 Bel Air became one of the most iconic Chevrolets in history, right up there with the Corvette and the Camaro. Highlights for the model year include the first year for a 12V electrical system and the timeless “eyebrows” over the front headlights. Designers extended the front fenders just over the headlights giving the remodeled Bel Airs what appears to be a raised eyebrow when viewed from the front.

Features in films such as “Two-Lane Blacktop” and “American Graffiti” increased the mystique surrounding the 55 Bel Air ten-fold. And when Harrison Ford’s character Bob Falfa staged his 55 Chevy against “The fastest  thing in the valley”, Milner’s coupe, you could easily argue the car helped launch his career.

The 55 Bel Air’s popularity stretches across the gamut of auto enthusiasts. Its sleek accents and generous use of chrome captured the attention of customizers just as the lightweight and easy acceptance of late model big blocks drew drag racers to the 55. Attend any car show, cruise night, or drag strip and it’s a safe bet a ’55 will be in attendance. So what makes Al Lindgren’s so unique? What makes it different from other meticulous, frame-off restored ’55′s? How about the fact that it’s not! Not restored, nope, this one’s an all original, unrestored specimen, with only 18,800 original miles. If It Ain’t Broke…Don’t Fix It

Usually a conservative man, how Al acquired the ’55 was a bit of a gamble. With the exception of a few mediocre pics, Al bought the car sight unseen in 2007. A broker clued him into a pristine, very low mile, Bel Air in West Virginia but the story sounded too good to be true. But the thought of missing out on a true gem outweighed the risk, so he rolled the dice and a few days later the coupe arrived on the back of a trailer. Pay dirt – the rumors were true and the Bel Air was in better condition than Al could have hope for.

Unfortunately shortly after Al acquired the Bel Air, he would fall somewhat victim to the economic downturn that has swept our country the past few years. Business at his machine shop slowed and he knew he would have to part with one of his vehicles. This is where the story will become the subject of debate amongst classics enthusiasts…the other vehicles in his stable were a ’41 Willy’s coupe and a ’34 Willy’s coupe. How do you decide? It’s like picking your favorite amongst your children.

So the decision boiled down to which was the least rare, and before feeling too sorry for Al keep in mind – when your least rare car is an original ’55 Bel Air, well life cant be too bad. Luckily his friend and neighbor, Ron, expressed interest in the ’55 so while still reluctant to let it go at least it wasn’t going too far.

While in it’s new owners possession, a chance occurrence of exposure to the rain led to an interesting find that would reveal some clues to the elusive history of the ’55. Draining the water from the trunk the Ron found some paperwork with a name and information to track down what he hoped might be a previous owner.  He notified Al and the search would lead them to a woman’s name and a phone number in Ohio. When he called and inquired about the car, the lady on the other end replied “No, that’s not my car… that was my grandma’s car.”

Engine and Interior shots (and more Doris) on the next page:

Facebook and a Rare BMW 1802 Touring named “Lemon”

You’re on Facebook right yall?  No?  Get with the program!  That’s how MyRideisMe.com and Pascal Hein got together, through the MyRideisMe Facebook Fanpage.  Go check it out and join our Fanpage, right after you read this cool story of course.

Pascal is from Germany and he has shared his classic bimmer he calls “Lemon”.  A 1973 1802 Touring model.  Sit back, grab some Kugen (yummy pastries my German grandma Hecht makes for desserts) and enjoy storytime from the motherland.  Take it away Pascal!

“My Bimmer was built in 1973. The so called “Touring” was BMWs first try to build a hatchback and also the last try until 1993, when they introduced the compact edition of the 3 Series.

Actually people didn’t like this concept in the early 70s so just around 30,000 Touring models were produced and just around 970 of them were 1802 Tourings like mine, while there were houndreds of thousands of normal BMW 02 sedans.
So in 1984 my father managed to buy this car after he wanted to have one for many years. It had two owners before he bought it and had some damage on the rear left side. My father repaired the damage and then used it between 1989 and 1991 as his car for driving to work everyday.

Well he bought his 5 Series then and the yellow Bimmer was parked in the garage at my grandmothers house. As a kid I always saw it and was fascinated by it the whole time. But I never thought we could make it look good and get it running again.

In 2007 I passed my drivers licence test. At that time I thought about buying my first car. The problem was I didn’t know what to buy. Someday I said just for fun to my father, that we could rebuild the yellow BMW and then I could use it as my own car. Even though I wasn’t serious, he took it serious and said yes. Acutally it was his gift for my 18th birthday!

So in April 2008 we tried to get her running again to drive her up the trailer and to get her home. After some tries she actually started. But after sitting in the garage for nearly 18 years she really looked horrible. There was dirt all over and she looked like she nearly rusted apart.

In the Summer of 2008 we started working on the car. The plans were to get her done and to make her pass the safety inspection as soon as possible. First of all we got the engine and transmission out.

Both things were totally dirty so we cleaned them up as good as possible. The area around the engine really looked awful and rusty.

But after we scratched the old paint off it wasn’t as bad as we thought before. After some work it was repainted.

The next and most important thing for the safety inspection was the braking system. We bought all the parts we needed and the whole old original braking system was replaced with new parts. It got new brake discs and pads in the front, new drum brakes in the rear and all those brake lines were replaced too.

But the thing that took the most time was to clean up all the parts of the engine, transmission and the interior. There were also some parts of the body that needed to be welded (the footwell on both sides). And of course we installed a new exhaust and reworked the rims+got new tires (tires mustn’t be older than 10 years or you won’t pass the security inspection). We did all this work in just 3 weeks, because I wanted to go to Switzerland.  Well we passed the security test without any big problems, even though the car still needed some work.

The only thing that didn’t work out the way we wanted to was the vehicle license. Here in germany there’s a special license for vintage cars, which are older than 30 years. It costs less then a normal license (lower tax price) and has some other positive effects to. For example you aren’t allowed to drive into big cities with a car that has no catalytic converter. But with such a vintage car licence you are allowed. The big problem was, that the car must not look bad and has to be in a certain condition. We didn’t have any problems with the technical condition but with the visual. There were some parts of the car we didn’t repaint, so there was just primer on it.

Well, we didn’t get this license so we registered the car with a normal license. After test driving it for about 50 kilometeres, which isn’t really much, I jumped in and drove to Switzerland where I was driving many winding roads for a full week. I didn’t have any technical problems at all.

Later we repainted those primered parts and got the vintage car license.
In spring 2009 we took out the whole rear axle and differential to work. We replaced all the bushings and cleaned and repainted it. We also removed some rusty spots on the doors and repainted them too plus we changed the oil in the differential.

From summer 2008 until summer 2009 I also used it to get to school everyday, sometimes even in the wintertime. But after each day in the winter I washed her, because here in Germany they use too much salt on the roads, even if there’s no snow.

Since September 2009 I have used my other BMW (a 1994 5 Series station wagon), so now my 1802 Touring is my sunny day cruiser.
The first technical problem we got was on a tour with our BMW Club through Austria in June of 2009. One day the so called “Hardy”-Disk (a disk made of rubber which sits between the transmission and the cardan shaft) broke. Well we couldn’t continue our tour with this car so it was brought home to Germany on a truck. It wasn’t a big deal and we fixed it as soon as possible.

We also have some plans for the future: The next step is to replace the old and worn out wheel bearings and drive shafts. We also want to remove the rust in the rear fenders and well…someday it’ll get a new paintjob, but it will be repainted in the same color.

The color is the reason why we gave her her name: “Zitrone”  (German for “Lemon” ). But it all takes time. We still got some other Bimmers who want to be repaired too.

Some technical details:
1,8L 4 cylinder with ~90 hp
4speed manual gearbox
Top speed: 165km/h (~102mph)
Weight: about 1000kg

Words and Photos by Pascal Hein

If you have a cool car, hit us up on our Facebook Fanpage!  We love cars and others will dig your ride too!

Hechtspeed

Bone Stock Marries Plain Jane: Falcon Wagon

All right then, I’m a wagon freak. You could even say I’m a Ford Falcon wagon freak. I’ve written before about the problems I have (Extra W Chromosome) and the 63 Falcon wagon project I’m re-doing. I’ve learned to live with those issues and I’m doing my best in the hot rod society. But then I saw this totally clean 1965 Falcon wagon owned by Norm Huie of San Clemente, CA at the Cruisin for a Cure Show.

More precisely, it’s a ’65 Ford Falcon 2 door wagon in the original Prairie Bronze paint. It’d get boring if I kept saying original since Norm’s taken great pains to restore his wagon back to 99% stock himself.

Norm’s always been into Falcons but chose this odd-ball 65 because it was the last year of this model.  I say odd because it’s a 2 door, no-doubt more desirable than the mor-door cousin I own. Then, it’s got the factory V8 another plus, but from there, this car is plain-jane! It’s a non-Deluxe, non-anything car but it does have power steering and power brakes and a rare cargo light inside near the tailgate. Odd right?

Otherwise, the interior on Norm’s wagon is totally correct, but a taste boring compared to the Futura or Deluxe models, but hey, it’s correct! Notice it doesn’t even have a horn ring!

You’ll be hard pressed to find another Falcon with better bright work and trim. That’s because Norm owns an automotive trim restoration shop called “Shine on Me” at shineonmetrim.com. Every part from the dash insert to the bumpers and grille are perfectly straight and so bright they looked better than new to me, but Norm assured me, that’s how they should look. It’s too bad there’s not more trim to shine up!

Nice meeting you Norm!

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