'59 Sport Fury resto

[big m]

This journey has been going on some time, as I generally work 60 hour weeks or better, and only have time at nights and sometimes weekends for personal projects.
I was storing a number of cars for a good friend, we called 'Dammit Jim' here, and he owed me roughly $800 or doing so. His business was 'bird-dogging' early Ford power steering units from old wrecking yards, and then re-machining them for sale.

He had stumbled upon a closed salvage yard in upstate New York, where he bought seven '49-'51 Ford woody wagons, as well as a '49 and '51 Mercury convertible. He called me after removing his purchases, and told me about a '59 Fury back in the woods there, and he sent me some photos. Looked like most of the convertible top specific parts were intact, so I gave him the go ahead to buy the car and load it on a trailer for me. The yard owner told him the car had been there since roughly '65, and doubted it would be easy to remove, but Dammit Jim's knowledge of loading cars allowed it to be done without the car breaking apart.

A friend then picked the trailer up, and we unloaded the car here with help from a forklift.

This is what the car looked like when we unloaded it into the barn.

 

[big m]

Looks like I loaded a few too many of the same pics!

Next, was to determine what was usable, what was not, and separate into two chunks.

 

[polara71]

Please tell me there is more to the story

 

[Pete Kaczmarski]

This looks worse than my '59 Imperial parts car I sold last year for $1200.

 

[commando1]

Please tell me there is more to the story

And a sofa was born.

Posted via Topify on Android

 

[polara71]

You should know better, its a Davenport

 

[Wollfen]

Aww its not so bad, give it six months......Heh. Actually if i had a good parts car as a source, I think i would attempt it. Finding late fifties Fury converts would have to be so hard nowadays.

 

[1970cat]

typical new york car. i see great things in it's future.

 

[kellycom]

are you expecting this thing to morph back to life like in Christine? best of luck on whatever your plans may be with it.

 

[big m]

I bought a '59 Fury coupe that had been setting in a goat pasture for years, the entire top of the car was nothing but dents, and the glass was opaque from hooves sliding across it. There was some rust in the lower areas, and shag carpeting inside that had the distinct odor of cat urine. Looks like a good pats car candidate!

I stripped off the usable parts, and removed the body from the frame.

 

[cm23uoc]

Your general idea is to transfer the usable convertible parts to the hardtop body I guess.

There's a 71 440/6 Sport Fury GT for sale around here for quite a while that could also be right up your alley conditionwise.

 

[commando1]

Sept. 15, 2007.
And how does it look today?

Posted via Topify on Android

 

[big m]

Sept. 15, 2007.
And how does it look today?

Posted via Topify on Android

It's still in progress, but will post the steps to get there.

---John

 

[big m]

I placed the coupe body onto the convertible frame, and fastened it down. Next, I drilled the spot welds out of the A-pillar, and cut the C-pillars, in order to remove the roof.

 

[big m]

Before removing the roof, I made side braces using square tubing, these fasten to the striker plate mount and the door hinge mounts. I can re-use them on any '57-9 Mopar, except Imperial. After removing the windshield frame header from the convertible, I rosette welded it onto the cowl of the coupe. This will give a factory appearance and strength.

 

[big m]

The rear tub area was next. I drilled all the spot welds out, and removed this entire area from the coupe. This allowed me to access the rear wheelhouses, which would need to be removed, as the convertible ones are different. Next was to remove the wheelhouses.

 

[commando1]

Holy cow.
You recorded the whole thing from Day 1?

 

[big m]

Next was to remove the wheelhouses carefully. The lower portion of the coupe's wheelhouses will be used to repair the special convertible ones, butt welding is used for a good outcome. Not an easy task to get done!

 

[big m]

After cleaning up the welds, I submerged the pieces in a mixture of baking soda and water, and ran current through the mix with a battery charger. Reverse electrolysis is one of the better ways top clean rusty metal, and there are no hazardous byproducts. Note- this must be done in a well ventilated area, as hydrogen gas is created.

 

[1970cat]

i've seen this resurrection on another site somewhere. keep watching , you aren't going to believe it. truly amazing work