In the early 50's if you lived in a rural area in mid-America, it was pretty much a tradition to go to town on Saturday night. All of the stores would stay open till 9 or 10 o'clock and people would do their weekly shopping or just catch up on the local gossip.
Although no one realized it at the time, this was about the end of an era. Television would soon replace going to town and discount stores would replace many of the stores. If you were 15 years old at that time it was an awkward age. You could not drive at night, even though you had your "restricted drivers license", if your parents adhered to the law, which mine did. It wasn't cool to ride your bicycle at that age and also if you were riding a bicycle you didn't have much chance of being picked up by an older friend who had a car to drive around.
I did the obvious thing, I walked uptown. As I walked uptown I would see this "old guy", probably 19 years old, coming into town driving what I thought was the most beautiful car I had ever seen. It was a black 1950 Ford convertible with dual exhaust and a continental kit. A few years later I got my first car, a 1950 Ford, however, it was a more practical 2-door sedan.
Twenty years later I still remembered that convertible and decided to try to find one. Due to financial considerations I passed up a couple of them which were complete, solid, drivable cars for what now sounds like a ridiculously low price of about 1500.00 dollars. I finally bought an incomplete, rusty car out of a salvage yard, for 100.00.
A few years later I started working on it, however a personal situation (read divorce) brought the project to a halt. It didn't resume until early 1992 and was completed in late 1994.
I first bought a MIG welder and after learning how to use it, I cut out and patched all of the rusted areas. I then removed the body from the frame; sand blasted the frame and replaced all suspension and steering components. The transmission and differential were disassembled, cleaned and all questionable parts replaced. The engine was then rebuilt, using all new parts except for the major castings.
After reluctantly taking time out to build a rotisserie and temporary frame, I put the body on it and finished up the body including painting. After using a rotisserie I would hate to try a complete restoration without one. When the body was installed on the rotisserie and balanced it could be completely rotated with one hand.
The rest of the components were then painted and assembled. Amazingly after everything was completed and I drove the car the first time everything worked perfectly except for a loud "clunk" anytime you hit a slight bump. After spending several evenings under the car, I discovered I had forgotten to tighten the bolts that hold the transmission down.
All of the work on the car, with the exception of machine work, chrome plating and radiator repair was done by myself, with encouragement of my wife, advise of friends, patience of parts men and lots of how-to-do-it books.
I found that restoring this car was one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. If you have ever had a desire to restore a car yourself, I would encourage you to do it. If a person with no more than average talent or intelligence, who has never done anything automotive can do it, then you can too!
