Hi there, I'm theprof739 and this thread will serve as my introduction and that for my car/project. I'm a 27 year old college attendee, and I caught the car bug from my grandfather. I'm not very experienced in automotive work, aside from routine maintenance work, unfortunately my grandfather passed before I could learn much from him. I have spent much of my time reading and learning what I can myself, and I'll be here and on a few other forums asking for questions and advice as I go along. So now on to the thing you guys really care about, the Car!
According to the Patent Plate (assuming I'm decoding it correctly,) our story starts here, in a shopping center, not far from where I and a couple friends roomed in college.
Well more correctly here;
in the Ford assembly plant in Somerville Massachusetts on the 17th of June 1954 (or 55 but that seems rather late in the year to me.) When a black and white 1955 Ford Fairlane Crown Victoria, with the Skyliner plexiglass transparent top rolled off the line, and promptly disappeared for roughly 15 years.
This particular glasstop Vicky doesn't turn up in my documents until November 1969, when she is purchased by an Airman serving with the 604th. Military Airlift Support Squadron, at Clark AFB in the Philippines!
Vicky on tour!
That waterfall today (via Google) for comparison
And that sign too:
It is thanks to our airman that the car is here today, I'm sure, and his keeping of so much or his documents that I have this history of the car to tell. I feel for this guys as I have several letter of his to companies with him searching for various parts for the car and replies saying "Sorry, we haven't got what you are looking for." Makes me glad for the power of a Google search.
In mid 1970, our Vicky appears under a different name when a Seargent ships her from the Philippines to Dover AFB in Delaware, but by August it's back in the hands of our airman and in Massachusetts.
Seems that he had a buddy ship it home for him, literally, Vicky having gone halfway round the world she back within 10 miles of the her, now defunct, birthplace. Documents and receipts show our airman working on her through 1971.
The first signs of a change of ownership is this check for a car rental by Warner Brother's Studios... Vicky's a movie star?
Well I don't know for sure it the check even is for Vicky aside from it being in the folder with every other document pertaining to her. So I've sent an email to Warner Bros. perhaps they know, even if they don't know about the check, they can at least tell me what they were working on in September of 1973 so I can narrow my search. Vicky's new owner Louis didn't keep much in the way of records though since he next appears on the bill of sale to Vicky's next owner.
Much the same can be said for Charles who gets the car in '76 He was still working on the car in 1988 when Vicky was bought by my grandfather.
My grandfather was a bit of a packrat and Vicky was just one of many classic cars he'd collected. When he passed in 2001 he had almost 30 cars from a '31 Model A to a '74 Monte Carlo, including a 52 Hudson, 41 Caddilac, 37 Packard, 69 Pontiac Firebird, 2 Mustangs, and one of each Tri-Five scruby. He was knee-deep in a 65 Impala ragtop when cancer took him and never got around to Vicky aside from collecting some boxes of parts. My grandmother parted with most of the cars but didn't want the Vicky touched until this year when she had thoughts of selling it. I offered/threatened to sell one of my kidneys to buy it off her, and she agreed to keep it and finally let me get to work.
So my plan is to restore her to a running reflection of how she was new. So it's back to black and white, as pretty as he current colors are. Otherwise no major changes, perhaps swapping to 12 volts and converting her to a srcew on oil filter. She's a solid car and in good condition, being garaged for the past 40 years and only 160 miles on the odometer since '76. She needs a lot of attention in many different places, but nothing too serious. I hope that when she's running I can take her back to Assembly Square a little homecoming parade. I don't think I'll make it by this June 17th, but perhaps next year.
Some evidence of her color change, the based of the steering column is still black, along with the previously covered steering wheel, and a sliver above the trim near the glove box:
Her metric speedometer, useful on Philippine roads:
Based on the discussion of the strange rods under her hoods, the suggestion of them being "Export Braces"
seems more and more likely. They look like they were fabricated professionally and not by a later owner:
As you may have noticed She has the original 272 Y-block with 2 barrel Intake, though someone put finned Thunderbird valve covers on. She has power steering, but otherwise is lacking in optional equipment, plexiglass top excluded. She's got the 3 speed Manual with overdrive, though, it looks like someone removed the original overdrive controls and put a push-button on instead.
And lastly for your enjoyment, a few other relics of this car's long life:
I will post more about her and her condition going forward, but I wanted to introduce myself, the car, and my project to you all. some photos that I haven't included here can be found in this album:
http://imgur.com/a/NltVc if you wish to look further.