Past Updates

Today, September 11, 2001, will be remembered not only in American history, but in world history, as the blackist of days. I for one will never forget the atrousities and never forgive the people responsible for the terroristic cowardis unleashed on my country. But I know the American people are strong of heart and of mind, and we will pull through this. My heart goes out to the brave firemen, law enforcement, medical personnel, victims, and their families. I can't express deeply enough how I feel. The words escape me. Right now is not a time to feel vengeful, there will be plenty of time for that later. We must pull together as one people, united to obtain the first goal: healing. Let's lick our wounds, then lash out with the full might of the American Armed Forces in such a way the world hasn't seen in over 40 years.

What's New? 9/11/01
I was given a Ford 1953 Coupe. It's a Crestline to be more exact. The guy that is giving it to me bought the car to get the motor that is in it...351C. Tomorrow I'm going to go clean the car out some and get it ready for transport to my home. This is my first restoration job and I think I'm already over my head. Here's a list of what I don't have: 1. A GARAGE. I'm going to take my open careport, close it in, pour a floor, and then run electricity to it. All with the help of some of my great buddies. 2. TOOLS. Not going to get to much done without those. 3. EXPERIENCE. I've never done a car restoration before and I don't really even know where to begin. 4. MONEY. I'm learning new stuff everyday.

9/14/01
Well, we finally got the car pulled out've the woods and sprayed it down with some "purple power" then pressured washed it. I have to say that I was really suprised how good it looked considering how much mold and mildew it had on it. Aftering getting it cleaned off, it had a little more rust on it than I thought it did, but it's nothing that can't be easily repaired. All in all the body is in good condition. I also found out that the car is a special 50th Anniversary Edition. As you can see from the pictures that the interior is totally scrubbed, so I'm not even going to try and make it stock. This is going to be all custom.
Now for the good news...John Prince (I'll have more information on him later), the guy I'm getting the car from bought the car for the motor. He has deceided to go ahead and sell me the car with the motor in it...GREAT! It's got a 351C with a C6 trans. and a 9 in. rearend. I feel like I'm already ahead of the game. Time to get to sanding!!!

Oct. 4, 2001
After looking at my finances and wondering how I'm going to pay for Christmas presents and work on my car, my sgt. has convienced me to just use Bondo instead of using sheet metal. I know that it's a quick fix solution, but it just might fit my needs. Let's face it, I don't have the money to turn this car into a trophy winning masterpiece. This is afterall going to be a everyday car (back and forth to work...4 miles round trip). I've been doing a little bit of bondo work already and I've posted some new pics.

Oct. 8, 2001
Well, today I found out that I don't have a Crestline. I've got a Customline. I came to this conclusion after doing some photo and VIN# research. My VIN# starts out with 72B which is a 2dr club-coupe. In 1953, the Crestline series had three models: Hardtop, Convertable, and the Wagon. In all the photos that I've been able to find, there is a chrome plate between the back quarter window and the back windshield...and...none of the Crestline series has a VIN# that starts with 72B. There were three main series for the '53: Mainline, Customline, and the Crestline. I belive (not sure yet) that the Crestline Hardtop and Convertable are the predicesors for todays Ford Crown Victoria.
I'm also having some problems decifering my VIN#. I've found a couple of publications that try to explain it, but I've got letters in mine that they don't mention.

Oct. 27, 2001
Well I haven't been able to do much to the car lately. Everytime I start trying to save money, something always seems to come up. Six months ago before I got the car, I booked a cruise to Mexico, so there's $1,200 give or take. Right around the corner is Christmas and you know what that means. Actually I'm accepting Gift Certificates for tools and parts or donations to the "Fix Chris's Car Fund". I have been trying to keep up on my research, and I've found and added some new pics to the "53's from the internet" section. I probably violated some copyright law or something, so if you see your car displayed and don't want it on here, I'll be happy to remove it.
As far as the body work on mine...when I got to the passenger side, the rocker panels were dented really bad and rusted underneath. I got a new parts catalog from Concours Parts--check the links page--and they had all the sheet metal sections that I need. So now I'm back to wanting to use sheet metal instead of the bondo. In the long run, I think it's for the best. I also found a guy that I graduated high school with that has been the owner of a body shop for almost 10 years. He does all the body work for several of the larger dealerships in the area. His name is Glenn Goss. When we were in H.S., he had a hot rodded 72 camero. I had a 70 Maverick 302cid that I bought from my grandfather for $1.75. I remember telling him when I was 6 yrs. old (1976) that I wanted that car when I was old enough to drive. But a 16 yr old doesn't need a car that he doesn't give the proper respect too. In other words, I flipped it and totaled it. Two other friends, Sammy and Kyle were the other two hot rod guys. Sammy had a 1970 Boss Mustang that his dad brought back from Germany when he was in the service. It was a dang race car that he drove to school. Roll bars, 5 point harnes and fire extinguisher included. It would do about 150 mph easy. Kyle bagged groceries and saved his pennys and bought a 1979 Special Edition 6.6 Trans Am. It got about 2 miles to the gallon. I remember the summer before we turned 16, gas went up from 69 cents to 89 cents. And I thought it was high then. But I could cruise just about all night on 3 dollars worth of gas. The other guys couldn't do that.

Nov. 7, 2001
I'm heading to Mexico in the morning for the family cruise, so I won't be posting anything new for about a week or so. I've been told that when I get back from the trip, I can get the car....motor....started. Which in turn means:
1. Fix the fuel line, and not use the antifreeze jug that's placed next to the fan.
2. Rebuild the 4b Holly Carb. 600 cfm.
3. Get a coil.
4. Battery
5. Put in a new distributor
6. And probably a timming chain, (famous words) "while I'm at it."
Then when all that is finaly done, I'll get to work on the brakes. I'm not going to have the money for disk brakes or a new front end for a while, so I'll just have to make do with the drums that I have. I don't even want to think about the exhaust yet. It's still tied up to keep it off the ground.
It seems like everytime that I look at the car, my "want" list just keeps getting longer and longer.

Nov. 14, 2001
Well we made it back from the cruise in one piece and had a pretty good time, except for Stacy getting sea sick on our 3rd day...yuck. When we got back to port waiting to go through customs to get off the ship, the report of the plane crashing in New York came across the t.v. All at once 500 people in one room fell silent. Most of us were going to be getting on a plane in the next few hours. I think you can imagine what everyone was thinking about.
I've added a new page to the site. It's "351 Cleveland". Mainly it is a bunch of links to web sites that I've found that have some very useful informaion. You can imagine how many hits you get by typing 351"Cleveland" into a search engine, about 45,000. So I weeded through a couple of hundred of them and put the links on my web site to hopefully save you some time. If you're like me, you'd rather be out working on the car and driving it, then sitting in front of the computer trying to find information.

Dec. 12, 2001

I haven't written anything in a while, so I thought it was about time to update you. As everyone is aware, Christmas is comming and cash is a little tight right now, so the car has to wait. I sold my 91 Sunbird that I've had since I drove it off the lot in Nov. of 90 for $1,500. In my mind, I was thinking "GREAT" I've got $1,500 to spend on my car....NOPE. Well 500 of it went to pay for the car since I still owed Roger for it. That was the first thing I want to pay. I put another 300 in the bank. Well my grandmother is in a retirement home and she doesn't need her car anymore and it was just sitting at my uncle's house, so I got it...87 Buick Electra (diffinitly Grandma's car), but it's actually nicer than the Sunbird. Well it cost me 1,500, which I haven't actually paid for. I'm waiting for things to start breaking down and just deduct it from the cost of the car....and sure enough...BAMM...the rack and pinion goes out...then BAMM....now it won't stay cranked. Just my luck!