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I had hot rodded many cars/trucks over the years. The usual paint job, headers, intake, wheels etc. That was the standard pace back in the 60's, 70's. Even tho I stepped out of the scene for a few years, I was closely watching and admiring the meticulous level of detail that was getting to be the rage in restorations. I must take my hat off to the Mopar guys in this town. It was they who started pumping out the "rotisserie" detailed restorations. They set the bar in this town for so many of us to follow. All the while I was observing, I quickly figured out that it wouldn't be that much harder perhaps it would be even easier to do a restoration this way. I had never seen a 50's Ford done to this detail and had always dreamed of restoring a '59 Ford in this manner. Many sleepless nights later, I came up with a plan. We sold our '56 Victoria along with our life long Coca-Cola collection. I found this old girl in the Ozark mountains of western Arkansas via an ad in Hemmings magazine. This was before the internet. She had no paint, her interior was rotten but more importantly she had no rust. The following is a list of events that transformed this former beauty queen back to her current grace. I have named her "Queenie".
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To get this old girl ready for the frame-off resto, I removed the engine, transmission, dash, upholstery, all the windows and every electrical component to get her ready for a complete paint removal process. After spending two days and using thirty five bags of baking soda, Adeline and I had every square inch of paint removed from the old beauty queen. My thanks to my good friend Ron Lambert, President of Winnipeg Sandblasting for letting us use his facility all weekend at no charge. There is no turning back now.............we START the process of building a brand new 1959 Ford. This example will be much better than the factory editions back in '58 and '59 as we will use a much higher quality control process here.
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With the body off the frame we have lots of room to strip the frame down and begin painting it with two stage black polyurethane. All of the front end parts have also been removed and painted. They are re-installed with brand new bearings, bushings, hoses, shocks and springs. The rear end has been dismantled, rebuilt and painted by my friend Albert Lannoo. I installed new rear springs and shocks. Also re-installed the rebuilt and freshly painted gas tank. The three speed cruise-o-matic trans has been rebuilt by Ronnie Marshall. I chose to use a vacuum modulated '64 unit for nicer shifting. The tranny hooks up to the new rear end on a freshly balanced and painted driveshaft. All brake components including all stainless lines have been replaced with new. The front brakes have been replaced with a new power disk set-up. The factory vacuum booster was overhauled and retained for the original look. A new stainless gas line was formed from the tank to the new fuel pump on the freshly Ford authorized rebuilt 352 engine.
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Ivan's Auto Body was my choice for body and paint work. Ivans meticulous attention to detail along with many years of experience painting the finest cars in this area made my choice very easy. I instructed Ivan to use the finest products available on my old beauty queen. After many weeks of serious preparation, she would be ready for the many coats of special primers that build the paint to the straightness of water on a plate. I can remember being called at home at 6:00 pm on the Saturday evening as we began to socialize with friends. It was Ivan, he was going to paint Queenie tonight! I dismissed myself and drove to Ivans. Watching this expert apply the factory colors, Indian Turquoise and Colonial White with the new DUPONT Chroma Premiere paint was an emotional experience for me. I had fixed, hotrodded and painted many cars and trucks in my past...........but nothing to this quality.
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I always knew that Ivans work would cost me more money, but I can always borrow money. The quality of work that comes out of this mans shop is quite simply amazing. This paint job won a prestigeous DUPONT Top-Gun AWARD. The Top-Gun award is usually won by the high profile shops in CA and FL. This is the first time that a Canadian shop has taken this award. Ivan and his son's Greg and Igor work so very hard to ensure that no shortcuts are taken and that everyone is assured of a top quality product. The body, roof, fenders, doors and all components were painted separately with the dedication and precision of this master Ivan Pecuh. I couldn't believe how fortunate I could be as the "big dream" was falling into place right before my eyes. My dear father passed on before I got to this stage. I know how much he wanted to see the old girl completed. I have a private story that "proves" to me that he was watching over me and helping me along with this larger than life project.
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Now the fun starts. The total re-assembly of a 1959 Ford Skyliner hardtop. Given that all of the parts were either NOS or rebuilt and re-painted, this process was a pure joy. My good friend Bob Duncan at the House of Silver had replated all of the chrome and polished all of the stainless pieces to the perfection of a jeweler. Many of our friends helped out with this process. Albert Lannoo installed all the side glass and power window assemblies. Reid Dewbury and Omer Desjardin installed and adjusted all of the roof components to the perfection of a swiss watch.
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Cliff Relf, Clarence Zabolotny and my nephew Vince Maytwayashing helped install the fenders, hood, front basket and the miles of stainless mouldings. The A/C was totally rebuilt with new parts and the rad was re-cored by my friend Bobby Semkiw of Logan Rad. All body gaskets, fenders gaskets....all rubber gaskets, window liners, window felts etc were replaced with brand new parts from Dennis Carpenter Ford. The stainless steel exhaust system was installed by my good friend Billy Kutcheran of Minute Muffler. A set of BF Goodrich 8:00 x 14 original whitewalls from Coker would keep that important original look. My biggest help and support in this whole project was my dear wife, my Adeline...........she was my inspiration during the many frustrating days. She was with me every evening cleaning, painting and installing parts........most of all keeping inventory control.
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Albert Lannoo installing the side glass and power window units. Notice the rear wall covered with all of the bagged stainless mouldings and the many boxes of NOS parts. I was able to use so many NOS parts on this car because of one person, my Special friend Randy Rostecki. Randy, always being a '59 Ford fanatic like me travelled to swap meets for the last thirty years collecting every NOS box that he could find for these cars. It was well known that Randy had a GOLD MINE of NOS parts but it was also known that Randy would not sell any parts! Fortunately we were the exeption to this rule. Our dear freind sold us the following parts still in the original Ford boxes;
* flying eclipse hood ornamant * fender ornaments * park light bezels and lenses * day/night mirror * locking gas cap * tail light bezels and lenses * electric wiper control box * exhaust deflectors * front and rear bumper ornaments * clock * tissue dispenser * ladies glovebox mirror * power window resistor * rocker mouldings *
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The 352 was professionally rebuilt at a Ford rebuild plant here in Winnipeg. The new engine features 20 over pistons, stock crank, new rockers and shafts, timing gears and chain, new oil pump, all fuel delivery via the timing of a 428 GT camshaft. This powerfull package carries this very heavy car with ease and is respectfully economical. The points have been replaced with a Petronix electronic ignition. The new Autolite 4100 carb feeds the new engine with premium gas via all new stainless lines from a new fuel pump. The powder coated inner fenders keep a shine that no paint would endure in an engine compartment. The A/C blows colder than my new Ford F-150 pick-up. The new rad keeps everything at an effecient temperature. The entire new brake system is fed by the the newer paint friendly silicone brake fluid. All wiring has been replaced with brand new harness.
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The hood and fenders are lined up and tightened down. All of the front grille and componenents have been loosely installed, lined up to a straight line and tightened down. The resurection of this old beauty queen is almost complete.............the frustrating days are getting less and less now. An exhuberant feeling of completion with a final view of the end actually in site!
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| The new ABC interior has been installed by my Adeline. The door panels are done to perfection from ABC. I wish the seat covers were processed to the same standards. All components for the power seats have been overhauled to new. The dash has been re-installed with a new padded cover. The Town and Country radio works fine, the new clock is ticking away, the A/C is cold as ice, the right and left spotlights are working good, the power windows are sliding up and down with ease. The stainless rocker mouldings have been installed, the NOS fender skirts are hung...........were ready for the road?
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The car is complete. Six years and +80K later, our child is born. I can't believe the cost but my wife saved every bill and we have proof. She sits proud once again as she did in her young years. This shot was taken at the ISCA's World of Wheels where she took first place with pretty heavy competition on the floor. She is popular at shows and takes many First Place awards and many Best of Shows. She has been on the road for six years now and has accumulated 5,000 miles. Thursday and Sunday evenings are our favorite times for taking her for a stroll. She has brought us much happiness. I would recommend to anybody that would like to own a classic, street-rod, pick-up whatever........."Chase your Dream", I did and am sooo grateful.
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