Falcon Build Update #3- The Roof

I think it was Earl Sheib who said, “Body work is glamorous!” He was lying! Ok, I made that up. Body work’s dirty and you have to use a bunch of tools that make noise. I like that part! But, it takes so much time. It’s hard work. This week, I enlisted another friend, Joe Nagy. He came over to hit the roof of the wagon, and that we did. (for a good laugh, check out the Earl Scheib home page and the endorsement from Danny Boneduce)

On the left, you can see where we started. For some reason, I really like wagons, but I guess that was before I wanted to paint one! The roofs, as they’re known, are LONG. I’m pretty lucky that the roof’s straight and basically trouble free except for more of that black primer filled with that strange oil the previous owner used to keep it sorta-shiny. (I already said, please don’t do that…)

Joe and I fired up the wire wheel and DA sander only to find that sucked. From there I decided to go back to the paint stripper to ease the pain some. Does anyone know of a stripper that actually works? I’m sure it doesn’t help that it’s 90+ in the garage, but still, as much as I put on, you’d think some more of this ratty primer would come off. Not so. Even the “Aircraft” quality stripper I had wasn’t that hard core. I want the paint to peel off in one big sheet! But, I also want my kids to have clean air and clean water. I bet in the old days, paint stripper got it done! Here’s what the paint stripper did. Any paint that does peel off is still paint I don’t have to force off.

Much more later, we’re just getting started. Stay tuned. Any comments on the progress?

Work on Custom Cars – Read More

Update: 1963 Ford Falcon Project Build

In case you missed the last story, I’m rebuilding my 1963 Falcon Wagon. Originally, I just planned to put some paint on it and re-do the interior, but after inviting a bunch of friends over (here’s the story), my wagon’s now a stripped hulk sitting in my garage. Borderline panicking but not quitting, I’ve still got great friends helping out. We’re making progress. It’d be easier to get out to the garage if it wasn’t 112 today!

The first thing I should mention is the “How-to” I wrote in my garage. In addition to adding pics of your ride, you can also use your garage to help others by showing how you did something… like a tech page. I filled in the backup lights in the tailgate of my wagon and wrote a “How-to” about it. If you ever need to patch a small hole, it might be an interesting read. Click HERE to see it.

You should read the rest of the story! CLICK HERE