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TERRY USHER’S 1955 VICTORIA RESTORATION
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This is the vehicle Terry started with.
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And this is what he created.
Yes, the picture is upside down, but so is the car
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55 Vicky the story so far.
In summer 2007 I decided that the old girl was looking her age, with cancer eating away around the base of her tired old body, and she was blowing a bit of smoke as well. It was time she went into rehab for a full body off resto.
I had never done one of these before so I did alot of research but at the same time I am pretty handy with a mig and panel tools so I set to work. One of the problems I had was where to put all the parts, but I found places for them at home in my garden shed as I needed my garage clear for the big job ahead. I also filled up my dads bungalow with bits and pieces. When I had stripped her down to her bare bones I realised I had created a monster. I started by stripping the chassis down to bare steel with wire wheels on my angle grinder, I think I went through at least a dozen of them.
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I resprayed the chassis and rebuilt the suspension to original specs, ball joints, bushes etc, new original brakes, new brake components and lines, the steering mechanism was good so I re packed, cleaned and repainted it.
Once the chassis was done I sent out the motor (272ci) and had it completely restored by Welco Engineering. I had the 3 speed auto rebuilt and the diff was in good order. Hundreds of hours later the chassis was completed so I looked at the body and wondered were do I start . I sent it off to the blasters and had everything plastic bead blasted, it came back great but it also showed up all the rust. With that I set to work cutting and welding, 9 months later I was done I then fitted it back onto the chassis and started the filling and sanding process for another three months.
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Vicky was ready to go to the paint shop so to save money I decided to hire a trailer and tow it myself. Well what a disaster, not having much towing experience, in short the trailer got huge speed wobbles and jack knifed on the Eastern Freeway, both me and the trailer ended up facing the oncoming traffic. I managed to limp to the panel shop without to much damage to my car, the trailer or Vicky (never towing again). In the mean time I had everything re chromed which came back gleaming. I purchased an almost unlimited amount of spares from everywhere from the Rubber Connection to endless suppliers from the US including a complete new interior, badges, rubbers, clips, lenses, etc, etc
Three months later I got a call from the painter, “your car is ready for pick up”. I organised a flat bed truck to bring her home safely!
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She looks great, so now I'm ready to start putting her back together.
To be continued.......................... Terry Usher.
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49-59 FORD CUSTOMLINE CAR CLUB OF VICTORIA Inc.
E-Mail: cussyclub@optusnet.com.au
Web: http://www.customlineclub.org.au
Please contact our Webmaster with questions or comments.
Copyright © 2005. All rights reserved.
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