So I brought home my latest project..the 56 customline from my grandpa's barn.

The odometer reads 30k miles...with the types of cars I deal with this ALWAYS means 130k.  I asked my grandpa and he thinks it is really 30k miles...but he is an optimistic guy and I don't trust his memory too much.

According to my grandpa, he bought the car used from a couple old ladies for my aunt to use in college she drove it back in forth to college "a couple times a year" and around her college town.  Then my uncle drove it in highschool for a couple years before getting a different car for college.

The engine is caked in oil sludge and is all brown, the car is Rusty (but it was driven in Wisconsin).

What are the "signs" I should look for to make an estimated guess on the miles...other things in the car to look at?  Or would it be impossible to even guess.

Nate - Madison, Wisconsin

 

56 Ford Customline Sedan

 

Examine the brake/accel. pedals. If the rubber is cracked/ancient, then it's likely never been replaced. You can always guess mileage by groove/wear patterns, just like tires. Non-power brake pedals wear especially fast. 130K would then be obvious, unless owned by a traveling salesman who daily drove cross-country on the first interstate highways.

6 VOLTS/POS. GRD. NW INDIANA

Did you get any records with the car?  Often repair bills had the date and mileage.  How much wear is on the steering wheel?  How about floor mats and seat covers?  Do the doors sag when you open them, indicating hinge wear?  Just some ideas.

John - "The Hoosier Hurricane"

Good ideas!  Now I can't wait to go look at the pedals, that I should get to tell something.  The doors open and shut very nicely, no sag, solid thunk and latch flush with car without much effort (at least the drivers door, haven't really played with the rest).  Under the trunk lid the paint is like new...but why wouldn't it be...

The floor matts I don't think are original, not much in the car is anymore.  My uncle drove this thing in high school so he did all kinds of things like install a tape deck and speakers, shag carpet on the floor, dash, and rear decklid.  The front and back seats both are covered and I haven't had a chance to take the covers off.  I'm going to go over tonight and do some more exploring.

I can't figure out how to get the glovebox open yet..the button is under the shag carpet, when I pushed it nothing happened.  Couldn't figure out how to open it...maybe it is locked?

It sounds like it had problems from sitting out in the sun.  Apparently the dash had a soft plastic cover (dash pad?) but it desintegrated in the sun and my uncle just put carpet over the melted dash pad, I thought I was just going to rip the carpet off and see a nice shiney metal dash...but instead I grabbed a corner of the carpet and tried to peel it back and barely could, it seems a black layer of gooey nastiness is adhereing the carpet to the dash

Any suggestions for getting that off?

Nate - Madison, Wisconsin

 

56 Ford Customline Sedan

 

The doors not sagging is a good indication of low mileage. The fact that the engine is caked with oily dirt doesn't mean much. They got that way in no time. Your car probably came with a padded dash which was a safety feature of that year. I recently bought a 56 in OR that had a padded dash. I haven't gotten it down here yet, but I will be trying to figure out how to get rid of the padded dash. I might just install a dash from a parts car. The whole dash isn't that difficult to remove. My original Ford that I bought over 45 years ago had a lacquer metallic paint on it. The sun really faded metallic paint in those days and I had the dash out several times to repaint it.

Kenneth

Fredricksburg, Texas

Despite the rust, I'm starting to believe my grandpa that this car only has 30k original miles.

This is a manual brake car, and the brake pedal pad is indestinguishable from the other two pads, they look like new, no wear, deep clean even traction grooves in the rubber.  All four doors are tight as a can be, no sag and align and shut easily.

I was able to get the carpet off the dash, I can tell it had a padded dash becuase the ash tray doesn't shut flush with the metal dash, is sticks out about 1/4 inch+ so it would've been flush with the padding.  But it would be easy to sand off the remaining goo from the dash and give a quick shot of some paint to make it passable.

The seat are completely shot, I pulled the seat covers and the fabric was dry rotted and falling apart and the foam is showing through.

The rust is the bad part...I think there is enough rust in the car to eliminate the idea of a full restore..for now I'm thinking more of a "rat-rod" like driver...keep the rust..adds character.  Get it mechanically sound with tight brakes, get the engine purring like a kitten, re-do the seats, and just enjoy the super strong character and uniqueness of the car.

The frame is solid, but a lot of the body bracing where the body mounts are located is rotted away towards the outside of the car, the floors have some "see-through" windows, just little bit in the corners by the kicker panel by the drivers left foot and front passengers right foot.  Floors feel solid otherwise from inside, not soft or anything...but would need considerable work if I wanted to repair them.

I'll try to get some pics up here soon...I'm recently married which puts a crimp in my style..I now have to be careful how much time I spend over at the garage...have to be home for dinner.

Nate - Madison, Wisconsin

 

56 Ford Customline Sedan

 

When I got my car, the situation was very similar to yours...  Family hand me down that had been stored for a while.  It also had the padded dash that was melted and sagging.  To be honest, I just ripped out the vinyl (?) and padding and used some goo off and light sanding to remove most of the foam and adhesive junk, being careful not to scratch the paint.  (the dash is painted underneath)   In my case the interior was brown so any remaining glue blends in.  Then I just took out the spacers from the radio speaker grill so it sits flush.  My car isn't a show car, but it looks better than it did with padding.  I didn't want to do a half ass job taking it out and painting it and then have it not match the rest of the interior.  So it's functional and buys me time until I decide to do a full restoration. 

John: Lake Forest, IL



'57 Fairlane 500 - Looking better every day.

Wow, john your car looks gorgeous! Mine isn't even close to that nice..mine has the "barn" paint job...faded green from sun and has a permanent dust finish

The speaker cover was painted, but my dash doesn't appear to be painted..or maybe it was, but my uncle accidentally removed some of the paint when getting rid of the dash pad.  He used some type of adhesive to glue the carpet to the dash, but it doesn't appear to be too bad..I can pull the stuck carpet pad pieces off with my fingers leaving little behind.

The worst part is the seats...they are like dust machines..the foam had desintigrated and if you touch the seat particles of dry-rotted fabric and foam lanuch into the air like an earosol can.  I wonder what is the cheapest way to cover the seats if I rip all the original stuff off.  the hardware holding the seats down is rusted tight to the car...so removing the seast might be a challenge..but nothing is impossible with an angle grinder.

Nate - Madison, Wisconsin

 

56 Ford Customline Sedan

 

Take a good look at the front crossmember under the radiator. This is where the lower a-frames bolt on. These are notorious for rusting out. No matter what the body or interior looks like you need a good frame.

Ol'ford nutCentral Iowa

56 Vic w/292 & 4 spd.

Ol' Ford,

Yes, that is rusted pretty good..I can actually stick my finger into one of the holes and pull out rusted material.  I need to get my welder fixed so I can attack these things! 

Nate - Madison, Wisconsin

 

56 Ford Customline Sedan