When i purchased my car last April i was fortunate enough to have a complete picture gallery of the restoration. I have never seen a pictorial on a complete restoration here as it involves many pics and was wondering if anyone was interested in seeing the process my 25 went through. Obviously i would have to do this in sections as the people who restored Mildred said it took them 597 hours. What say yee, any interest?
I would love to see them.
You bet. I might learn something.
Thanks Jack, i figured this time of year would be perfect to fill up some forum space..
Thanks Steve,...that's two!..
John,
Post away. I would love to see them!
OK than,..i will post the pics with the written notes by the people who restored the car, it will be interesting to see what they did right, and wrong in the process.
When I came back to T's in 1986, it was with the profits from rebuilding a modern wreck in my pocket.
I'd earned the funds to do the job, so I kept a detailed photo log, expenses paid out and the time taken for each operation. Co-incidentally, it took a little over $5000 and 500 hours to do the job.
I am looking forward to John's photos and making comparisons.
Allan from down under.
My scanner is giving me some headaches since i rarely use it. The restoration was started on Aug 16 of 85 and completed Jan. 31 87. Lots of great pics to come, i promise.
I'm just starting to restore my T.
I have never done it before and plan on taking it apart piece by piece.
If you have the pictures already I would love to see them.
vascon2196@comcast.net
Thanks,
Chris
As an idea, you can load all the photos in high resolution to a free site such as Photobucket create an album called restoration, then just post the link to the album here. A lot less work
Christopher, a word to the wise about car restoration - take lots of photographs of as much of the car as you can while it is still together. Don't rely on memory! As you take things apart, bag and tag everything so that you will know what fasteners and parts go where when it is time for re-assembly.
Also, do not dispose of the old parts until the restoration is finished! In some cases, the original Ford parts are superior in metallurgy and fit to the currently available reproductions. In fact, after the restoration is complete, if you have old parts you no longer need or want, advertise them on the forum classifieds, somebody else here will probably want them.
Good luck with your restoration!
Posting a link to a photobucket type sight is ok, but if there are detailed before/after resto pics, they should go here for future, searchable reference. How many times have you clicked on a broken or expired link?
Christopher - Mark has some very good points. Your best friends are ziplock bags and a sharpie during the teardown process. Lots of pictures - you can never have too many. As you take pictures, keep a list of the picture number and what part of the car it is as well.
Good luck and have fun!
Gentlemen, the car is restored. He has hundreds of detailed photos of the before/after process that I hope he posts here.
Gary, Mark and I were referring to Christopher Vasconcelos who stated that he is just starting a restoration.
Doesn't matter who is restoring what, or who has one restored - bring on the pictures!
Picture post away! Most of us love to look at photos of model Ts. Anyone that doesn't want to look at them can just move on to something else. So there.
Coming up after dinner...
John..I love the name of your car! Our dog's name is "Millie" (given by the dog pound) but when she's in trouble, it's "MILDRED!"....
Can't wait to see the pictorial history
Having technical difficulty's, hope to post soon..
Restoration begins Aug. 1985
All parts are chemically stripped and frame is sprayed with DuPont variprime. Owner completely disassembled the car and brought it to the shop to save a few greenbacks.
Work resumes in Feb. 86
Assorted parts, sprayed with feather fill...30 hours of work to this point.
All major parts (75 pieces) are variprimed, feather filled, sanded, laquer primed, sanded, and than 4 coats of black enamel...Feb.16 96 1/2 hours.
Frame, rear end and front end primed and ready for paint. Apr. 86.
Apr.23 1986. 129 hrs.
Frame, front and rear end painted with DuPont centuri black enamel.
May 10 86
Chassis assembly begins.
Method used to true wheels.
May 11 86. Chassis begins to take shape,All wheels were ground and cadmium plated...200 hrs.
May 12 86. Engine installed.
May 16 86 242 hrs.
Manifold, exhaust system, gas tank, steering and radiator installed.
May 16 86.
All wiring done, battery installed, all controls hooked up.
Are you all bored to death by now and hitting that eggnog early?..Let me know because i have plenty more left to torture you with.
Just a suggestion - crop your photos to eliminate the white space and scrolling.
You can't stop now John!
Erik, these are old pics i had to scan and than try to fit to below 196 kb,...I know its annoying as hell, but i cant find a way to fix it. OK Chris, full speed ahead and damn the torpedo's!
May 17 86..247 1/2 hrs.
Engine run for the first time.
Car was missing door when purchased, bought old door that was rotted out at top and welded in new steel,leaded and smoothed.
May 30 86 300 hrs.
L.H.body side rotted out at bottom. Weld in new steel,lead and smooth,variprime.
June 1 86.
Hood, front fenders,and running boards fitted to car. Body wood frame starts to take shape.
Driver and passenger door and body wood assembled.
Gas tank and seat bottom bracket.
Hood fitted.
Body panels fitted to wood frame for body.
June 6 86.
Begin, and finish fitting oak flooring at rear with battery access.
Sheet metal skins are made, fitted, and installed to wood frame side rails. Oak deck is covered in 18 ga.sheet metal
Turtle deck is installed after fitting battery access cover.
Turtle deck installed.
Rear fenders fitted and installed.
At 360 hrs. Mildreds body and fenders are fitted and installed.
New top bow assembly is put together and installed on car.
June 14 86 Mildred is taken for a short road test, passes with flying colors..(she made it back to the garage)..368 hours labor to date.
Work resumes on Nov.10 86
Car is disassembled to begin paint work.
Body and turtle deck are sprayed with feather fill and sanded, than lacquer primed with red oxide fill and sand.
Primer is wet sanded and 4 coats of DuPont Centuri black enamel are sprayed on. After one week paint is sanded with 1200 wet sandpaper before buffing.
Jan23 87.
Chassis and car to be united as one at 536 hrs. New safety glass is installed.
Jan. 24 87. Upholstery work begins.
Jan. 25 87.
Seat is finished, and side and door panels are cut and fitted and tacked in place.
Jan. 28 1987 572 hrs.
Top bows padded and side padding installed, as well as bow straps.
Waiting to leave shop..
Shop door is open.
Sorry for all the huge gaps between pics, that's the best i could get it!..Hope you enjoyed the path my car went through to be the joy that she is to me today!
Excellent!. Lots of good work, nicely documented. I like seeing actual body solder used instead of plastic filler.
Cropping pictures as Erik showed is simple. Just click and drag the mouse, hit a couple of keys, and all the extra stuff is gone.
I always tell my fellow elderly persons to have some kid show them how.
How is the top fixed to the body?
Awesome!!!!
Shows a labor of love and dedication.
Also shows the hours (572 noted) and money for parts and supplies involved in a full restoration.
A professional shop at $50 per hour would present a bill for $28,600 plus parts and material.
Yet a fully restored brass T may sell for around $20,000 or less.
Bravo to all the hobbyists that work on the Ford in their future! And have the ability that John P Noonan has.
It looks like a very nice, well done, restoration! A car that you can be proud to own and care for.
Thank you for sharing the pictures.
Drive carefully, and enjoy, W2
I don't care if it WAS DONE in the 80's. It is the SAME today as then except a little harder to come up with good sheetmetal and for a cheap price. Although the repo body metal is better today than it was. I use to have to MAKE a lot of stuff. Still do on some cars. Prices are definitely NOT what they were earlier years ago either. You did very well and I know you are proud of your work and the car. It came a long way from inception into your family (and it kept you off of the streets) LOL.
Some of the members did not like your post (old hat stuff) BUT there were several out there who would learn a lot from your documentation and photo essay. I think you should be congratulated, John. I have a couple of these 23-25 roadsters to do in my shop someday. I also have done everything that you did on your 25 but in the 60's. I STILL took a set of your photos for my T flashdrives. I will use these to show the guys how we will do the work on these cars.Unlike you my cars were a piece there and a piece there from several states even just to make up the body. Mine are exactly like yours were and will need butt splicing. As for lead work if you are welding everything properly and heat quenching it all to keep out of the warpage devil then you shouldn't have to use very much lead. Lead is ONLY the way they had to fix things back in the day as they did not have a workable and usable plastic filler like today. I run a restoration shop and I also taught those classes in Florida. Many people have HEARD about using lead but have never TRIED to apply or work it. They have just HEARD about it. Either way you go about finessing the surface for flatness depends upon doing either exactly the way it needs to be done and with the proper cleanliness and tools, Both will work well in one's lifetime. Unless the car will stay in the open air most of it's life than the lead will win out. Lead is HEAVY!!! Doesn't rust, doesn't hold paint well and neither does brass soldering (called brazing)!
Metalwork done by trained experts does not require much if any filler. Chasing warpage and dented creases takes a lot of knowledge and TIME. Mig welding is not what I am talking about. Using the torch is the way to go. BUT you must do a lot of it using the shrinking techniques along with the work. It is all part of the process. The mig (wire weld) is much stiffer and harder to message or grind down. Also it is harder to keep from burning thru. Using the Copper backers help but still if you master the torch with a oo or ooo tip you will never go back. Unless you are good a TIG welding. But you MUST have virgin sheet steel without any rust damage using the tig torch. Both gas and tig welds grind so much easier. And last longer if done properly. Again gas welding uses professional torches, lighter hoses, special gauges that do not have any CREEPAGE (fluctuations). Every little bit helps someone somewhere.
Again good show.
Thank you
Joe in Mo
Thanks John, never get tired of looking at how someone goes about restoration of a T. Chris.
Excellent restoration pictorial ! I liked the correct sequence of events shown in a perfect restoration. It illustrates the importance of properly fitting in many stages before finish painting. One question I'd like to hear comments on is around your Jan. 25th of '87 picture of the open roadster door showing the check strap fastened to the door. It appears a footman loop wasn't used. Instead what I've always considered a C Cab door check strap fastener was used. Maybe I've always been wrong. If so, when was the footman loop discontinued? Thanks John!! I've saved your pictorial to my Favorites
A footman's loop was never used for door checks in open cars (roadsters and tourings).
During the years when cotton webbing was used, approximately 1916 through the end of production, the strap was tacked to the wood frame, under the leatherette panels.
Don't know what that extra square piece is that is shown in the photo.
Great show and great looking car. Thanks for sharing John!
Thanks for all the great comments. I realize that restored cars aren't everyone's cup of tea here, and i for one love T's in both forms, restored and those completely untouched and preserved as they should be at their glorious old age. As far as my car goes, its an older restoration and i plan on driving it like an everyday car, the way it was meant to be.