So, after climbing over some of the vintage locomotives at the museum, I looked forward to seeing that 1935 Ford roadster that Walter Turner, the museum's historian, had told me about.
It's an immaculate, canvas-topped roadster, black above the belt line and silver-gray below. From the driver's side protrudes a spotlight. On the bumper is an accessory that most Fords of its vintage didn't have: a red light. It was something you didn't want to see flashing in your rear view mirror if you were tooling along a Tar Heel highway in the middle '30s hauling a load of 'shine or just trying to blow out the carbon through the exhaust pipe of the family flivver. On the door was the Great Seal of the State of North Carolina within a blue border bearing the words "North Carolina Highway Patrol."
This model, Walter told me, was the first to carry a siren and a two-way radio. If you were hauling a load of 'shine through the mountains, the trooper could radio ahead to another patrol car and have him cut you off at the pass. If you were looking ahead and couldn't see the red light blinking above the bumper, he could curdle your blood with that siren.
A "mid-cycle product freshening" seems to be part of the life cycle of
every car line, and that can be anything from minor trim changes to fairly
significant alterations. The Kia Soul enters its third year for 2012, and
gets its freshening.
This freshening takes advantage of recent changes at Kia and parent Hyundai to
improve drivetrains and cabin electronics. Interiors have been upgraded,
and safety features like Vehicle Stability Management (VSM) and Hill-Start
Assist Control (HAC) added. Trim levels are standard, + (Plus) and !
(Exclaim); the Sport is no longer offered.
No worries as the two engines available are both new to the Soul, with
more power and improved fuel efficiency, which is also helped by new
six-speed manual and automatic transmission. The base engine is now a
1.6-liter, 138-horsepower four-cylinder with direct fuel injection, an
increase of 16 horsepower. The + and ! get a 2.0-liter four with 164 hp, up
from the previous 142. Later in the model year an "Eco Package" with "Idle
Stop and Go" (ISG) will be offered. Similarly to what hybrids do, it stops
the engine when the car is stopped, as at a traffic light, and
automatically restarts when the driver's foot is taken off the brake pedal.
It should improve city mileage.
Volkswagen Front Axle Beams - How to Determine a Good Reproduction Axle Beam
Richard Davies, VW merchant at Mid America Motorworks, explains to Kenny the difference between OEM and reproduction axle beams. Our selection can ...
Im interested in a frame off restoration of an 80's model Ford pickup, whats the cost?
Jul 31, 2007 by cee_zee_gee | Posted in Maintenance & Repairs
I have an 82 Ford F150 that I'm intersted in restoring.
It's a standard cab with an 8' bed.
I'm capable of doing most labor myself, as I am a mechanic, but I'de prefer to outsource the body work, and I'm having difficulty getting a quote: There is a dent in the passenger side door, both rear wheel wells are rusted out, as are the panels at the bottom rear of the box, and the tailgate has "pit rust".
I'm interested in what price is fair for these repairs as well as having the vehicle sanded down, reprimed, and repainted to a factory or better quality.
Also, I'de like to know about having the frame, front I-beams, and rear axle sandblasted bare, and either painted, powder coated, or "rhino-lined"
CEE -- I would rather see you buy a new truck. Yours is not a collectable and not worth all this fixin. A rough estimate depending on whether you want the engine redone. ..Estimate at $15,000 to $20,000.
When you start taking apart the more you will see that has to be fixed.
Gerald | Jul 31, 2007
You are in the $5K range to do this professionally. You'll need to find some grass roots guy through the grape vine that has a small home setting shop.
There are some half cocked shops that will make it look new after they cover everyhting up with body putty and just cut off the rust and spot weld new metal on panels in place but this is temporary and after a few Winters and rain the work will show, badly.
Good Luck!
CactiJoe | Jul 31, 2007
Go to Lowe's and get a welder for a couple thousand dollars. It's really easy to do the body work yourself after some practice.
Knock N | Jul 31, 2007
The rough rule of thumb for restoring classic, collectible cars is:
Check the value of similar, restored vehicles, and add 10% to 50%.
In other words, if a restored vehicle would be worth $50,000 in restored condition, it will probably cost $55,000 to $75,000 to have someone else restore it.
Check the blue book value for an '82 Ford F150 pickup. First of all, it's going to be cheaper to simply find an original '82 F150 in "cream puff" condition than to restore yours, or to have it restored.
Here's my suggestion: check the cab for rust. If it's rust-free, or has repairable rust, find a replacement bed in good shape and junk the old one.
That just saved you several thousand dollars.
With a decent cab and a decent bed, you're just looking at a relatively simple paint job.
As for powdercoating the frame and suspension components, I wouldn't bother on an '82 unless you're replacing the suspension components anyway.
Restoring a pickup is probably the easiest restoration; beds are cheap to replace, and the cab is fairly simple- very little if any carpeting, replacement seats are easy to find (JC Whitney), Ford doesn't change truck body styling as often as cars, so things like dash instruments should be easy to get.
If you want to make an interesting vehicle, replace the old rusted steel bed with a nice hardwood flat bed. Flat bed kits are available from a number of sources, the ones that provide the metal parts while you supply the wood are relatively affordable.
Really, if restoring cars and trucks was affordable, a lot more people would be interested in having it done, but it's not economical unless you have a real classic and do the majority of the work yourself, and even then the return on investment isn't that great.
Beaugrand | Jul 31, 2007
It's a restoration. There is no answer to this question. Take whatever amount you think it is going to cost, mulitply that by 2, then set aside a little extra just in case. You'll use all of it.
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These include electric boot operation and automatic soft-close doors, active seats for driver and front passenger that deliver a soothing massage on long
