We are considering selling our very special 51 Ford 4 door that has been heavily modified.  We have won multiple awards including Grand National Radical Hardtop 2nd place and Sacramento Autorama Radical Hardtop 1st place.  All information regarding complete build and description available upon request.  Contact Ron Austin via email:  austinpeakrd@gmail.com or comments in blog post.  Invested to date $225,000.00 rounded down. Paint - Sky Blue with Sunset Flames, Custom designed flames with pin stripping, Top chopped 3", lengthened 4", rain gutters removed, Hood peaked & louvered, Nosed, decked, door handles & side trim removed, seams filled, Gas filler relocated, Headlights frenched, Fire wall & inner finders filled and smoothed, Bumpers filled, One piece front & back glass custom made, Custom made rear & trunk floor pans, Bottom of car finished and painted, Hand formed interior trunk panels, One piece door glass (vent windows removed) ...

I had decided to use the 05 trunk latch assembly as it has an electric & manual opener and the 05 wiring harness is set up for it. The bottom latch looked as though it would fit in the pocket where the 41 was and the upper part of the latch had to mounted to the trunk lid where the existing trunk handle/latch and license plate were mounted. Rather than build a plate assembly for it I thought a frenched in license plate box would give me a smooth mounting surface on the back of it and clean up all the holes in the trunk lid.  This idea came from "Full Custom Garage" Ian Roussel work on one of his custom builds.  These two pictures show the 05 latch with the manual pull cable attached to the lower latch and the pocket where the 41 latch catch was mounted.  A hole was cut in the bottom of the pocket to fit the lower latch and to see where the upper latch had to be mounted.  I found a frenched in license plate box on Amazon that was the least expensive and ...

The last post the prep work on the frame and body was complete enough to start installing the permanent parts from the 05 donor car. The lower part of the fire wall and inner fenders still needed to be painted and I taped of the engine compartment then painted it with POR 15 Gloss Black. The anti-lock brake valve had been moved forward to clear the radiator and engine and the brake lines had to be extended to the new location by cutting the lines then make extension lines. The cut lines had to be flared in place that required some jury rigging as my double flare tool is large and designed to be used in a vice outside the car. The two rear lines were extended first.  The master cylinder to anti-lock valve also had to be extended, here you can see the gap between them after they were cut.  Another view of the double flare tool on the rear lines with one already finished.  The master cylinder lines are now connected using 2-90 degree bends & 4 couplings. A...