I wanted to keep the stock look of the 50 Ford so I decided to adapt the original steering column and shift levers to the rack & pinion and the automatic transmission. I cut the steering column tube and shaft off of the frame mounted steering box, made a bushing for the new end of the tube and pressed it in to support the shortened shaft with the end flattened on each side to the "D" u-joint. New holes were drilled at the end of the tube to accept the original shifting assembly then one of the shifter arms was removed by making spacers to hold the one remaining arm and to keep the original pen in place that fits into the notch in the arm thus making the arm & shifting shaft move as one unit to select the auto transmission positions. Next I made a new bracket for the fire wall mount and welded it to the shifter assembly at the bottom of the column and made a temporary shift pointer at the existing dash column mount. I made the shifter plate/bracket ou...

We have decided to sell our 48' Pace Shadow GT car hauler with a 22' living quarters.  If anyone out there is interested you can "add a comment" on the blog and we can contact you by telephone or email.  The trailer is currently on EBay under trailers "48' trailer car hauler" with description and lots of pictures. Our next event will be the Good Guys show in Scottsdale AZ in March.

We Started 2012 with the Starliner going to a car show at the Riverside Casino in Laughlin NV for 3 days in January. Went to Phoenix to deliver the windshield and back window for the 53 Kaiser that will be installed in February and visited the upholstery shop  where the headliner, padded dash and package tray are being installed.  The car will go back to Hot Rods by Dean for more assembly then to the glass shop before the upholstery can be finished. The 50 Ford project is ongoing with the EFI 5.0 Ford Engine mocked up for engine mounts and the body set back in the chassie for body work.

October and November were car show months with the 1951 Ford Chopped 4 door at the Kingman Air & Auto Show Oct 8 & 9 where we received show favorite. Oct 15th went to a 1st annual charity show with the Starliner and then on November 6th we took to 1960 Ford Starliner to the Mohave County Sheriff's K9 show the fund raises money for the dogs.  We won a participation award.  This is one of our favorite shows and have attended every year. November 17-21st we were in Scottsdale Arizona for the Goodguys show with the 1951 Ford and received "Best Shoe Box" award, visited the 53 Kaiser at "Hot Rods by Dean" where it is now being put back together and looks really good.  On Monday, we went to a large wholesale upholstery fabric outlet and picked out the fabric for the interior of the Kaiser.  Then on Tuesday drove to Del Mar CA for the Goodguys 1st Annual Del Mar Fall Show November 23rd thru 27th. and received an award of excellence for the 1951.  Ron...

I started a new project to keep me busy through the winter months a 1950 Ford 2. Door. I have had 2 1950 2 doors for 18 years; that were purchased in No. California from an auction in Santa Rosa, that ran with a flat head V8 but some of the parts were missing. On the one from San Jose with a flat had 6 that did not run and was hit in the back but all the parts were there. I pulled the flat head V 8 out of the better of the 2 cars, and the front suspension with the intention of installing the suspension, 9" rear end and 302 V8 that came out the 51 4 dr. After some investigation and layout I found that there were improvements made in the 1951 frame and the 302 engine hit the front cross member so I decided to use the original 51 frame that came from the 4 dr that had been cut up badly at the front cross member. I could repair and box so I pulled it out of the field where it has sat for 10 years or so and stripped all the parts off it. The small sand blaster was ac...

Haven't posted for a while as I have been busy at work. The Kaiser is slowly going back together,the chrome and polished stainless looks great. We have no plans for car shows until Oct & Nov when we will go to the Kingman Air Show Oct 8 & 9Th The Good Guys in Nov. The 51 is in the July 2011 Good guys Gazette, on page 55 and 144 for the shows at Pleasanton and Del Mar. There was a 3 month delay in finishing the paint of the Kaiser when additional green paint was ordered to finish the hood, deck lid, and small parts it did not match the existing green on the body and the paint separated, would not stay mixed after it was shaken. Dean contacted PPG to try to resolve the problem and after several other batches of paint was tried using the original paint mixture they could not match the green on the body the paint separated like oil and water and would leave a yellow pool on the painted surface after it had dried. Finally PPG decided that the original paint mix would not...

We went to Hot Rods by Dean in Phoenix last week (4/18/11) to inspect the paint and color on our 1953 Kaiser and were very pleased with both. It is a bright green with vivid white, the body work looks great. The frame required new cross members to accommodate the exhaust and to fix the area that I had cut away to raise the engine and transmission (see post of 2/7/10). The car will be polished then put back on the frame it is now on the rotisserie then will be re-assembled.