Norma was also a three on the tree ac car. Crazy how many old fords I see with factory ac option. Back in the 60’s that was a expensive option. Excited to see Fergus get some love!
Norma was also a three on the tree ac car. Crazy how many old fords I see with factory ac option. Back in the 60’s that was a expensive option. Excited to see Fergus get some love!
I'm in my last 24 hours as the owner of Fergus. The title is on the table. I have 400 things to do to get ready for One Lap of America, I leave a couple hours after Fergus does, but I needed to wash the car one last time.
Washing is how I say hello to new cars and goodby to old ones. A quiet unrushed half hour spent handwashing a car is an intimate thing. For me it lies somewhere between petting a dog and giving a massage to a special someone. I tell everyone I hate automatic car washes, but that's only because they mechanize a task that I love.
I did leave the grille in it's natural East Texas state. It's humid here, algae grows on chrome. This gives Cotton a little something to unearth and I hope he enjoys it.
The car still isn't clean by a long shot. There is sap all over it that is approaching the consistency of amber. I don't think there are any live wasps in the door jambs, but there are the remnants of them. A simple washing doesn't come close to erasing the years that it's spent with me.
I'm sending away a car that is worse than when I got it, and I feel bad about that. Maybe I'm not the right owner? Maybe it's just not the right time? I still don't 100% know, but I do know that it's better to pass it on than become a collector of dreams that I'll never get to.
mazdeuce - Seth said:A simple washing doesn't come close to erasing the years that it's spent with me.
I'm sending away a car that is worse than when I got it, and I feel bad about that. Maybe I'm not the right owner? Maybe it's just not the right time? I still don't 100% know, but I do know that it's better to pass it on than become a collector of dreams that I'll never get to.
I've seen several examples of what you're describing... cars that just need a little bit of time/attention/love to get to be back running, but they've been waiting on that for easily 25 if not 30 years. If you had a good enough barn, maybe you'd be saving it for someone to find one day. Or worse, you could be the type that pines about how you almost bought that Cobra, Meyers 145, whatever... if only you'd have an extra $20.
Life is change, and life is short. Do, Do it Now, and only look back long enough to learn something for making decisions in the future.
Good Luck Cotton, I look forward to seeing what you have to say about Fergus... if you do start a new thread, make sure to post a link to it here, please
Im guilty of this. The duster.....
In reply to Dusterbd13 :
Me too - my GT6. The transmission locked up 4 years ago and I still haven't fixed it.
Fergus on is the road with Cotton. Everyone should sell a car to Cotton, he's great. He also has a great trailer with a winch with a super long synthetic rope and a cordless remote. He hooked up to Fergus, pulled him out the carport and onto the trailer in one smooth motion. He may have ruined my "no trailer" promise to myself. I have seen the light.
I was poking around this morning and opened the glove box. These are my papers. I've literally never had a rodent in any car I've ever owned here in Texas, except for this one apparently. I guess it just smelled like home to someone?
And here he goes. I'm hoping this isn't the last I get to see of this car in person. I think Cotton is the right guy to drag Fergus home.
So will this thread be continued by the new owner since the tittle is not owner specific or will a new thread be started?
I vote for continuity.
Pete
In reply to NOHOME :
I’ll keep this one going. I have a full day tomorrow in Houston, then the plan is to drive through the night and be back in middle TN early morning Friday.
Nice to meet you Seth and thanks for showing me around. I meant to sneak a closer look at Ferdinand as well. Maybe by the next time I’m in Houston he’ll be running.
Also, I really need to paint my trailer!
In reply to Cotton :
Also, I really need to paint my trailer!
Less trailer painting and more Fergus fixin. We been waiting a long time on this one!
Voice from 5/13/13
"I suspect that Fergus and I will have a long and interesting history together. "
That picture, and the date on it, makes it a lot easier to admit that I'm a different person than I was five years ago and that probably has a lot to do with this re-homing.
My tentative list:
-Brake lines/front disk brake conversion: I really dislike working on drum brakes, and have way too many cars with them, so my life is much easier with at least front disks on mas many cars as possible. The conversion kit is relatively inexpensive, so that's step one.
-Drivability: Once I have good brakes I'll drive the car around and see what shakes out. Seth mentioned a fuel leak, probably the accelerator pump, so I'll fix that real quick. That's common on the 2bbl Motorcraft carbs and is a quick fix.
-Fuel system: Tank and lines. No one repops the wagon tank, so this could get interesting. Might end up with a custom solution.
-Rust: there are a few places that need to be addressed. Nothing caused me to go, "this was a really bad idea", which is a good thing because I'm the ultimate enabler. Basically, if I say it's bad....it's really really bad (crush it).
-Upholstery: A few holes here and there. I know a lady who is an upholstery wizard, so she will save me on this one, but I just want it to be repaired and look oem.
-Drivability cont: Seth mentioned odd gear ratios and that it didn't really like to cruise at highway speeds.....60MPH even being a problem. I've been down that road before, (big block Chevelle with a 3 speed auto and 4:11s I'm looking at you) and I don't like it. I've been the guy following the slowest semi on the interstate, it sucks, and I like for my cars to be able to tackle the interstate if at all possible. So, I need to drive it to see what the deal is. Maybe regear it? maybe a 4 speed? (I'd like to keep the column shift if possible).
- After that it gets to the fun stuff....I want dual exhaust and maybe even headers, I know it doesn't make sense, but I want this thing to look original and sound mean. Also, a clutch fan because the fixed fan on my 72 LTD sounded like it was going to EXPLODE on the dyno. Then maybe an intake manifold and 4bbl, but that will be a long way down the road.
Speaking of dyno, yes it will see a dyno. I'll dyno stock first, on the same dyno as my old 351 2bbl powered 72 LTD, as a fun comparison. Maybe I'll have him overlay the graphs between the two Fords and the CL600. 
Cotton said:
Speaking of dyno, yes it will see a dyno. I'll dyno stock first, on the same dyno as my old 351 2bbl powered 72 LTD, as a fun comparison. Maybe I'll have him add the numbers of the two Fords and see how much lower their total is, compared to the CL600 .
FTFY
In reply to AngryCorvair :
That’s a good point!
I think I speak for a lot of us when I say that I would like to see the dyno plot and not just peak numbers. Area under the curve and all that.
My '66 T&C wagon has been sitting about as long as Fergus has. A potential "Cotton" stopped by a few weeks back to ask me about it, and I actually threw out a number I'd sell it for. I thought it was pretty reasonable, but he never called me. I guess he was just one of those junk scroungers looking for a quick flip. Oh well.
On the fuel tank- I have a local shop I've used that has worked magic with old tanks. Patched leaks, fixed rust, etc. Usually very reasonably. A new tank for my Jag was $600; they fixed the old, leaky, rusty one for a 'C' note.
Disk brakes were a factory option on full size Fords in 1968, but finding a donor car in the junkyard today may be tough. I'd look at getting the adapter kit from https://scarebird.com/ ; they are designed to use readily available rotors and calipers that you can buy at any auto parts store.
For the gas tank, there's a business called Gas Tank Renu that I've heard good things about. You can check their website to see if they have a facility in your area: https://www.gastankrenu.com/
A regular four speed transmission won't help for highway driving since most of them have a 1:1 top gear which is the same as the three speed you have now. Ford did offer a four speed transmission with an overdrive 4th gear in pickups in the late 1970s (one of my friends bought a new truck in 1978 that had one.) It was based on their toploader transmission design so it would be easy enough to make it fit in a car, but unlike the regular toploader the overdrive version wasn't very durable (and making it work with a column shift would be tough.) Another thought - Ford also sold cars with three speed with overdrive transmissions in the 1950s and sometime into the early 1960s, if you can find one of those it may be easier to adapt.
Just for fun, there's a scan of the 1968 Ford factory brochure here: http://oldcarbrochures.com/static/NA/Ford/1968_Ford/1968_Ford_Brochure/dirindex.html It has some cool station wagon pictures.
mazdeuce - Seth said:Fergus on is the road with Cotton. Everyone should sell a car to Cotton, he's great. He also has a great trailer with a winch with a super long synthetic rope and a cordless remote. He hooked up to Fergus, pulled him out the carport and onto the trailer in one smooth motion. He may have ruined my "no trailer" promise to myself. I have seen the light.
I was poking around this morning and opened the glove box. These are my papers. I've literally never had a rodent in any car I've ever owned here in Texas, except for this one apparently. I guess it just smelled like home to someone?
And here he goes. I'm hoping this isn't the last I get to see of this car in person. I think Cotton is the right guy to drag Fergus home.
I sold him a running car, but yeah I agree with this.
Glad to see it going to another home, one of these is still on my one day I'll own one list!
stuart in mn said:A regular four speed transmission won't help for highway driving since most of them have a 1:1 top gear which is the same as the three speed you have now. Ford did offer a four speed transmission with an overdrive 4th gear in pickups in the late 1970s (one of my friends bought a new truck in 1978 that had one.) It was based on their toploader transmission design so it would be easy enough to make it fit in a car, but unlike the regular toploader the overdrive version wasn't very durable (and making it work with a column shift would be tough.) Another thought - Ford also sold cars with three speed with overdrive transmissions in the 1950s and sometime into the early 1960s, if you can find one of those it may be easier to adapt.
I gave one of these transmissions to GTXVette last year. It was out of a '78 Grenada 302 as I understand it. It was a 3spd manual + a fourth OD. Front shaft and bolt pattern were the same as the 3spd column shift in the '68 390 F100 I had, so it should be a bolt in swap. It was a few inches longer so it would need a shortened driveshaft. I just never got around to using it and it had been sitting in my shop for years after I sold the truck. He may still have it, but I think at the time he was planning on using it as trade fodder.
I'm glad this came to TN. Now it's close enough for me to buy it next time it comes up for sale ;-)
ultraclyde said:stuart in mn said:A regular four speed transmission won't help for highway driving since most of them have a 1:1 top gear which is the same as the three speed you have now. Ford did offer a four speed transmission with an overdrive 4th gear in pickups in the late 1970s (one of my friends bought a new truck in 1978 that had one.) It was based on their toploader transmission design so it would be easy enough to make it fit in a car, but unlike the regular toploader the overdrive version wasn't very durable (and making it work with a column shift would be tough.) Another thought - Ford also sold cars with three speed with overdrive transmissions in the 1950s and sometime into the early 1960s, if you can find one of those it may be easier to adapt.
I gave one of these transmissions to GTXVette last year. It was out of a '78 Grenada 302 as I understand it. It was a 3spd manual + a fourth OD. Front shaft and bolt pattern were the same as the 3spd column shift in the '68 390 F100 I had, so it should be a bolt in swap. It was a few inches longer so it would need a shortened driveshaft. I just never got around to using it and it had been sitting in my shop for years after I sold the truck. He may still have it, but I think at the time he was planning on using it as trade fodder.
I'm glad this came to TN. Now it's close enough for me to buy it next time it comes up for sale ;-)
That trans sounds like what I need. If any of you guys have one, or know of one for sale, let me know.
Cotton said:That trans sounds like what I need. If any of you guys have one, or know of one for sale, let me know.
will require cutting floor for shifter. but wagons with bench seats and floor shifters are cool.
In reply to AngryCorvair :
I’d like keep the column shift, but honestly being able to go highway speeds is more important for me. We’ll see how it feels once I get it on the road again.
The hotel people were nice. Nothing got stolen and they let me do some maintenance on the trailer in the parking lot.
I'd just go with taller rear gears. If it's too sluggish after that then I'd look at power upgrades.
I wonder how hard it would be to make the column shift 1-4 then add a second lever for reverse. Best of both worlds.
I suppose it would come down to which direction the arms on the transmissions face/move.
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