Irish Twin - one of a set of siblings born 9-12 months apart. A derogatory term denoting that the parents (and Irish in general) act with passion and lust instead of restraint and common sense. Fergus is a 1968 Ford Country Sedan wagon. He has a three on the tree column shift manual transmission, a 390 big block, and factory AC. Fergus is an Irish twin.
I suspect that Fergus and I will have a long and interesting history together.
In reply to mazdeuce:
Looking forward to the build man.....
BBC
Pretty much every car I own is an Irish twin then; I've had well over 40 in the last 20 years.
Great to see it arrive! Hope it checks out okay after the dicey transport.
The transport was actually quite pleasant from my end. If it weren't for the fact that Billy_Bottle_Caps (hereafter known as BBC) said that the loading was a bit terrifying, I would have only good things to say. The rate was the lowest I found, the broker was nice, the shipment was quick, and the drivers were really quite polite. I did wake up this morning to find the car sitting in a giant puddle of fuel, and that may or may not be related to shipping. I stopped the leak by disconnecting the fuel line from the gas tank loosely screwed to the inside of the storage area in back. I'm simultaneously overjoyed and horrified by the car. Lots of pictures and a priority list of things to fix coming after I get the kids dropped off at school.
Congrats on the new Family Truckster!
I've spent the morning crawling all over the car and I don't hardly know where to start. Running the VIN through a decoder tells me that I have a 1968 Ford Country Sedan 6 passenger wagon. It has a 390 with a 2 barrel carb and was either built in the Twin Cities or in San Jose California. When I actually get the title I can figure out which letter it is. None of this is new information. The door tag (probably) says that I have a 4.11 non locking rear end. I think the best thing to do is bombard you with artsy pictures and comment when necessary.
The only gauge in the car. Speed.
Simple controls.
The battery uses the ever popular "gravity" hold down method.
Wrenches tucked in behind the battery. These yours BBC?
Where the AC compressor used to sit. I'll get that fixed up. AC is necessary.
Some body work needs to be redone.
Some minor tears in the upholstery.
Fuel leak this morning. I stopped it, but I haven't fixed it. It looks like there is some sort of hole in the line. It didn't leak out during transport, but once I started it last night I got the siphon flowing and it just leaked out. I popped the line off the tank that's sitting in the storage area and stopped the siphoning. We'll let that evaporate for a few days.
I think it would be more fun to light it on fire. Move the car first though
Congrats! I can't wait to read about what your wife thinks about it.
The compressor mount looks like a standard York. Fortunately, they sell adapaters to go from the York plate to a Sanden style, which seem to work a bit better when converting to r134a.
Ian F wrote: Congrats! I can't wait to read about what your wife thinks about it. The compressor mount looks like a standard York. Fortunately, they sell adapaters to go from the York plate to a Sanden style, which seem to work a bit better when converting to r134a.
Thanks for my first lead on AC upgrades. All of the parts are there, but they're all 45 years old and all need to be replaced. The plan is to get as efficient a system as I can and keep the stock under dash controls. The condenser in front of the radiator is as big as a pizza box, so I have room for a big replacement. Dryer should be easy. Sanden comperssor. I need to get inside the dash and see what the evaporator looks like and what I can use there. I think I can probably put together a pretty modern system if I can find someone to make lines for me.
The good news is that the car came with a matched set of tires with decent tread. The bad news is that they're a set of Western Auto Sentry bias ply tires in size H-78-15. Step 1 is to get new tires on the car so it can pass inspection and be driven.
Popping off the front tires reveals these huge drum brakes.
Popping off the rear wheels reveals these even bigger, finned (for her pleasure?) drums.
And that's where we sit at the end of today. I've got kid stuff and dinner and soccer practice for the rest of the day. Tomorrow morning I'll drop the kids off and head to my favorite local dive tire shop. The old man that runs it is awesome. We'll see if I can get four good tires and a spare that won't make me too terrified.
I like this. What is your goal with Fergus? What sort of role will he be playing? Tow rig? Family truckster? Cruiser?
In reply to sachilles:
He could do any of those things, but I'm not really sure. I need to be able to drive the car to see where it really fits into the whole scheme of things. I'd love to have it be reliable enough that I could sell my truck and have the wagon take over all of it's duties, but I suspect that I've got a couple of years of little projects before I'll be ready to make that call.
The real point of Fergus is to learn. I can learn all about working on carb'd V8's with points and about fixing body and frame rot and about refreshing an interior. He's cool enough to warrant the work but not so valuable that I'll feel bad if I screw it up slightly. Something about this car really appeals to me.
In reply to mazdeuce:
I'm going by what I've read about the similarly ancient system used in Volvo 1800's - the evaporator can usually be flushed, tested and re-used. Might go ahead and replace the blower motor while you're in there.
Everything else is fairly standard stuff available from online vendors - ACkits.com for example. On old Volvos, the PITA parts are the engine brackets and pulleys, but since the car already has A/C you'll mainly be doing an updatign project, which should be easier.
mazdeuce wrote: The good news is that the car came with a matched set of tires with decent tread. The bad news is that they're old enough to be grandparents to my children....
Fixed that for you. 
I should try to figure out the date codes on the tires just for fun, shouldn't I? 
mazdeuce wrote: I think I can probably put together a pretty modern system if I can find someone to make lines for me.
When I replaced the AC in the Valiant, I used a hose kit from Southern Rods, measured marked and cut the hoses myself, and had NAPA crimp the fittings. Worked just fine.
R134, big parallel-flow condenser, Sanden-style compressor, electric fan.
In reply to slantvaliant:
That sounds like a good blueprint.
Tires are date coded 258, so they were made on the 25th week of the 8th year of the decade. Which decade?
4.11 open diff? that's gotta be nice with a 390.
no, i'm not serious. unavoidable one-tire-fire and 6 mpg to boot.
In reply to mazdeuce:
No not my wrenches 
I never turned one on the Beast... Bonus for you.. Western Auto closed locally in 1983 if I remember correctly.. Those tires have to be 30+ years old
BBC
4.11 and no tow hitch? Weird. You aren't going to turn those tires to smoke first?
For that much car I would recommend something in the E load range flavor!
I wonder if disc brake conversions are cheap and readily available for it?
Also I would assume 3rd gear on that is 1:1 so, with 4.11 gears, I'm guessing this won't be going into the unlimited class for any open road races!
By chance, are you looking for a Chilton?
Sorry about the sideways picture!
It's pretty thick!
In reply to The_Jed:
Is.....is that yours? I can't hardly tell you how much easier something would make my life. I'm sending you a PM you fine gentleman you.
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