1978 Mercury Colony Park

Yeah, I've fixed those with nuts before. To hell with safety

Having never been in one of these motors before I didn't realize what was missing until I got the new motor. There was literally nothing left of the ones in the original motor. There was a fine powder of ground plastic and dried grease all through the assembly which was the remnants of these buggers.

Merry Wagonmas!

The wagon was a big hit. It was parked right out front of the Sheraton Society Hill in Philly all night. The valets loved it and told me that everyone walking past the hotel had to stop and take pictures of it. Kelley still hates it, but perhaps a little less now.

Cousin Eddie even stopped by for a photo op

HONKY LIPS!!!

After getting mercilessly sniped on the sweet set of wheels GRM was ebaying off their Shelby I stumbled into a great deal on a set of 17" bullit style wheels from a mustang.

Still not sure how I feel about this style for the wagon but the price was right and if I hate them on the wagon I can always put them on my wife's VW, they'll look a hell of a lot better than the mustang wheels she has on there now.

In reply to JThw8:

What year Mustang did those wheels come off of? `04 and below and the spacers you'll need won't need to be that big, maybe .75" or so. '05+ and you're looking at 1.5" spacers.

Also, and I am not positive on this, but I seem to recall the big Fords having a 5X5 bolt pattern. Again, my information on older Fords is rusty, so take this nugget at face value. I hope I am wrong.

Hoop wrote: In reply to JThw8: What year Mustang did those wheels come off of? `04 and below and the spacers you'll need won't need to be that big, maybe .75" or so. '05+ and you're looking at 1.5" spacers. Also, and I am not positive on this, but I seem to recall the big Fords having a 5X5 bolt pattern. Again, my information on older Fords is rusty, so take this nugget at face value. I hope I am wrong.

Big chevies used the 5x5, the Fords (at least this one) are still 5x5.

These are 98-04 model but not too worried about the spacers, sadly I just sold off a set I had but I can always get more. I have to sort out fitment after its bagged so everything will be different at that point. Still not convinced Im not going to just put them on the wife's car instead either.

JThw8 wrote: Big chevies used the 5x5, the Fords (at least this one) are still 5x5.

In reply to JThw8:

Are those old Fords 5x4.5? Good to know. I know GM used the 5x5 prolifically, but I thought I read somewhere that the old big Fords did as well. Good to know that they didn't.

If you ever end up not liking these wheels, let me know. They would look quite nice on my Grand Marquis

Hmm, maybe I'm wrong. Ahh well, I guess I should really go measure. ;)

Indeed they are 5x5, I have now proven that old Fords are not my forte.

This just means that the spacers will now be spacer/adapters I guess :)

Well, that sucks. Those are going to be some pretty wild spacers/adapters! Well, not as wild as the ones the VW guys would have to run to use Porsche wheels.

Hoop wrote: Well, that sucks. Those are going to be some pretty wild spacers/adapters! Well, not as wild as the ones the VW guys would have to run to use Porsche wheels.

Or the ones that are on my wife's VW to run Ford 5x4.5 on the VW wide 5 pattern. I really hate the wheels on her car right now, enough to give up this set for the wagon and put them on her car. Unfortunately the ones on her car wouldn't look any better on the wagon.

The spacers/adapters for 5x5 to 5x4.5 were fairly common size actually, easy to find and in a wide variety of spacer widths.

Wife's VW for reference

In my quest for a set of summer wheels for my Grand Marquis, I come across many sets of those Mustang wheels. I understand what you mean; I can't bring myself to put them on my car.

Hoop wrote: In my quest for a set of summer wheels for my Grand Marquis, I come across many sets of those Mustang wheels. I understand what you mean; I can't bring myself to put them on my car.

Yeah, just the wrong look for the wagons or the VW. PO put them on and I dont have a set of wide 5s or they'd be gone already. Buddy of mine has a set of wide 5 chromies on his 356 replica that are mine as soon as he finishes his IRS and big brake conversion so he can put on the Fuchs I gave him. Unfortunately that project seems to be stalled so it will be a while until I see those.

In reply to JThw8:

does the wife's license plate say JAMS?

AngryCorvair wrote: In reply to JThw8: does the wife's license plate say JAMS?

LOL, no. She doesn't like the red but the car needs to be stripped to bare metal and have some work done before I could do a respray and I never seem to have the time for that so she wanted something to dress it up.

Hey, I think those Bullit wheels would look awesome on the wagon.

dculberson wrote: Hey, I think those Bullit wheels would look awesome on the wagon.

We'll find out soon enough. I brought them home tonight, adapters are on the way. I want to fix some of the road rash on the edges and polish the rims and paint the centers a bronze instead of the silver. Ok so maybe not all that soon after all, but it will get there :)

JThw8 wrote: Merry Wagonmas! The wagon was a big hit. It was parked right out front of the Sheraton Society Hill in Philly all night. The valets loved it and told me that everyone walking past the hotel had to stop and take pictures of it. Kelley still hates it, but perhaps a little less now.

Concierge parking in a Valet spot says a lot about the vehicle.

TRoglodyte wrote:

JThw8 wrote: Merry Wagonmas! The wagon was a big hit. It was parked right out front of the Sheraton Society Hill in Philly all night. The valets loved it and told me that everyone walking past the hotel had to stop and take pictures of it. Kelley still hates it, but perhaps a little less now.

Concierge parking in a Valet spot says a lot about the vehicle.

LOL, they had it front and center of the hotel as a decoration piece for the night. The valets loved the thing and said everyone who walked by the hotel that night stopped for photos.

And bad news on the wheels :( I knew they had a little curb rash, no biggie I planned to refinish them and they were cheap. But the one wheel had a bend in it, looked like I could massage it back but then I cleaned it up and it was actually cracked. Still holding air but an accident waiting to happen.

Seller is apologetic and I said I'd look at my options then we'll see what we can work out. As luck has it I remembered a local CL ad for a single wheel that a guy was selling cheap because he sold the other 3 and just wanted this one gone, so I'm picking that up in the morning and I'll let the seller know the cost and see what he wants to do.

Going to look into getting the cracked one repaired anyway so I can use it as a spare.

Oh, and that Christmas party got me a little more print too.

Long time no update. Almost BABE rally time. I've decided to hold off on putting the new wheels on until after the rally but I did replace the master cylinder today. Came home last week and saw a puddle under the car and sure enough it was brake fluid, the old master had just given up.

A whopping $17 for a new one from Rock Auto and we're back in business :)