Frank's Cars - #9: 1964 Ford Thunderbird

Here is my latest acquisition, a 1964 Ford Thunderbird. I bought from Nicolas Perez who owns Sunshine Auto Detailing on Mission Blvd. in Hayward. He put it up for sale many months ago when I didn't have any money to buy a car. I know people will think I'm crazy but I think that the 1964 Thunderbird is the most beautiful car ever produced in the USA. I've lusted after it since I was a little kid--and it is as old as I am so this has been a while in coming.

The economy has been in the toilet for the past 2 years and Nicolas' beautiful car never sold. I continued to see it parked behind his business for months and I finally broke down. Nick wouldn't take a dime less than his asking price. So I eventually paid him what he wanted--more than I could afford and less than I think it was worth so all-in-all an okay deal for both of us.

The car looks like it was purchased by an elderly couple then put in a nice garage & forgotten for a few decades. The interior looks almost new--it doesn't even show the hardening & shrinkage that I would expect on the seats but they are worn just enough to show that they are original. The engine starts eagerly and the car drives well.

I'm in love.

It needed paint so we brought it into the shop for some exterior freshening. Then we got busy. So it has been sitting, naked (bare metal) in a corner for weeks. I only got to drive it a couple of times before the crew tore into it. Everyone here wants it to be a show car but this is frustrating! The good news has been that the original sheet metal is very straight. The bad news was that the original paint was microchecked (in technical terms, the paint was "toast") so everything has to get stripped down to bare metal.

The trunk looked like it had never been used. The original tire & liners were virtually untouched. . . but it smelled musty and an old parts catalog sitting at the bottom of the trunk was wet. . . we found rust. Lots of rust.

Fortunately, the rust in the trunk has turned-out to be just on the surface. It cleaned-up fairly easily.

Who can tell us what this is? We can tell it is an air inflator connector and it is on the driver's side wheel well in the trunk. We haven't done any research into it. It looks like it connects to the rear suspension. Is this an early self-leveling system? Was it stock?!

More photos to come after she's painted.

Car of the Day - 2005 Mercedes Benz CL500 - Autobody Work

2005 Mercedes Benz CL 500 with dented quarter panel, broken tail light & scraped bumpers

Almost Everything Autobody Stays Green to Help the Environment

Almost Everything Autobody has always done its part to help the environment. Our latest innovation in 2009 was to dramatically reduce the VOC (volatile organic compound) content in our paints. Reducing VOCs reduces smog and makes the atmosphere better to breath.

Our top of the line is now a "waterborne" paint. Instead of petroleum-based chemicals, this technology uses pure water to carry the paint through the spray system and onto the car. Almost Everything Autobody uses the same waterborne paint that has been in use by Mercedes Benz and other manufacturers in Europe for over 10 years. Special equipment is required to apply this paint. We use heated & specially ventilated booths for painting & curing plus air jets to cause the water to evaporate quickly, leaving only a durable shell of paint on the vehicle. The process creates a very high quality, high-solids finish and we give it the longest guarantee available in the business.

In January 2010, Almost Everything Autobody will be going a step further, eliminating more VOCs from our processes & chemicals.

And just so no one thinks this is some sort of new "green" fad we recently embarked on, we want folks to know that in 2007 we ordered all new equipment including state-of-the-art, fully enclosed, atmosphere regulated paint booth, fully enclosed curing oven and a fully enclosed, ventilated paint mixing room. These "clean room" type booths keep all of the chemicals contained to just the area where they are being used so they don't harm our employees or neighbors. Filters on the exhaust clean the air exiting the paint booth before it goes back into the atmosphere.