Bullhead City, AZ

Mike,

Reading your site on painting your car brought back a lot of memories of all the work I went through on my 64 Ranchero.

My project took months of stripping, sanding, welding in new floors and quarter panel and all the holes from the Futura moldings installed by someone with sheet metal screws, priming, sanding, priming again, more sanding and finally painting the car one piece at a time, and then putting it all back together again.

All of this done in my garage. My wife kept asking and is still asking "is it done yet?" Nope, project cars are never done.

I promised her I could save a lot of money if I did it all myself. I did save a ton of cash, but still managed to bust the budget big time.

I can truly say I did it all on my car. I even had the license plates made up to proclaim it. "I BILT IT".

Here is a shot of the interior. I used seats from a Hyundai which I had
recovered. I made my own door panels from hardboard that were covered to match the seats. There is also a covered panel behind the seats.

I also made a one piece headliner from cardboard that I covered with head liner material like is used in new cars.

The instrument panel is the old panel from my 66 Mustang convertible. I painted it and installed VDO gauges.

The dash was filled and modified for a smoother look. The shifter is a B&M Star Shifter connected to a shift kitted C-4.

The A/C is an after market R-134A unit with an under dash evaporator similar to the old Ford units. I also added 3 point seat belts for added safety.

I have also attached a shot of the bed. I bought the stainless strips from
the Mar-K company. I cut all the oak boards from planks bought at a hardwood supplier.

 It took a long time to fit the boards around the wheel wells. What
a pain, but I'm happy with the way it came out.

Anyway good luck with your car. I can really appreciate all the time and effort your putting into it.

Thanks,
 
 Jim and Linda Howard