Well, the cause of my hiatus is finally leaving me today. It will be tearing up the roads in Palmdale, California here in a couple days. This little '63 Futura was off loaded in my garage last January. It was a mess. Rust, sub frame damage, paint was destroyed, as was the interior. Well, I am here to tell you that after $6500 in actual money spent, and less than 11 months of work, any one can build anything if they put their minds, and heart into it. The only thing I didn't do myself, was engine machine work, and the alignment. I did all the paint, and body work, and all the assembly of this car by myself, in my two car garage. I bought the interior as a kit, and recovered the seats myself, I hung the headliner, myself. My kids provided a couple extra hands when installing the front, and back glass. It has a '91 Mustang GT 5.0HO, with matching T-5 5 speed manual tranny. Manual R&P steering, and manual disk brakes. Aftermarket front suspension, Calvert Racing traction bars out back (really take the hop out of it). It has an aftermarket (Professional Products Boss EFI) efi set up. MSD ignition, headers, etc. It really turned out to be a NICE little car.

 

Pretty little car!! You did well. You got any before pics? Firewall and engine bay looks clean and neat too.

EDIT: I didn't notice your photobucket link. I saw the before pics. You did good.

 

Very nice! someone is getting a neat christmas gift!

 

At least it came to fruition. I lurked Dave's site, and watched the progress. Glad it came together. Mine's still apart and buried in snow.

 

Yeah, now I can take a winter break, and build some model cars with the kids, and spend some time hanging with the wife. Since having a mild heart attack a few weeks ago, I took the semi-retired route. Now I have more free time. In the spring, I'll throw the Big Job together, since I don't think it'll sell before then, and put it back up for sale. Then, since the '63 Falcon Sprint I got in the back yard isn't gonna sell either, I'll pull it in the garage, and start all over again. I'm dealing with my dad on getting a 50ish Silver Streak trailer, and his '55 F-800, so I'll have another truck project before too long as well.

 

Very nice job on the Falcon! It's so cute and unassuming, it's hard to believe what a hot rod under that sheeps clothing it is. I like it!

 

Thanks Wayne. It really is a heck of a sleeper. Actually, the buyer just e-mailed me today, saying the same thing. He said it looked like his grandma should be cruising it. I really got to say, I like the look of having it basically bone stock, inside and out, until you pop the hood, and, of course, that T-5. Just walking around it, the gauges under the dash, and the tach, are the only things that stand out. Nothing else looks non-stock. Stock bench seat, white headliner, all stock exterior, and interior trimmings. But, when you let out the clutch, and get rolling, mat the pedal, and it kicks a little sideways, and the tires start smoking, and it roars to life all the way to the 6K chip. It really is the very definition of a sleeper.

 

Nice Car Wmjoe!

How ya been? Hope you're gonna stick around and chat anyway!

 

Thanks Julie. I've been fair. With a bit more time on my hands, I can hang around and chat a bit.

 

Nice job, you did yourself proud!

 

Thanks. You know, the best part of building this Falcon, is the low budget I gave my self on it. I could of gone way wild, and spent 10K plus, but I didn't need to. I did everything, but the machine work, and alignment, in my garage. So, I think that this car really exemplifies, for me anyhow, that any one, even those only mildly knowledgable, can build a really nice car ona budget. When there was something I didn't have a lot of experience with, I turned to the web, and asked some local experts in that particular aspect. Now, I got someone wanting my Sprint. So, if he comes through, and buys it, I really want to find either another 60-63 Falcon, or, what I really want, a '55-57 Fairlane.

 

Nice job Joe. She's a beauty. Makes me wish I still had my '63 Futura fastback. Same white with red. Had a lot of good times in that car, but for some reason the local law tended to notice me in it. Odd. But that was a lot of years ago. Stu

 

That is a nice car. I really do like it. I was going to tell you I would give you your money back when you get tired of it. You did a great job for a reasonable amount of money. Did you keep track of how many hours you had total in the car?