Build project - 1962 wagon deluxe

[Falcongek]

That could be true, My car also sat for at around 30 years in a basement before I pulled her out in 2002.

[Jeff W]

Hi Scott, yes that is the horn relay. When purchasing a new one (if needed) beware they come with either two mounting tabs (like yours) or a single mounting tab. Either will work electricity but the single will leave you with extra hole in the radiator support.

[Gitanesteel]

I know most people aren't following the forum much and have moved to Facebook. But, I figured I'd post here for those who still come around and are interested in progress.

It's been a couple of years since my dad and I took over the wagon project from my brother who has his own 63 2 door to worry about. It's been slow because of travel for my daughter's college softball, some medical treatment for me and the fact the car was 3.5 hours from me. That left limited time to work on it - as in 6-8 times a year. Well, in May of this year things started to get better when we moved from Ellensburg, WA to Lewiston, ID. Now, I am only 90 minutes from the car and trips have been more frequent. So, the question is what has been done.

We have all the parts for the front suspension which have gone on. My car was made before the switch over to the upper ball joints with the bigger spindle so, rather than try and source the unobtanium ball joints, I took the upper control arms and spindle from my brother's 63 since he was upgrading to a V8 suspension. $20 for ball joints is more palatable. Of course, you have to have wheels even if the car isn't functional and I now have two sets - 14" Enkei mesh and 14" factory steel rims that have been powder coated black. I have a set of Falcon dog dish caps from a guy on Bike Forums who just had them sitting around one of his sheds.

We bought a full floor pan from Steve Harwood. While patching would have worked I decided to just go the route of a full pan and new toe boards just for the sake that they should last another 62 years. I don't have the knowledge or skills to do the floor work so, through my mechanic cousin, we got in touch with a guy who works in a body shop. He looked at the car and agreed he could do the floor work. His labor rate is agreeable (total cost has been well under the minimum a body shop quoted us without seeing the car). And his attention to detail has been fantastic. He fashioned some new parts for the welded panels on the floor and also for the transmission hump because he didn't like the way things looked. Fast forward to now and work has slowed immensely at his body shop. He is taking a few weeks of unemployment and has stated he'd like to continue with the remaining body work on the wagon and take it to primer for us. Fortunately, the body work is not as extensive as other cars I have seen. The quarters, tailgate and other key areas are good with surface rust and no holes. The only area that is suspect is the bottom of the rear doors but I have extras that he can use if needed.

In the meantime, I have been pulling off all the stainless trim and working on cleaning it up and polishing it. Tedious but also somewhat relaxing. One the car is in primer we'll get it to a shop for paint (hopefully have one located) and while it's gone we can pull the 200 6 cylinder and C4 from the donor 79 Mustang and start going through it. We haven't touched the rear yet and will do so later. We have a set of fiberglass leaf springs that used to be on my brother's 65 Falcon Sprint and I'm leaning on putting those on... just because.

I am just hoping that all the labeled bags and numerous photos we'll get it back together correctly.