The Basket Bird

    A 1955 Thunder Bird gets a new life.

If it has two doors, I'll work on it!

Once in the shop the vehicle is accessed as to damage and placed on jack stands.

Tear down begins and the frame is removed.

The frame will be soon be stripped of all components.

What is it?  Beats me, but I found it welded to the left fender after removing all the bondo.

The sheet metal repairs are finished

and the initial epoxy coat is applied

Now the plastic body filler repair work can begin.  Just about every inch of this car needs work.

The car is primed for the first time

After priming the car is block sanded using 180-grit.  This helps locate all those minute problems.

Primed for a second time, the car will now be block sanded using 320-grit.  After that, it's on to color.

Painting begins with the inside.  Here the trunk has been painted.

After the trunk is painted the interior                        Finally the exterior of the car is painted.

is sprayed.  Notice the masking around                   At this point we can start laying out the

the firewall to prevent over spray from                       new wiring harness and plotting the

reaching the engine compartment                            rebuild.

The tail lamps and back up lamps are                    Up front the grille assembly goes in.

installed.  Notice the exhaust pipes

exiting the rear body.

A little detail work begins in the engine compartment.

The end to a lot of hard work. I think the car looks great!

We're all about building cars,

it's our business.