We found another MK II for parts about 2 miles down the road

It was completely disassembled

We started mocking up the 57 Ford top frame etc.

The ford top frame was a little wider than the car so all the crossbows would eventually get shortened

The length of the main top arms was too long as well ,so the were shortened ay the front 

The metal panel you see the red bracket attached to and the window motor hanging from is from the parts car

figured we'd mess with drilling holes in the worst panels and transfer the final holes etc needed to the good panels later

seeing as the top frame was too wide, so then was the rear seat frame ,so it was cut in half for mock up

We had to figure out seat angle and amount of room we had between the rear seat and trunk lid , hoping there was enough room for the convertible top to stack properly when down 

We had to make a custom header bow to match the wrap around windshield 

The windshield frame had to be reinforced, gussets were installed at the corners, the inside of the top channel had gussets installed about every 6" inside the channel and the top of the frame was capped with 11 gauge steel

it's now strong enough that you could literally stand on it , then the latch set up from the 57 Ford was used 

When we started working on the hydraulics we found the 57 Ford hydraulic cylinders were too long, I had a set of spare cylinders for my 62 T-bird Roadster and they worked out to be the perfect length, so mounting brackets were fabricated and welded in

We put in some hydraulic lines and a pump and the top frame went up and down perfectly

At this point we are about 1 month in

now that the top was working and the sheet metal was stripped to bare metal, my Dad decided that the body was far better than he initially thought ,so he said we're going for a complete frame off build

The factory undercoating was heated and hand scrapped off after we attached the body to a cart

The driveline removed and it's decided the frame will be blasted and powder coated 

The frame was in excellent condition and no repairs were necessary before it was sent out

v8deuce wrote:

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Very cool keep those posts coming!! Are you keeping it all original?

 

  Randy

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 Thanks, the car will be kept as original as possible considering the conversion to convertible

While the body and frame were out being blasted, I thought this would be a good time to have a look at the engine
It's a Lincoln 368 Y block, early production cars were 285 hp, this is a later car so its factory rated at 300 hp, which was impressive in its day
But this is a 5000 lb car and 19' long
The engine was supposed to have been rebuilt a few years ago with very few miles on.
I was hoping to just open it up and re-gasket it
When I pulled the first head I was pleasently surprised, combustion chamber looked great and I could see the hone marks on the cylinder walls and no scoring
I should mention it seemed to run great before it was torn down
Well disaster struck when I pulled the 2nd head off
Whoever did the last rebuild put the head gasket on backwards, blocking the cooling passages on this side of the engine. It had obvious signs of overheating and some sludge in the cooling passages

If you look closely in the upper left hand corner, you can see where it says FRONT on the head gasket,well this is the back of the engine

Apparently this is a common mistake with all the Y blocks, both head gaskets are identical and people get confused

So , we're not getting too lucky

Off To see someone else to have a look and measure the bore for us

The end result was that 2 cylinders were out of round by nearly 10 thou, so we had to bore it 20 over

It was still a standard bore so the last rebuild was probably just a hone and rings

sourcing the parts wasn't too bad, between Egge and Kanter they had everything needed

I'll jump ahead and show the frame has been completed enough to be rolling again

Control arms, springs sway bar etc, were all stripped and epoxy primed and painted

some parts may have been powder coated but can't remember which ones

there were quite a few parts that we had Teffline blast and powder

All new bushings and front spring isolators were installed

i used the old ball joints at this time because they appeared to be in good condition but may change the just because later

new shocks were also installed as well as a new centre hanger bearing for the split driveshaft

We're a roller, woo hoo

hotroddonnie wrote:

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AWESOME! Great work, and that is one wild looking frame.

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 Thanks, the  guys that blasted and powdered the frame commented that it took 3 guys and their tow motor to flip it over

it was Ford's first ladder frame, one of these frames was used to build the Lincoln Futura concept car , which everyone now knows as the Batmobile.

Fordy Acres Car Farm wrote:

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Wow, This is destined to be an outstanding car when finished!!! Subscribed!

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 Thanks for the kind words

The next step was to get everything in epoxy like I said in the previous post

here's a couple of pics,

Now you can see the 57 Ford trough and rear seat in it's final position

Now the final metalwork and bodywork can start

Just to give you an idea of the finished car

This is one of the Hess and Eisenhart cars (the other is missing) the owner Barry is very helpful to anyone restoring these cars

he drives this car regularly and enters it in many events

Another shot with the top down

This coupe was owned by Elizabeth Taylor and painted a special 1 off colour to match her eyes

it was a gift from Warner Bros

other notable owners of these cars new were Elvis , Frank Sinatra, Nelson Rockefeller, 

This prototype was a retractable hardtop, it was built before a final body design was decided for the car

it used a 54 Lincoln shell.

the research that was done on this would later be used for the  Skyliners 

parklane wrote:

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There's a guy on Fordbarn that has a 56 MarkII for sale as a parts car for$2200.

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 Thanks, I'll pass the info on to my Dad

invision wrote:

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Stunning project Howie! You guys are making great progress along with a nice little history lesson.

Thanks for sharing it here with us.

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 Thanks Nick

A little more history

Here's the retractable completed

All the Mark Ii's were shipped in special fleece lined covers

While under the car we noticed this rear panel was weak behind the spare tire well

the best way to assess the repair required was to remove the outer skin, which you can see laying in the trunk

It was decided to replace the entire inner panel and skin

this is a very common problem area for these cars and is one of the first places you should check if buying one

After the bodywork was completed the car was put into another coat of the yellow epoxy

than the entire shell was sanded ,the quarter panels blocked out 

We than got the seam sealer out and all the factory seams which originally seam sealed were done again

that's inside outside and underneath ,which was actually pretty time consuming

The shell was then rolled into the booth and sprayed with a black primer / sealer

The firewall , undercarriage and interior were painted black, so we could get it ready to put back on the frame

Wow love the car and please keep the progress pics coming.
The car is so unique and rare,just a timeless design. it is a treat to see it come together. The colour combo will work nice.