Hello All,

Here's a side project I've just started. Hopefully to have it done in time the other '66 LTD is done. This poor thing I found abandoned in someone back yard for who knows how long. Long time judging. Anyway, I bought it originally for its chassis as my '68 XL fastback has a rusty chassis and this one is much better off. Got to love the Southwest.

It was missing key parts (carb, radiator, master cylinder, ps pump, pulleys, etc) when I bought it, but at the time I didn't care as any driveline that sits outside unused is a write off and I had no initial intention of doing anything with the 390FE, C6 or heavy duty 9" it came with.

Someone even took the rear shocks off so towing it home on the car dolly was nothing short of hilarious. It bobbed almost uncontrollably the several miles to back home. We laughed so hard at how ridiculous it was. It looked like Uncle Bucks car.

Long story short, once it was home I started looking more closely under the bonnet. Everything was covered with New Mexico's fine silt dirt/dust. I started wiping off the engine and noticed it's a rather bright blue, and the intake was taped. I cleaned it off and it's a 4 jet intake. I look at the VIN and it's a Z code 390. Which is the highest horsepower 390 you could special order for a 1968 Ford full size. I checked the oil, it's golden and very fresh. I remove the spark plugs they are brand new.

Huh...

I wonder...

So I plop a battery in it and put some oil down the cylinders and did a compression check. 180 psi cranking.

Really...

So I pillaged the parts off my '68 XL (also a 390) and had a spare 4100 carb lying around. So I put that on along with pulleys, hoses, radiator, basically everything necessary to start and run it.

After screwing with the defunct wiring inside I got to crank on the key and using a Jerry can to the fuel pump, it started right up and adjusted the timing, but it did have a miss till it warmed up and a noticeable tick from the engine thereafter. Probably something in the valve train.

I totally forgot about the transmission I was so focused on the engine. I put it in gear, nothing. I checked the fluid, no fluid. Pump probably isn't to happy at this point, so I fill it, as I fill it I hear thunk, well it has line pressure now. Sure enough, forward and reverse work.

Took it for a spin around our lot, no brakes, no power steering, but it runs and shifts. Charging system doesn't seem to work either.

So it sat for a while, and well my better half really wants a rat rod, she's rather enamored with the idea of an ugly looking outside with a new inside and reliable and safe rest of the car.

Since it really doesn't get any more ugly than this, this seems like the logical choice. So here we are. First off is focus on the brakes, suspension and steering, then rear axle, transmission and then engine. Then we'll see about the interior. More like burn what's left of it, as it really is horrible and start over.

As a side note, I decided to take extra care when doing anything to the chassis because if she gets tired of it, my plan still stands to use the chassis for my XL fastback. So I'll be as meticulous as I can on anything to do with the chassis for this turd. At least it's a hardtop. That and aside from the hide-a-way headlamps are the only remotely cool things about this one.

Enough talk, more action. Here's some preliminary pics.... Feel free to laugh hysterically, my friends and I sure did

I don't know what's more amazing, the fact that no one has junked this thing by now or that it actually rolled in under its own power. When we bought it, it came with odd size tyres all round and they didn't hold air all too well. One finally split and wouldn't take any air so I drove it in like that. The goal here was to find 4 matching rims with decent matching tyres for now. I'll order new tyres for it once it's ready.

It was just outside the shop and the tyre came off in the short distance.

Did Ford offer Ham radios as options, check out that ridiculously long antenna. You could have monitored Sputnik with that

This is how we found it. Apparently someone sometime ago thought they were going to work on the body...... and really didn't know what they were doing. Can't deny, she's got character. More like John Wayne Gacy character.

A '66 and '68 4dr hardtop LTD.. The '66 has a much nicer design in our opinion, condition aside.

Whilst I like the vertical headlamps, the hide-a-way's horizontal are nice also. Again condition aside.

Just for comparison, the '66 LTD interior.

Again condition aside, the '68 dash isn't as elegant as the '65-'66 dash. What's weird is the '67 dash really deviated from the '65-'66, then Ford went back to that initial design for '68 again. I wonder why. And as for that seat material. The pattern and texture are as hideous as you can get, it looks like material the Queen of England's knickers would be made from... Blaugh....

It just speaks for itself.

I did put a used pair of shocks back on it, but apparently I didn't tighten one of the nuts enough and Rally Racing this thing around the lot took its toll. Too funny.

I removed the battered to no end fuel tank earlier. It looks like someone found a stump in the field, then continued to find it upteen more times, there's was no saving that petrol tank. It was beat to a pulp when we got it.

So the previous owner or one of the previous owners, who knows, sawed off the Ford mufflers and put glass packs on. Otherwise it's the original exhaust still. And yuppers I'm pretty sure that's fence post as couplers. Out here, if that was anything else I would be surprised.

But you have to admit the corrosion isn't too terribly bad on this for being abandoned in a field for who knows how long. I think most 1965-1968 Ford full size owners (Custom, galaxie 500, LTD, XL, Country Squire) all know how these chassis love to rot away.