Project Description

I acquired the car in August 1992. I had seen it sitting next to a house
for several years and I had always thought about buying it. It reminded
me of one our family had when I was a kid. It was intended to be used as transportation
for my high school-aged daughter. After getting it home and
examining it closer, it was obvious that extensive repairs would be necessary.
All the floor panels and the spare tire well had rusted though and
needed to be replaced. The bottom of the tailgate was also rusted out, a common
problem with these wagons. The good news was that there was no other serious
rust on the body. The engine was a total grease-caked mess, although
everything was still in original condition. Once money had been put
into rebuilding the engine and transmission, it was too late to turn
back and total restoration followed.
It was decided that despite not being a particularly rare or collectable
car, a total frame-off restoration would be the way to go. All the glass
and trim was removed and stored. The doors and tailgate were also removed
and the interior was gutted. The body was then removed from the
frame using a fork lift and stripped to bare metal. I decided to farm
out the body work and painting to a friend so the body and all the doors,
fenders, etc were hauled to his shop while I continued to work on the
frame, running gear and suspension. I decided to repaint the wagon with a two-tone
blue instead of the original blue and white. Although this particular
body style was not offered in this color combination, I did use original
1956 Ford colors.
The frame was cleaned and painted and all the suspension components were replaced.
The rear end was resealed after verifying that the ring and pinion were in good shape.
After two years of work (mostly due to painstaking attention to detail
by my paint guy) the body was ready to go back on. The services of the
fork lift were employed again and the body went back on in April of 1999.
This was a major milestone that gave me the motivation to step up work on
the project. Once sheet metal started going back on, it was easier to
envision the finished product.
Finally, in January 2000, all the body and running gear components were
reassembled and the car was again driveable for the first time since I
bought it. At this point, I began driving it to local car shows. It got lots
of nice compliments, even in its partially finished condition.
Near the end of 2000, I had received all the interior pieces I needed to
replace the seat covers, door panels and carpet. All the interior metal trim
and brackets needed to be stripped, sanded and repainted first.
By spring of 2001, I had rebuilt the front and rear seats and put on the seat
covers and installed the new door panels. One of my goals was to get the car
completed by the end of September in time to attend the Run to the Pines car
show in Pinetop, AZ. I had received the Best Unfinished Effort award at this
show two years earlier. I was presented with one half of a plaque. Returning
with the finished car would allow me to collect the other half. I finished repainting
and installing the interior trim and rear floor pieces and recovered the rear floor
with ribbed vinyl that was similar to the original linoleum that was used in the
wagons. The wagon was finally finished and in time for the show! I received the other
half of my plaque at Run to the Pines 2001. Since then, the wagon has been driven to
numerous car shows and cruise-ins around southern Arizona and New Mexico.
As I get more confidence in the car's mechanical abilities, I venture farther from home
and explore new show venues. In March, 2003, I took the wagon to Yuma, AZ
for the Midnight at the Oasis show. In April 2003 I  attended the Fabulous Fords
Forever show at Knott's Berry Farm in Buena Park, CA. In August, 2004 we drove the 

wagon to Williams, AZ for a show. We've also been to Silver City, NM and everywhere 

around southern Arizona.

These are some photos showing the major stages in the restoration process.