I haven’t posted anything for close to a month.  The main reason is that I haven’t accomplished much on the car due to the cold weather.  Maybe i need to get a garage heater.  But I haven’t been completely idle.  It’s been a sort of one step forward one step backward type of project right now.

I went to install the license plates and license plate frames on the car.  I found the plates to be straight and unbent, but the paint on them was in pretty sad shape.  I also discovered that the rubber bumpers on the front splash guard are missing and the back ones have been painted over.  I had a license plate installation kit to replace the fasteners, but I will need to order the rubber bumpers. Not a big issue and I can work without them for now

I made a trip to the local Motor Vehicle Administration (MVA) and returned home with a pair of new historic tags which I put on the car.  I also sent a pair of 1967 plates I had to be restored.  That process will most likely take 2 or 3 months.  Once I receive those tags back I can license them under Maryland’s Year of Manufacture (YOM) regulations so that I can display those tags on the car.  I will post pictures of the restored tags once I get them back.

While I wasn’t ready to tackle any of the glued in weatherstripping, I started tackling the belt line weather strip and upper door opening weatherstrip.  To install the belt line weatherstrip I needed to remove the window lower stops so that I could drop the window down into the door for access.  One of the stops came right out but the other one crumbled and fell apart.  I have since ordered two new stops but haven’t installed them yet.  I was able to get the belt line weather strip installed OK.  After I installed the rear quarter belt line weather strip I found that the passenger side quarter window wouldn’t roll up and down anymore.  I need to take that part of the interior back apart and fix the window once the weather gets a bit warmer.

I continued on with the weather strip and installed the channels in the door opening and the associated weather stripping.  That took a while but went in OK.  Then I finished up with the door post and rear quarter end seals.  I’m not 100% happy with the fit of those parts and may revisit them.  But for now I can work with what I’ve got.

The last piece of weather strip that I installed was the seal that goes at the rear of the hood.  It is held on by clips that press into the weather strip and then into the cowl at the back of the hood.  The clips were a pain to press into the weather strip because I had to make holes in the rubber for them.  That required some measuring using painter’s tape and some careful work to make sure the holes weren’t too big.  Otherwise the clips wouldn’t stay in the weather strip and just pull back out.  I spent quite a bit of time making sure I didn’t go overboard on making the holes.

I still had a bit of trim to install on the hood so I went to work on that next.  The hood has letters spelling FORD across the front edge.  They normally attach using letter with pins that go through holes in the leading edge of the hood.  My hood didn’t have the holes for the pins so I cut the pins off of the letters I had and used 3M emblem adhesive tape to attach the letters.  That required some very careful trimming of the tape to make it conform to the shape of the letters.  I found an article in Mustang Monthly that specified where the letters attach, marked my hood with painters tape, and pressed the letters on.  Once that was completed I attached my new hood lip molding.

My old drip rail moldings where fairly beat up so I did a but of work straightening them.  They didn’t come out great but I have been told that it is better to keep the old moldings rather than use the reproductions which apparently don’t fit very well.  The old moldings snapped right into place with no problems at all.  They still have a few dents and dings but you don’t see them until you look closely at the car.

After all this work the car is getting very close to being completed.  I began to worry about my insurance since it isn’t really designed for classic cars.  My coverage was for the actual cash value, which translates to the book value of the car less any depreciation.  A car as old as mine wouldn’t be worth very much using that valuation methodology.  But my insurance company is affiliated with a company that specializes in classic car insurance.  I contacted them and their policies are based on an agreed value for the car.  That means that the insurance company and i agree on the value of the car up front, and if anything happens to the car that is the value they will use when settling a claim.  They have some restrictions on how the car is used, how many miles a year it is driven, and it must be parked in a locked garage at my home when not in use.  I sent them some pictures of the car and the valued it at $24,000.  The premium was less than I am currently paying as well, so I made the switch to the classic car insurance on the spot.

I keep watching the weather forecast for some warm days, but there don’t appear to be any coming within the next week.  I’ll continue to chip away at the car during the next few weeks or even months.  If I get anything accomplished I’ll post a new blog entry.  But it may not be anytime soon depending on the weather.  Up next I want to finish with the weather stripping and then finish up the interior by fixing the rear quarter window and installing the headliner.