53 Suburban project

[murfman1967]

I am building a 53 'Burban for with / for my Daughter (She is 12 Y.O. right now) The project started ~ 5 years ago when I bought a rusted to crap 53 in Grand Rapids Mi for 450.00 I gave it to my dad to for his Birthday so he would have something to tinker with. Together we got the 218 running after finding out it had recently been rebuilt. Started with the Mechanicals first. Made an adapter to moutn a WC T-5 from a 95 Mustang to the 218, added a 8.8 from a Ford Explorer and fabbed up some brackets to mount GM Calipers to the front spindles with Grand Cherokee Rotors. In the mean time I found a Rolling shell of a 54 wagon In Parhump NV on Ebay. We drove out and picked it up it was nice and solid except for the front floor pans but someone started to make it into an El Camino / Ranchero cutting the roof off behind the B pillars. For the 400.00 that I paid I figured the quarter panels and rockers would be worth it alone. Well we got it back home after quite the road trip.

We started out here in Frankfort Il and drove to St Louis to pick up a lifted Jeep with 40" tires and one ton axles to deliver to 29 Palms for a guy I met on the Pirate 4x4 website, he sold it to a Marine and could not find a company to move it as it was so tall and wide. (When on the trailer the hood was higher than the cab on my lifted 99 Ram 2500 with 35" tires!!) Anyway the 1200.00 he gave me to haul it covered 1/2 to 3/4 of the travel expenses. From there we headed to Mesa Az so I could pick up a Fiberglass stepside bed for the aforementioned Ram, I had planned ahead and built a wood frame inside the current bed on my Ram so the stepside bed could be hauled upside down over the bed of the truck. From there we went to 29 Palms dropped off the Jeep and to 1000 Palms to pick up some flared "Pre-runner" style front fenders for the ram as well, they fit in the between the beds of the truck. The next leg of the trip was Redlands Ca to meet up with an old High School buddy then up through the Cajon Pass and Death Valley to Parhump to pick up the Wagon. Finally we started heading back Home It was a great trip 4500 miles in 6 days with 100 degree temps in Nevada, snow in Illinois on the return trip, a low of -110 Feet of elevation and a High of 14,000 feet.

We ended up cutting the roof off the 53 and welding it to the 54 shell and I made up patch panels for the floor. Unfortunately Last January my Dad had a Hear Attack and passed away pretty much instantly while getting ready for a N.I.R. WP Chrysler club banquet. Needless to say it took me a while to get to a point where I could even look at the car, not to mention work on it again. Well this last Fall I was finally able to get my head straight and start chipping away at it.

My Dad never came out and said it but I know he was putting the 'Burban together for my daughter. He picked out the Hottest Pink color he could find to paint the dash (Planned on doing the whole car...) No way he would have driven a PINK car. So I have made some more headway. I am by no means a Body guy nor do I have any skills in that arena but I have done the rough in work and hope to get it professionally finished this spring. So far the mods I have made are 54 Mercury headlight rings welded in to french the headlights and 65 VW type 3 tail lights mounted out back along with shaving the tailgate.

Well if you have hung on this long you deserve Pictures so here goes in some sort of order:

FatMan front Spindles:

Edited November 3, 2012 by murfman1967

[murfman1967]

More Pics:

Milled the head .070 and added HEI, Offy intake with dual BBDs, and Langdons split manifolds to the motor along with a GM Alternator

One old and 1 new taillight

[murfman1967]

Nekkid:

NOS skirts:

And primed and sealed:

[murfman1967]

That is pretty much where she sits today. I had the upper and lower grille bars Chromed. Found some NOS turn signal housings and lenses, and am slowly piecing the potmetal grille trim pieces together. I will have more money in the Grille than I did in the 2 cars combined after I sold off the extra front fenders, Doors and tailgate, I have 250.00 in the original purchase price of the 2 of them. If I get time tomorrow I am going to at least mock up the front bumper, gravel pan, and grille. Half of the battle is finding all the pieces and brackets that my Dad disassembled and put away 3-4 years ago, that is taking me longer than putting it together.

[chopt50wgn]

First thing is ..........sorry to hear your dad passed especially since this was a dad/son project.

On a brighter note....the work you have done so far is very well done. like the different tailights, very cool. You have the makings of a very nice driver.

I have a 50 Ply 2 dr. wagon I am doing now and hope to have it on the road in the spring.

Good luck on yours and keep up the good work...........your dad would be proud.!!!

[Uncle-Pekka]

Sorry for your Dad, Murf.

But what a great wagon you're building there!

Looks are just right, the modifications are subtle and enhance the looks, which is quite much for me to admit. After all I always think one can hardly improve the work of professional design engineers...

The 218 looks great as well. Top notch work and mouth watering hop up equipments. The intake & exhaust manifolds are super cool, which make are they?

Best of luck for your project! Your daughter is a lucky girl to get to drive that cool wagon!

[oldodge41]

Sorry for your loss. Nice project. Keep going.

[murfman1967]

Thanks for the responses, I cherish the memories of the 43 years I had with him, and hope to grow the same relationship with my daughter. I never lived under a different roof than my Dad. I never felt a need to move out to get away like mavy kids do, and when I met my wife and we got married we bought my parents house as it is set up for related living with 2 complete apartments. My Mom is still with us so that has made things easier as well.

Back to the car, the Intake is an Offenhauser that is still available new from Offy, and the exhaust manifolds are from Langdon's Stovebolts. They too are still produced new. I also got the HEI ignition from Langdons, it is a modified GM 4.3 V6 dizzy. Even after sitting for a year and a half she fired right up and purrs like a kitten.

[Scruffy49]

Sorry to hear about your Dad.

Nice work so far. My Dad isn't a gearhead (at all) so I have HIS Dad's 49 truck here at my place in TN. One of my nieces (my brother and his wife had triplet girls) is already turning into a gearhead in the making (she'll be 2 in December). I guess I know who'll be getting my grandfather's old farm truck...

[Dodgeb4ya]

Sorry for the loss of your dad. The p24 looks great! What body style is the 1950 Chrysler straight "8" car I see poking out?

Bob

[murfman1967]

Sorry for the loss of your dad. The p24 looks great! What body style is the 1950 Chrysler straight "8" car I see poking out?

Bob

It is a Saratoga Highlander club coupe

It WAS a straight 8 but the 8 got folded into a V lol

440 with a 518 OD torqueflite swapped behind it. Sold it to a guy in the Finger Lakes area of NY after my dad passed. I had helped him build it, and it was his Daily Driver for since 2002.

[murfman1967]

Did a dress rehearsal on the wagon:

I really like the way the chrome grille pieces came out. The 53 has a clean grille but it needed a little more "Bling" I was thinking about a Desoto Grille but I like this better (For now)

[fstfish66]

sorry for your loss,. but kool wagon

[murfman1967]

Got the antenna frenched into the front fender:

I went with a piece of flat stock on the bottom instead of a washer with a drain hose like most of the ones I've seen to help with draining water etc...

[murfman1967]

Got carried away with the masking tape...

 

 

 

 

I'm considering doing the same to the door jams...

[Old Ray]

Nice work, looks good. Thank you for posting.

(I would post a smiley face here, but on my home dial up or whatever, I can't get it to work?)

[pflaming]

Fathers are hard to lose, so sorry.

 

I will look long and hard at some of the things you have done and then I may just quietly slip off into the sunset. A large shop is like a good dream, oh for that kind of room. 

 

You are doing that wagon proud, keep us informed. Cool dash and I like the checkerboard and the entire front end treatment. . 

[Plymouthy Adams]

Murfman...I looked high and low for skirts for the coupe..and when I did find a set, IMO they did not fit/look  right..the front edges are not anywhere near a finished look...have you considered adding metal to these to finish out the forward corner to be flush with the rocker end? just asking is all..I later sold them as I found the original wire baskets for the 54 model and they were just to nice looking to cover up..

[murfman1967]

I'm thinking once they are painted and the car is assembled it will be a bit lower it wont be so noticeable.  If not I will reshape the bottom of the skirts or just leave them off.

[falconvan]

Looking great! She'll have the coolest ride on the school parking lot.

[murfman1967]

I went ahead and did the door jams, next up it the tailgate jam, then some clear....

 

[murfman1967]

I have competition on the board here now, and if I'm not careful Paul is get his finished before me!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Scruffy49]

Bag that sucker, put it on 13 inch wires and watch the trophies start rolling in. That is one seriously loud color. Your daughter should pull escort duties with it during the local Relay for Life events, would seriously draw some attention. I like it, a lot.

[pflaming]

Murf, you r months ahead of me. The only important thing is that we finish. Would be great fun to hit a drive in together. Great, creative work you r doing.

[falconvan]

Looks awesome! I really dig the checkerboard layout.