Ugly-ass P71 Donor Fail Plan Update

"Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo" (rustyvandura) 01/08/2020 at 15:58 • Filed to: None

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So the dude who sold me the car has a collection of them and he’s going to give me a door and a headlight. And the chrome spinners... I’m going to take a Sawsall and a Wheel of Death and cut away enough shrapnel to get a headlight to stay in place. I’m going to register the car and drive a bomber until I can find a buyer. Good news: 42,xxx miles on the chassis (which is why I bought it), complete including A/C, and only $1,300 tied up in it.

I think I will look heroic in this car. Maybe I’ll paint shark’s teeth around the opening where the grill was. Perhaps I’ll build a wooden bench for the back where the backseat is missing.

My punishment for this impulse buy is that I have to drive this hilarious bomber around until I can find another buyer.

Snuze: Needs another Swede > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 01/08/2020 at 16:07

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Rattle can it flat black.

I’m not really sure what Crown Vic seats look like underneath, but go ahead and strip them. All the upholstery , all the foam, gone. You should be left with a metal frame that you can drill some “speed holes” in to really give it that authentic bomber look!

Also needs a (faux) ball turret on the roof!

BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 01/08/2020 at 16:07

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Or you could just pull the front end off, have the guy give you a spare fender and radiator support,  and make it semi-legit.  I got good, I could pull apart the front end of a Vic in about half an hour. 

Thisismydisplayname > BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind 01/08/2020 at 16:10

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Came here to say the same thing, these things are all over the pick and pull, as long as you don’t care about color matching, you can find good front end.

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 01/08/2020 at 16:10

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An hour in any junkyard in North America will get that thing looking pretty good. A quick rattlecan job should bring it up to a grunge look instead of broke look.

WilliamsSW > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 01/08/2020 at 16:13

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One thing I’m sure of - people will give you a wide berth in that car.  Need to merge?  Just go.  I think even the cops might be afraid of you hahaha!

shop-teacher > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 01/08/2020 at 16:25

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LOL!  This is awesome :)

Dogsatemypants > Snuze: Needs another Swede 01/08/2020 at 16:27

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Screw speed holes. Make a tube frame seat and get a bunchbof old seatbelts, weave the seatbelts across bottom and back.

cletus44 aka Clayton Seams > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 01/08/2020 at 16:29

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Uhhhhhhhh

Snuze: Needs another Swede > Dogsatemypants 01/08/2020 at 16:44

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That would also look bitchin’

Snuze: Needs another Swede > cletus44 aka Clayton Seams 01/08/2020 at 16:45

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I’m not sure what to think when even you’re questioning this project...

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind 01/08/2020 at 17:00

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This is the thing that the Vic fans around here see differently than I see it. There are hundreds of Vics out there with body parts cobbled together because pretty much every Vic’s been bent. As far as I am concerned, a crooked car is a crooked car. I’d rather have a car with a dented _original_ fender than a car with a mismatched fender. Straight > Pretty. Besides, at $1,500, this is a fixer-upper that happens to have only 42,xxx miles on it. Top dollar for a Vic in these parts is about $4k, but it’ll have four or five times the miles on it. I think a guy with your skills might think this was a good starter car and I can get back out from under it. That’s my strategy, anyhow. I just don’t want to try and pretend that this car is anything but a low-miles, “late” model Vic that’s been hit by an ugly stick. In the meantime, I’m stuck driving the Millennium Falcon.  

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available 01/08/2020 at 17:03

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We’ll see. Right now, it’s good for laughs. And it drives like a battle tank on afterburner.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > shop-teacher 01/08/2020 at 17:08

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The Panther purists here are not pleased with my plans, but perhaps they are too young to appreesh. I am having a laugh at my own expense and at $1,500, I won’t lose but a hundo or two. Under all that ugly, it’s a beast of a cruiser with very long legs. Wish it was a 9C1 Impala though...

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > Snuze: Needs another Swede 01/08/2020 at 17:09

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More like having some laughs at my own expense.

shop-teacher > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 01/08/2020 at 17:28

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Eh, there are plenty of Panthers, and these one has been beat on pretty hard.  Might as well have some fun with it!

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > shop-teacher 01/08/2020 at 17:29

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I’ll either sell it ultimately or drop another body of something on it. For now, I’m stuck with it.

BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 01/08/2020 at 18:48

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I hope you didn’t take what i said the wrong way. It just seems like you (kinda) care about the car and that it’s low enough miles that it could treat you well for a long while. Making back money or not, it would just be my priority to get a new fender swapped in  If your frame is straight, why drive with a bent fender if you don’t have to?

ClassicDatsunDebate > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 01/08/2020 at 19:05

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The Blues Brothers 2020

SilentButNotReallyDeadly...killed by G/O Media > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 01/08/2020 at 19:42

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I’d be inclined to go at it with some plain sheet metal and rivets once you tidy up that mulched fender...

Dogsatemypants > Snuze: Needs another Swede 01/08/2020 at 19:52

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Probably make a cool man cave couch too

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > SilentButNotReallyDeadly...killed by G/O Media 01/08/2020 at 19:58

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Now, I can well imagine myself trying something with sheet metal and pop rivets. Whatever the outcome, it would be original. Question, how many cans of spray paint would you predict it would take to rattle can that barge?

SilentButNotReallyDeadly...killed by G/O Media > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 01/08/2020 at 20:17

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Why on Earth would you bother rattle canning it! I'd just clear coat any bare metal...and call it done. Though I have also just called it a day with a linseed oil rub in the past....

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > SilentButNotReallyDeadly...killed by G/O Media 01/08/2020 at 21:38

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A solution like this amounts to a creative solution rather than replacing parts. That appeals to me.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind 01/09/2020 at 00:41

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No worries. The back quarter has some damage as well.

MKULTRA1982(ConCrustyBrick) > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 01/09/2020 at 10:26

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Paint roller my dude

MKULTRA1982(ConCrustyBrick) > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 01/09/2020 at 10:27

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It’s not a youth thing (I’m under 25 and I think this is DOOOPE)  and this panther is pretty far gone, you’re not ruining the mechanicals which are the only thing worth anything here, also it being driven is better than it sitting on bubbas lawn 

MKULTRA1982(ConCrustyBrick) > Snuze: Needs another Swede 01/09/2020 at 10:29

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I came here to second the skeletonize idea. Anything not structural needs to be full of holes in order to reduce the weight.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > MKULTRA1982(ConCrustyBrick) 01/09/2020 at 11:05

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Well, at under 25, you are less than half my age, FWIW...

I am going to make it more presentable, drive it daily, and look to sell it, unless someone comes up with a 1984 F-150 (7th Generation) in the $300 range and I’ll scrap the panther body and mount the F-150 on the panther frame. The perfect specimen would be faded, surface rust, but straight. 7th Gen F-150 is my favorite F-150. (Don’t tell my wife that this idea is not yet extinct in her husband’s distracted mind.)

But in any event, with my investment to date, I cannot see prettying it up beyond basic straightening. Tidying, but not prettying. Though one thing I will do, I think, is paint the doors black so the bottom half is black and the top half stays white. Less coppish-looking that way. And thankfully, there’s no cow pusher on the front.

NKato > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 01/09/2020 at 16:47

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Are you in Texas? There’s a guy in Whitney, TX who’s liquidating his inventory of 20+ Vics. You might be able to get a core support, bumper frame, header panel, right fender as well as a hood for cheap. He’s saying $25 for each body component. (I still think you would benefit from just straight up replacing the broken components from junkyard vics)

https://www.facebook.com/groups/crownvictoria/permalink/1843030362493662/?sale_post_id=1843030362493662

NKato > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 01/09/2020 at 16:49

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Most of the Panther “purists” are older, in their 30's. And I still think you’d benefit from learning how to take apart and put together a Panther. Would make doing any custom work on it easier down the road.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > NKato 01/09/2020 at 17:07

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Hi. California. San Francisco Bay Area. I don’t know what impression I’ve given, but I do appreciate the interest you’ve taken. I have this passive-aggressive, uber -practical approach to my vehicles where they are ALL ME, even if that means leaving something undone. So when I’m done getting the new tags on this Vic, what you’ll see is ALL ME. And this is the thing about body work: I can’t do ALL ME and be satisfied with it. That’s the appeal to me of rat rods and Roadkill because straight, but not pretty. So when you and I bang on together about fenders versus Sawsalls, I like that it-ain’t-pretty-but-it-works-very-well -and-I-did-it aesthetic.

The guy I bought the car from* brought me a replacement door last night and some lights. I am going to have some fun with it straightening it out a little and decorating it a little, all the while hoping I can get $1,500 for a 2010 with 42,xxx miles on it. The car needs a tire.

*Dude says he knows a guy with “twenty to forty” Ford pickups on his property, most with no running engine. If I could find a straight 1984 F-150 husk, for like $300, I might consider placing that body onto the Vic frame. Please don’t tell Missus. When it comes to F-150s, 7th Gen is Best Gen.