| This is one of a few pictures that our friend and E.V.O.O.A. member Larry Andriunus sent us of the 1957 Ford sitting at the police garage. The car was headed to the crusher because of a lack of funding but they agreed to put the vehicle out for bids prior to crushing. Having to veiw the vehicle through Larry's eye and camera we did our best to ask questions, get the best picture of the vehicle condition, and obtain as much information about the car and any plans, besides crushing, they had for the vehicle. We learned that the motor was a 302c.i. from a 1968 Mustang, partially rebuilt, missing a lot of parts, rebuilt transmission with a shift kit, and front disc brakes. The intent was to restore it to as a D.A.R.E. vehicle for the "Race A Cop" program, as well as use it for patrol duties. |  |
| If you have ever restored a 1957 Ford or any vintage vehicle with curved glass you know how difficult it is to find the glass. After extensive searching we located a company in California that had the windshield and was willing to ship it out to Washington right away. As you can seen, the open cabin allowed rain and debris to come into the car, rusting out the dash and other interior components |  |
| The interior was trashed, wet, and rusty but besides evidence of it being a mice haven for a while we did find some goodies such as a pennies. pens, and some extra car parts. The motor was going to be fuel injected so there were many junkyard parts inside but we decided to install an Edlebrock 750 4 bbl instead. |  |
| Never take your vehicles to a tire shop for an exhaust system. Altons Tire in Spokane barely does well with tires but exhaust systems??? It took us 30 minutes to load the car, having to position and re-position the trailer to keep the exhaust system from hanging up on the ramp. The mufflers did their jobs muffling some of the motor noise but the pin holes on the exhaust pipes, gaps in the welding, and a crack where they bent the pipes cancelled out that quiet rumble. |  |
| But if you do take your vehicle to Altons for an exhaust and want the exhaust tight, specify tight to the body or their default is tight to the ground....like a low rider exhaust. Note the pretty red strap holding the decklid closed, somehow Altons managed to break the trunk lock while installing the exhaust system! Easy mistake to make....you know... turn the light switch to run the water! We have 10 pages of problems they caused in 24 hours if you are interested to read it! |  |
| With the exception of the Altons' setback, we were able to meet our project deadlines. We had the car transported from Colorado to Washington in late, snowy, February of 2005 and had it completely redone and show ready by July of 2005. Here it sits back home for a visit to the Golden, Colorado Police Station where it was welcomed with open arms, joy, and yes, we saw a few wet eyes! |  |
| John & Sherry's Original 1957 Golden, Colorado Police Ford is show ready, patrol ready and race ready! |  |