Now, to get Loretta to be fully road worthy. OK, she made it home from South Dakota, but I knew she needed some work. The “real” Loretta, said she changed the oil regularly, etc, but I knew that she did not drive it very often, so I was sure there were parts that were going to need replacing soon.
I decided to ask my future son-in-law, Brandon, to help me with some of these tasks. But first, I started to tackle the “easy” stuff like a full detailing.
Before(s) and After(s)
I am going to highlight the various projects that were done to the outward appearance of Loretta. Brandon and I started our mechanical voyage with attempting to fix the various oil leaks. First off, the valve cover gaskets. We were pleasantly surprised to find them in stock at the local O’Reilly Auto Parts store and began to replace them. While the valve covers were removed, I thought it would be a great time to give them a nice coat of “Ford Engine Blue.”
New spark plug wires were the next thing replaced. All of these were helping, but still the old 352 powerplant needed more work. Air filter, oil change, replace all fluids, etc. were all much needed and she seemed to run better and better with each task we completed. More mechanical updates later. I concentrated on some more cosmetic things that I could do fairly easily. I was amazed at home good of condition a lot of these things were. The interior was darn near perfect. I ordered some new black Thunderbird floor mats to replace the red ones that were there. Even though she was stored inside, the usual mouse problem had found its way into various sections of the interior. A small hole above the drivers sun visor showed evidence of a nice winter home for some mice. Not too much damage, but still noticeable.
Now for more detailing INSIDE of the car. Door panels were in great shape, just dirty. Took some whitewall bleach and Armour All and cleaned them right up. I also purchased a reproduction trunk kit to brighten it up!
Loretta the 1958 T-Bird 