1956 Ford Customline with Thunderbird Engine - Will it Run? (Off the road 50 years!)
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 15 เม.ย. 2022
- This is a 1956 Ford Customline two door (or "Tudor" in Ford speak) with a V8 292ci engine and Holley four barrel "teapot" carburetor that we have always called "Ol' Red". It was purchased by my grandad when he used to own and operate a "grocery & station" (now called convenience stores), and the story is that this car was custom built for speed for a bootlegger. However, grandad swore it got 30mpg if he didn't put his foot in it. Anyway it's been on my father's property sitting around for 50 years now (last on the road in 1971) and it's time to get it back on the road, but first we need to get it running.
This will be another series of videos from "will it run" to "back on the road" so be sure and subscribe so you don't miss anything.
Also be sure and check out my other videos:
Episode 1: Freeing Jimmy Part One: • Freeing Jimmy - 1961 G...
Episode 2: Freeing Jimmy Part Two: • Freeing Jimmy - 1961 G...
Episode 3: Meet the Nemesis: • Meet the Nemesis - 194...
Episode 4: CO Experiment: • CO Experiment - What's...
Episode 5: What's Ailing Jimmy? • What's Ailing Jimmy? -...
Episode 6: One Short of a Six Pack: • One Short of a Six Pac...
Episode 7: Mitsubishi Challenger - Will It Run? (1980 Dodge Colt Challenger) • Mitsubishi Challenger ...
![THE TOYS x NONT TANONT - ดอกไม้ที่รอฝน (spring) [Official MV]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/pPa1d5cC8M4/mqdefault.jpg)
When I was a young kid, my dad bought a new ‘56 ford ranch wagon, it was equipped with a 312 cu.in. Police interceptor as I remember! I really liked that old car!
Lets see the rest of the car. Always loved a 56 Customline.
Nice job on a great little car, now save the bug. A fine pair.
My first car 56 v8 sedan, 272 and tinted glass only options.
Beautiful looking Ford 👍👍👍👍👍
Great anti-theft device growing a tree between the bumper and the body
312 motor more likely body back rate motors
Belts on
And probably has Three on the Tree that would make a good anti theft device for those who can’t drive a manual tranny.
That tree should have been history 🤔🙈🤷♂️
lol
Very cool car!! Love to see this thing back on the road!!!
I had a 56 Ford station wagon with T-Bird 8. The rocker arms are oiled through the Camshaft. The cam bearings are knurled and would spin cutting off lubrication to the rocker arms. A kit was used to bypass the camshaft oiling. Ron PTL USA
Thanks I'll check that out
glad to see some one trying to restore a ford
First time watching your video of the 56 Ford, just subscribed to your channel cause I want to see it get back on the road again.
Old iron never dies.
youve done a great job brother extracting it from the tree...please ,,keep us in formed of its restoration ,,,looks soo promising ,,,,get her back brother ,,, i know ,you can ,,,of a great car ,,,i have a 55 myself here in new hampshire,,,hope you can join us ,,in the endeavoura of begining old thing back to life !!!
I learnt to drive in a 54 Ford Customline - wrote off a brand new [just from the showroom] PABX Vauxhall sitting at the bottom of our street when I was returning home! Hardly a mark on the old Ford! Great old car - we later had a 59er and I loved driving that.
Love the tree. I just sold 3 1955 fairlanes. One had a tree growing through the engine bay after only 2 years of sitting.
I love it, it brings back memories
Nice rescue.. I have a couple 56 f100's and want a 2 door coupe..
Had one in 1971 312 tbird with the Paxton supercharger very fast car
Old Ford V-8's don't die easy! Neither do SBC or Mopar V-8's or Chevy big blocks!😁🛠️
Love it! Nice to hear another old car run again.
Love those old 56 ford's , just something about the shape and style 👌
Love that you didn’t cut down the tree-
Back in 1969 I was working for a small town newspaper I was putting the classified page together when something caught my eye. FOR SALE 1969 Ford Thunderbird, runs great. $500, call for directions. I thought this was not possible so I called and got directions. Co Worker and I drove 69 miles to buy a Thunderbird. Got to the Ranch with high hopes of driving a Thunderbird home. Lady of the ranch took us out to the garage and there it sat, a 4 door fairlane with the Thunderbird engine tags on both fenders. In 69 a 56 fairline wasn't worth a nickel in value and our hoped died as we drove away without a Thunderbird. My wife thought it was the funniest thing that had ever happened to me,
It's because of the time t bird used the ( basically same engine and could be a option on Ford's of those times
I guess she thought the engine made it a T-Bird LOL
Cool. It will run and drive.
That is not bad it’s amazing!!!
Your laugh is just like your dad’s😉 Nice job!
Hi,I’m a new subscriber,love the’56. Thank You,Your Oregon Friend ☮️
I like those old Holley "teapot" carbs. And I sure like Old Red! Happy Easter!
Nice work getting it running Terry 🙂👍
Thanks!
Additional content the thunderbird emblems were removed from the fenders at some point as the stained or rusty place on the fenders clearly shows that so it originally had a 312 thunderbird engine in it.
Would like to see it restored by someone who knows what they have it looks like it has a significant amount of rust so
It would be a extremely difficult restoration.
Thanks,interesting
You really found a jewel that pledges to be restored and refuses to die
Remember just a few things with this kind of vintage Ford vehicles with a Y Block
1956 was the first year of 12 volt electrics, so no problem with batteries and alternators/generators
The Ford Load-O-Matic distributor is an ignition advance system that only relies of vacuum to advance and retard the ignition timing according to the engine loads and allowing acceptable fuel economy, but not for performance applications, but it was also a nightmare to tune it, along with is soggy throttle response, Better of with a 1957 and later vacuum mechanical advance distributor with Pertronix retrofitted on it
The Holley 4000 Series Teapot carburetors can have a good performance potential, but they were known to be leaky and in just a single backfire, it will be prone to catch fire, those were known as Fireboxes, To prevent most of leakeges, is better to rebuild the carburetor and plug the Load-O-Matic ports if you want to run a late model distributor
The 292 Y Block is the most common variant of Y Block produced by Ford, It powered cars, trucks and the Thunderbird halo car of the 50's, industrial equipment, boats and more, Produced in US from 54 to 64 and up to early 1980's in Argentina with the 292 Fase 2, Bore 95.22mm and stroke of 83.82mm, many of these engines had forged crankshafts
J
Cool car, ty
Enjoyed
Hello friend from the other side of the world. I'm from Australia and the Customline's carried on here in the land down under for and extra 2 years 1958 and 1959 called Ford Customline Star Model. I thought your engine would of been a 272ci Y block V8 not 292 or the 312 as they didn't come in until 1957. I'm currently restoring my late 1958 Customline Star Model 4 door sedan with a 351 Cleveland and a C4 Auto Trans from ground up. if you ever get a spare minute have a google of the Aussie 1958-1959 Ford Customline Star Model, body is the same however, the grill dash and side chrome and trim was upgraded, to me might be biased here sorry not sorry lol, but I think Aussie's made it look more tough. If you end up reading this comment thank-you for taking the time to read it MATE. CHEERS🍻🍻
That's awesome! I agree the grille is a definite upgrade. Looking at the service manual and VIN it's a 292ci but also seems to have a police issue carb. I'll mention that and check the block numbers in my next video on this car.
Thanks
Hello again in regards to safely getting the bumper out they a juck I'd try a scissor type to spread the two pats just enough to get the bumper free then spray paint any area's that may have torn bark that will prevent bug or whatever from harming the tree after good luck all the best and yes it's sounding great nice ride looks like she's still in pretty good shape don't see a whole lot of bad rust she'll be a big hit at the car shows 🤠
Y block Ford V8, ( which came after the flathead and before the Windsor/Cleveland V8,s ) started almost too easy Terry. Unusual looking carb the choke flaps are on the side not on top as normal, i could be wrong ( see one once before )
I had started it and ran it briefly less than a year ago. I have tried to crank it over every couple of years just so it didn't lock up.
On that particular engine Ford used a small oil passage going to the cam and if you did not keep clean oil in these engines it was a non-lubrication going to the valve train need to check that there is a fix for it but any used y block like that needs that check ed
Very cool!!!!!!!!!! 👍👍👍
It has been sitting for as long as I've been alive.
I hope you unbolted the bumper before you pulled it with the tractor. Have you ever heard of a chainsaw? By the way it’s a 312 “Y” block engine.
Thanks, interestingly I bought a 1956* , very Low mikes, Florida Car: Four Door+** TBIRD ENGINE , thinking it was 292/4 **BBL…as 312 ,etc were 1957 Engines??? ODDLY , I REMEMBERED IT as Dual Exhaust thru Bumper, Fender **Skirts, Ps, PB, AUTO…..Unfortunately, totalled in few months , freak accident
In 1971 it was an old Junker now a priceless classic
Sounds good for something that hasn't run in 50 years
I like that it's a two door,..... the body seems pretty solid. How's the frame underneath? Runs really nice.
Great video, save that 1956 Ford with a 312cu inch T bird engine. Thumbs up & I subscribed, cheers !
Thanks! I subscribed to your channel as well.
The hell with the scrub tree
Hello there cowboy here I gotta say that what you're doing to get the car free as most anyone else would just grab a chainsaw and go ta cutting not even thinking twice about the tree remember be safe healthy and happy God Bless 🤠
Steam clean the engine. Replace the spark plugs. How about the gas filter. Work on the carburetor. How about the fuel filter. Give it a tune-up.
I had a 1955 2dr sedan /Town Sedan ............I put a 428 CJ 4 sd in it and a Cougar GT 9inch with 3.5 .....Loved that car it was Black and had 67 Mustang buckets .......pretty fast car .........got all the parts in tthe mid 1970s when I work for an Auto wrecker . 428 CJ came out of a 68 1/2 Mustang fastback that had been in a side collision with a pole posh the passenger's door to the middle of the car.The seats came from a 67 notch back 289 car . the rear end which just bolted into the 55 came from a couger GT 390 car another car that was pretty much destroyed accident hard hit to the front . The one car I wished I had saved was a 69 Hemi super Bee car a roll over ........could have bought the car and the engine for 5000.00 complete ...........with another 70 383 coronet car for another 600.00 the guy was going through a divorce
and needed money he was going to put the hemi in the 70s ........My boss at the wrecker bought it and scraped the cars and I remember the Ram charger hood 2 scoops . That was in 75 . I know the 69 could have been fixed the roof was down to the door top on the passenger's side
It was the Medium Green Met. with white stripes and had huge front drum brakes and a Diana rear end can't remember if it was auto or 4spd car but it was all number matching and it went to the crusher the engine was sold to a guy who dragged race Mopars that car has hunted me all these years LOLS.....Nice to see a 56 Ford they were nice cars
Did the 428 go straight in or did you have to modify the engine bay a bit?
@@martydavies7198 Many ,people in the day, would put 352 FE engines or 390 FE engines into 55-56 Fords, they bolt pretty much right in nothing to troubling to deal with , My car had a 292 in it before I installed the 428FE CJ, and even used the top loader 4 spd and Cougar nine inch rear end housing to replace the stock 55 Fords driveline , No firewall cutting everything just fit like it was made to be there.
@@lenkowalyshen9571
Thanks for your reply mate. I'm down in New Zealand and we love the American cars here, I particularly like the 40's and 50's era. I wouldn't have thought the big blocks would have gone in without some major modifications. Between me and a couple of my mates we have a 61 convertible, 61 starliner, 59 Ranchero, 56 F1 57 convertible, 65 Buick Electra, etc etc with stuff going between NZ and Aussie. I'm looking around for an old Norton ES2 500cc if your savy with the old cycles. Thanks for your help Len
@@martydavies7198 Sounds like the old cars are doing just fine over there, I was talking to a NZ, fellow that lives near me on Vancouver island, Victoria area, he told me they were taking all the old cars off the road over there ? Looks like things are changing for the better, wish I could say the same here, All the speedways ,drag strips are being regulated to close. I used to to race Super Stocks, the track closed 2 years ago. Big push to go electric here. many are sticking with ICE cars and trucks. Yeah , for the 55-56 and even 57s FE big block are shoe ins, I think the only thing would be the fan spacer to rad., you just remove it. The old 292' V8s, and 312s pretty much match mounting in the Cars, front mount for trucks, Sounds like you guys have some nice cars, I owned the 55 Ford Town Sedan, Black, was a 292, 3 spd car ,and I had a friend who worked at a wrecking yard and this Cougar XR7 4 spd, 390 GT came in had been wrapped around a pole on the Right side , L-H is drivers here, pushed right in to the middle of the cars seat , I bought the whole car, The 9 inch fit right under the 55, had 3.23s in it. I traded the 390GT , for this 428 CJ , by the way 428 FE are external balanced, have a counter weight on the front balancer and the flywheel is weighted , The 390 352 406 427 FE are not. I also had a 64 Galaxie 500XL 4 spd car, with 3x2 Ford intake , and was a 406 FE, that car flew, had a Borg W, Super T 10 and I put , 31 spline axles with a Bronco front diff. which is a 9 inch, and geared 4.10, some had 3;90 s in the front 4 wheel drive, I also for a short time owned a 57 2 door post Meteor , we put a 429 police interceptor engine in it ,with a C-6 , that engine came from the wrecking yard as well. That car was just finished 2 months and got T-Boned from a guy drunk and ran a red light . Had a 55 2 dr Chev 327 ,3 spd car. that was a nice one , I sold it to a friend and he still has it . We built a Dorset Austin A40 , it was never finished as I sold it half way done, had a 351 W Ford, We raced Fords and Ford guys worked harder and costs were greater to compete but when you learn the tricks those Fords sure run strong, Nothing like a 427 big block in a Super Stock , Heres a very nice local car >> the raceway is gone today. th-cam.com/video/U8U_vrGWwUs/w-d-xo.html.............love this car and he drives it on the road. All the best Len
@@lenkowalyshen9571
The old cars over here are classics that are mainly owned by guys like yourself and me or the classic car club owners. The coppers are hard on people that get around in unsafe cars and they go to the crusher. All the new cars are jap, korean and Chinese. A few mugs bought electric cars but most of them turn out to be duds. No one trusts them and the government hasn't geared up for them, re charging points in enough places and they cost heaps to charge. Its all political here, depends on what big fish country our government is in bed with at the time. We only 4.5 million people down here so other than the plastic, pollution isn't talked about that much. There are still thousands of American autos coming in every month. Mighty obliged for the chat Len.
I just want to know one thing . Do they change out the oil in these cars before they start them up . They never mention it.
Cool car.......
If it has a emblem on the front fender that says thunderbird it is a 312 cubic inch engine.
And the video shows the teapot 4 barrel carburetor so it most likely a 312.
Otherwise it would be a 292 cubic inch V8.
What size engine is that?
56 Tbird engine was 292 cu in
Yes, that's what this is (according to the VIN)
Would love to have that bug
This make and power train were issued as police cars. With the Tbird engine, I wonder if it was a police car....Cheers.
Sounds like it needs. 2 get oil 2 the top of the engine.
As with any old carburetor that's been sitting for 50 years your float is stuck smack it with a wrench see if you can loosen it up
I've never seen a carburetor that looks like that one
4 bbl goo/goo eyes
If the root growing off of the bumper would have been growing the other direction you could have saved it and put a trailer ball Hitch on it 😆
Judgeing by the diameter of the tree growing behind the car, I'd say it's been sitting there for 30 to 40 yrs.
It's most likely a 312 engine because it has the T-pot 4 barrel on it.
Interestingly, an idea:: I had a 4-door 56 Fairl@ne , low low Miles( freak accident total): it we heard Rumours, some 312, early Pursuits……?? Any other news on 312s? *****. Lot of Engine questions here, FROM everyone,,,,, ( my first car age 15 , was **57 Engine (289, ??? Carter 4BBL) in **54 2 DR V8 FORD , mildly Customized by Mechanic, Dad found)…..
The old Y block runs, but it don't sound happy.
please tell me it did not get cut up by some hot rodder
Is this the only video you have on this car?
Just Subscribed. I started out with Y block fords. Drove a 56 turquiose and white 2 dr htp with a tuck and roll interior on the 60's. That tea por carb is ok. However ther dual advance dist isnt very good. Get a 57 or newer dist that has centrifical and vacuum advance. I had a collection of 55 and 56 fords. Sold them to be able to pay cash for out place. Still have a 55 two dr Ranch wagon and a 56 pickup. The ranch wagon had a real good 262 six engine. However It is slated to be replaced with a 390 T bird engine from a 62 bird. We have u tube video of our collection.
Can you say saw. We usually saw the tree off below and above the car and that way you don't rip the freakin bumper off the car.
goo goo eyes carb.
That's a Ford Y block 292 engine.
Chain saw or hand saw would only take a few minutes
Would you sell it
It's either a 292 or 312 engine.
tree + saw = one felled tree
They make a saw for that
This guy does not sound too optimistic!
That's a wierd carburetor.
I grew up driving those cars, they were a whole eight to ten years of age and just worked my way up through mostly fords as I could by nice ones for fifty dollars and they had a tank of gas... that same gas that worked for us then supposedly now is going to kill the world and turn us into a burning bush.. I don't know about you but I am real tired of snow and rain... its the fourth of may and so far this month, still freezing at night but weather has just turned for a good four days now of no snow flurries or hard rain. I know excitement of the start is important but would it hurt to take a air hose and just blow the rat crap off... just asking? Those old Y blocks are a decent engine, the tea pot carb at best was never a good idea. I hope to see it going again as its sat a good amount of time..... sooner or later why it got parked might rear its head.. hopefully its a seal leak or something right simple.. from where its setting make me think that the floor pan is gone but still a fixer
I'll definitely be cleaning up the top end for the next video.
292 or a 312 y block 4 bbl
I have an idea instead of cutting the tree lets rip the rear bumper off
That’s a Ford they keep running
Thunderbird engine? Actually the Thunderbirds should have said they had a regular old Ford engine. Either a 272 a 292 or a 312.
Throttle shaft is shot
That appears to be thee 289 lightning pack motor... Some came with a 1bbl carb some had the Ford Carter bbl. With that rounded off oil bath air cleaner without wasting my time on this click bait it is a 1bbl carb..
Cut the stupid tree. WOW go to all that just for a scrub bush.
I don't understand why you wanted to keep running that tired old engine. It proved that it would run. I doubt you did it any good by keep starting it over and over and over. It needs a carb and a lot of servicing ,belts and a working water pump.
Just what in the hell is a Thunderbird engine??? Those came with 6cyl engines 289 and all the rest... What dopey statement to open a video... My brother inlaw asked me way back in the 80s to work on I think was an 87 or 88 Tbird... I opened the hood to expect to find a 302 or a common place 351... The damn thing had a 460 in it... He special ordered it and most folks today would not believe that motor fits that 80 Tbird platform. That was thee specific reasons he called a specialist meaning me... That big block had to come up and out of that thing just to put not only plugs in it but you could not even get to the wires let alone the power steering and pollution junk on it.. It promptly went to a salvage yard once I broke the news to my brother inlaw...
She's making expensive noises.
First video? Speed up your process. Air tires up and comment about them holding air or not.these are tips not criticism.
Nope sounds terrible it's not firing on all 8 cylinder, she wants to run with right mechanic, sorry
That appears to be thee 289 lightning pack motor... Some came with a 1bbl carb some had the Ford Carter bbl. With that rounded off oil bath air cleaner without wasting my time on this click bait it is a 1bbl carb..