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Member
Posts: 5
| Hi everyone! First off I'm glad I found this place. What a wealth of information on this awesome era of cars.
Here's my story:
The wife has a thing for the 50's. Me being a gear head and building a 96 silverado street truck she asked me one day if we could get a 50's car and build that. I warned her not to encourage me to build more cars as that gets expensive.
Turns out we have a 1959 Dodge Regent at the farm. My grandfather owned a Dodge dealership in a small Saskatchewan town in the 60's and when him and his brother closed up in the late 60's they took the used inventory and divided it. This Dodge was one of those cars. A trade in according to my Dad.
I broke out the weed trimmer and cut a path through the grass to where its been sitting since the late 60's and we had a cursory glance at it to see if it was even worth thinking about restoring. Aside from rust on the rockers everything we could see was in very good shape in terms of sheet metal. No big dents. No holes and all the chrome was present and in very good condition (both bumpers have some dings and bends in them and the right trim piece over the headlight had a ding in it)
The interior is trashed as I expected but I knew it would need a full reupholstering. The engine is a 6cyl with a 3 on the tree and likely seized by now. Not a big deal as I'd plan to upgrade the power train.
I'd re wire the car as well to modern standard.
My concern is the underside. The frame and floor. Its sitting on 4 flat tires so I couldn't see underneath. Is it common for these cars to have that stuff underneth that rust beyond repair? Are floor pans easily available for this car?
I'll post photos of it. See what you guys think. Is this a worthwhile endeavor or am I getting into something that's wildly impossible. |
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Member
Posts: 5
| Here's the pics
Edited by Matt327 2020-10-05 4:55 PM
 (20201005_145042.jpg)
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 20201005_145042.jpg (269KB - 144 downloads)
20201005_145222.jpg (361KB - 145 downloads)
20201005_145309.jpg (241KB - 138 downloads)
20201005_145403.jpg (224KB - 138 downloads)
20201005_145437.jpg (243KB - 147 downloads)
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Expert
Posts: 3577
   
Location: Blythewood, SC | Do you have all of the parts that have been removed from the dash?
Restoring a Forward Look era car is not like restoring a similar age Ford or GM. There are very little parts available. If you don't have the parts that are missing from the dash, you will have to find them in junkyards or ebay. There are no reproduction floors. With a caveat, there are reproduction floors but the fit is pretty lousy. John Fowlie (Big M on this forum) may still have some cars with clean floors that he can sell the pans to you. But you will likely have to make them yourself. If you think there is rust in the rockers, then the rockers are probably trash, inner and outer. These cars were notorious to rust out fast.
Restoring a Forward Look car is something you do knowing right up front that you will likely lose money on the deal. The car you posted looks like a fairly low option base model four door post sedan. That's what I have, and trust me when I say that they have little to no resale value. Other than the interior, your car looks complete. And the price is right at $free. If you like the way a 59 Canadian Dodge looks, then that is not a bad place to start. But you will likely have to replace the lower 4 to 6 inches of the car all the way around. There is also probably rust in the front fenders at the headlights. They hold dirt there and rust fast.
Good luck. Restoring any Forward Look car is not for the feint of heart. |
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Member
Posts: 5
| I didnt go inside since its pretty nasty in there but I think dad said he spotted the glove box. I spotted the radio. The back seat is full of parts. Dad said there's also a cache of parts in one of the buildings out there from this and the other cars around it.
I know its a base model regent but the build isn't for a car I can turn a profit on. None of my builds consider that. I just love cars and an old base model forward look car with some modern amenities is something im really into. I actually like that it isn't something rare or special so if I resto mod it wont feel like blasphemy. There's also no timeline. I'm excited at the prospect of improving my car building skills and learning new ones.
I figured the aftermarket is pretty lean for these cars. It does look pretty complete which is what prompted me to continue moving forward. We still need to get into the trunk and see what's doing in there. Maybe more parts. Hopefully the floor still exists haha
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Location: The Mile High City | Hi, Matt: Welcome to the forums! My first thought is "no way Jose!" With that sedan, if you don't have insane restoration skills, you are WAY better off buying a restored, or better yet original, vehicle you can run and drive immediately. Unless you have a deep, personal infatuation with that particular vehicle - run away. If you decide to do it, we will help you every step of the way untill we get sick of it.  |
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Member
Posts: 5
| Thank you for the honesty. I'm still very early in planning this. The next step will be to lift the car onto some cribs and have a thorough look underneath to see what the condition is like. Based on what I find going forward will determine if I follow though but I figured I'd drop this post to get some input from folks with more experience in this than I am. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 854
| Matt, I Personally Love the Canadian Late 50s Mopars ,I am Currently Working on two 58 Dodge Mayfair Convertibles I Bought from Western Canada in 2016 . Judging by the Condition of My Cars, I know Cars stored outside in your area are Much Better preserved than they are In My area Michigan .Its kind of Cool the Car has Been in the Family all these years . Let Us know How she Looks when She is off the Ground Good Luck with it. |
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Expert 5K+
Posts: 5006
| your probably better off served buying a running sedan, You can normally pick em up for 3-5k, although it does have history with you.
Unless your a fool like me who likes restoring cars as relaxation therapy  |
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Member
Posts: 5
| It's definately relaxing (my wife may disagree based on what she observes me doing/saying sometimes while working on a project haha). It's also satisfying creating something cool.
I'll keep you guys posted! |
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Expert 5K+
Posts: 7400
Location: northern germany | Matt327 - 2020-10-06 12:58 PM
It's also satisfying creating something cool.
I'll keep you guys posted!
THAT is what its all about, you will never get your money back and you can buy something driveable that costs you alot less money and time, BUT, after you brought that relic back to the road, it is YOUR baby, that wouldn't be there without you and you saved a little piece of mid-century. People with gasoline in their veins understand and a love for MC understand, the car show types don't. |
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Expert
Posts: 3967
Location: DFW, TX | Welcome to the Forward Look!
I like the car. It is certainly unusual to see those Canadian Plymouth-bodied Dodges. I see lots of good parts there, but I don't think you're looking at a good restoration candidate.
Get under it, and take a look at the floors, rockers, trunk floor and extensions, and the frame. I suspect there will be significant problems. I would like to encourage you to stay around though, as it's not too hard to find a solid body that needs all that good chrome and trim. We all enjoy seeing someone tackle a good project around here! |
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Forward Look newbie. What do you think of this '59 Regent?
