Thread: '51 suburban school bus to show burb

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Getting the front sheet metal on the week before Christmas '10. The last picture outside was taken Christmas eve and was start up day and the day we knew something was wrong with the trans....

Trying to get a lot of the little things done before it goes off to get interior.. head lights in, caps and rings on, hood on. and get it loaded in the trailer... trailer picture taken Dec. 30th less that 4 weeks to go..

These shots were taken on Jan 2nd '11 and i took it on the 6th to have the front end alignment done and then back to the shop to finish up the seats and carpet..

The last picture was taken on Jan 21st the day we got it back to my shop.. Our set up day in So. Calif. for the GNRS was the 27th and we still had a few things to complete.. at this point it had maybe 10 miles on it... I'm still telling the owners we're still 3 months away from having it done... nose wasn't growing much at this point because it was on the grind stone...

Just a few pictures of the completed suburban before it's loaded in the trailer for the trip south.. These were taken on Jan. 25th with about 60 miles on it... It ran great, was quite inside and all was good.... still telling lies... told the owners we would meet them at the show and look at cars together... little did they know..

First stop was at my buddy's shop in Santa Ana to get the sign he made for us.. and then off to set up day on Thur. the 27th..

And this brings me to almost the end, but at least i don't have to lie anymore... They had no clue that the suburban was in the show. We meet them outside of one of the builds and the plan was to just walk around and look at a few cars and i was going to get a call from one of my friends to come over to another building and look at what he had found. As i'm walking with the wife into the building ahead of everyone else she looks around and the first thing she says to me "hey there's a car painted the same color as ours" she could only see the top at this point, we walk around the corner and down the middle toward the suburban and the next thing she says is "they got the same wheels as we do" and in almost the same breath knew it was theirs. She started crying and hugging everybody that would hold still...For some reason the husband didn't know it was his until he walked up and read his name on the sign.. With a lot of hard work and a lot of good help from some friends we got to pull off the surprise of the year.. They went on to win first in their class and first in every show they put it in for the rest of the year...whew i'm tired...

WOW, that was an amazing journey! Thanks for letting us share the ride... Congrats to you and your crew for an outstanding job. Those final pics of the owners makes it all worth it! They look so happy it makes all the hard work worth every moment.

Again, thanks for sharing the pics and the build!

Wow! Great story and beautiful work on that '51!!! Like the others, I'm lovin' that color choice, too. Nice to have a little splash of "Ford" on it!!
Really excellent work! Thanks for sharing the process!

Great story, great work, great people. What else can I say.

Jack.

What a great vision for the finished product, the owners have to
be thrilled!

your retired my A#% ! LOL

Love the steering wheel, looks like the original except the center
hub is shaped different ?

Rich

Great story and great coverage (pictures) Every one should be happy with the results..

Wow.... you bloody liar.... how the hell did you sleep straight in bed at night..... Congratulations on not only an amazing build..... but in pulling off a grand surprise for the unexpected owners.... That vehicle sets the standard very high for others to meet and also shows that a ugly duckling can be turned into a very beautiful swan for all others the enjoy looking at. On a another note, proves to others that you can operate a small Hot Rod business in a small off the beaten track village and still turn out an outstanding show winning vehicle. Yes I did a goggle earth search to see where Shingle Springs is and was interested to find you ain't to far from where a friend of mine lives at Eldorado Valley. Thank you so much for the story and the photos of the build, I really appreciated and enjoyed the journey.

Originally Posted by 34_40

WOW, that was an amazing journey! Thanks for letting us share the ride... Congrats to you and your crew for an outstanding job. Those final pics of the owners makes it all worth it! They look so happy it makes all the hard work worth every moment.

Again, thanks for sharing the pics and the build!

Thank you and glad you like the story... i've got a great short video made by her daughter if i can get it down loaded i'll post it, it really shows how they feel..

Originally Posted by randyr

Wow! Great story and beautiful work on that '51!!! Like the others, I'm lovin' that color choice, too. Nice to have a little splash of "Ford" on it!!
Really excellent work! Thanks for sharing the process!

Thanks a lot and yes the ford color is a big hit with people...