Bought the Baltic Blue '59Convertible

[elijahbird7]

Made the deal on Tuesday, and will pick it up Monday. I still have a question on the sports spare wheel carrier. If I take that off, will there be holes that were drilled in the rear bumper that wouldn't be covered by the license plate bracket? (which I would have to buy somewhere, since it's no longer there)
Everything works on the car including the clock and even the lighter. I will likely replace the exhaust system with aluminized or stainless, and will eventually replace the bias with radials.

[arizonajack]

Made the deal on Tuesday, and will pick it up Monday.

Looking forward to your photos. I also have a blue 59 Convertible.

I still have a question on the sports spare wheel carrier. If I take that off, will there be holes that were drilled in the rear bumper that wouldn't be covered by the license plate bracket? (which I would have to buy somewhere, since it's no longer there)

There's a thread about the spare wheel carrier but you've already found it.

[tmjsong1aolcom]

If you remove the conny kit (sports tire carrier) there will be 4 holes in the bumper. This is assuming that the one on your bird is an original Ford piece. The other pieces that will be trimmed will be the rear bullets between the upper and lower bumper pieces. I remember you saying that they filled the ends and rechromed the enitre pieces. We did this to the one on my bird.

As for removal that is a personal thing, but doing so will still require the lower bumper piece either being replaced with another piece or having yours sent in the holes filled and lower piece being rechromed. This might cause you other issues with the upper pieces and the bullets. These may also need to be rechromed to match the lower once done.

I would do a determination to determine if this was an original Ford kit or an aftermarket piece. Easiest way is if the tire chrome circle piece is stainless steel. If it is SS then you probably have an original. Place a magnet on the circle and if it slides off it is SS.

My opinion is if you do have an original Ford Kit that it is worth keeping on the bird, but if you must remove, then make sure you save and mark all the pieces. An original kit can be sold for a decent price.

If you send me detailed pics of the kit I can tell you for sure if it original after determing the chrome ring material.

Good Luck
Richard Johnson
tmjsong1@aol.com
Sun Prairie, Wi.
58's&64's

[elijahbird7]

Yes, it is the original Ford kit. There is a small scrape at the bottom of the full round steel cover where it likely touched the road. It has a little surface rust on it there, but can easily be polished off. I may take a small section of door edge molding and wrap it around there to prevent any future scraping. I will likely leave it in place, but just in case I were to remove it, I wanted to be prepared for what I would need to do. Thanks.