1997 Ford Falcon station wagon

Well today my new grinder and accessories turned up, YAY. So this afternoon was spent playing with the new toys and according to my misses trying to kill them. But I am so glad I got what I got, it made everything go so quick. It went so quick that I have almost got everything shaped equally and almost ready for the light weight filler which will end up turning to dust like 95% of the fibre filler I had already used.
I also got the spoiler shaped and ready for light weight filler. So far the spoiler has held up extremely well as has all the other body work I have done. Tomorrow will see the door handles removed so I can begin on smoothing out the boddy line that runs along the side of the car at the same height as the handles.
Here are some progess pictures

 

What a neat place to mount the rear spoiler. Very cool!

I really like the size and shape of your wagon. Ford could have had a winner selling them here.:banghead3:

 

Looks to a notch bigger than our 'Fox' bodied wagons over here. In fact, your wagon could actually be a direct decendant of those. Did you get any versions of those over there? (Fairmont, Zephyr, Granada, Cougar, 'small' LTD and Marquis, etc. )

 

I wish it were so. All those gorgeous Turbo sixes would fit. Australia made Ford and GM/Holden cars and trucks for Brazil, South Africa and Argentina, as well as Polynesia. And they built road machines. Comfort, power and reliability. Huge country, with small population - Long, garageless highways.

 

I am not 100% sure but I think at some point in time Fairmont, Zephyr, Cougar, 'small' LTD and Marquis were avalible for purchace from Ford Australia. In 1997 though I only know of the Fairmont and LTD' being avalible. The Ozzie Fairmont is basically the exact same car as mine but with a different grille and all the luxuries. The LTD how ever was only avalible in sedan form

Here is a picture of a 1997 fairmont wagon

Was avalible with the Tickford 4.0L 6cylinder or 5.0L V8

This is a picture of a 1997 LTD

These were only avalible with the 5.0L V8

If you wanted the LTD with the Tickford 4.0L 6cylinder you had to buy a Fairlane ghia which is the same as the LTD except for a few bits of trim and the wheels style

The Fairmont, Fairlane and LTD all had leather interior, climate control, cruise control, ABS, Dual front air bags, electric windows, electric mirror, factory cd stacker and much more.

 

Why, oh why were we left out by Ford?

 

The rumor has it that in 5-6 years Ford America will be stopping production of the Ozzie Falcon and equivilants in favour of a global Taurus based large family car which would then be front wheel drive based. The stupid thing is when they tried to sell the Taurus over here it flopped as do most big front wheel drive cars over here. Ford fans in Australia hope that this isnt the case and that Ford America will see the protentional in the Falcon and use its chassis as the base for all large rear wheel drive Ford cars namely the Mustang, which would be awesome because when comparing a late model mustang to a late model falcon the mustang get blown out of the water especially when it comes to power and handling

 

Same here. Even the Ford police cars are going FWD, and the police aren't happy puppies.

 

I really dont see it happening to be honest. The amount of money spent to develop the current falcon chassis would be a waste if it stops in 5 yrs.

Anyways, back to the wagon.

Today I got the door handle off and started on the smoothing of the body line/ body crease. After taking the area to be smoothed back to bare metal I filled it and once dry it was then sanded back down to bare metal on the surrounding areas so it is smooth and level

 

Don't let that grinder cool down.

Are you using dent-pullers or dollies too?

 

No dent puller or dollies. Cant on the part I smoothed. As for the rest of the boddy work I have no need either as the car only had 2 dints on it behind the left hand side rear door which I had alread repaired.

I have gone threw loads of body filler and people say that is bad, but I was told being my first go at prepping a body for paint that I should take my time and use plenty of body filler. then once that is dry to sand the car back almost to bare metal removing most of the filler and leaving a very flat and smooth surface to paint onto.

 

I really like where this wagon is ggoing

I do have to ask though, your not just using a grinder are you, you have board sanders also?

 

I am currently using a grinder but I will be board sanders once I start with light weight fillers

 

Well today my indicators arrived so right away the masking tape, tape measure, pen and drill came out. I have got both indicators attached to the mirrors and have started the moulding. I managed to fluke the shape of the moulding above and below both indicators so now I only have to concentrate on shapping and moulding the sides of the indicators.

Also while I was working on the car some how the induction and tappet cover came off and the grinder while running ended up falling on it removing all the casting marks, rounding of square edges and removing the whole raised 4.0L OHC badge. I am thinking the cover will most likely be painted in a gloss paint as there are going to be 2 red LED strips under the induction.

Hopefully I can get pictures tonight or tomorrow morning

 

haha yah once you start grinding it's hard to stop...