Punky Manor - Vintage Stock Car - Tribute Build

Parts Hunting....

Quite a few years ago, I restored/modified my 1969 Camaro. Even back then it was fairly easy to find either aftermarket reproduction parts or the used parts that I needed for the project. I think I could have bought nearly all of the parts needed to build a '69 Camaro from scratch.

Perhaps that is why I thought locating parts for my Torino Tribute car would be fairly easy? I had no idea how few aftermarket parts were available for the 1972 Gran Torino Sport. So the search began.

At the very least I needed to find some replacement sheet metal for the body of the car. There had been some panel repair done, a few pieces of the front end were missing. The rear bumper was in pretty rough shape. I also need to find a drive train, and hope to locate a Big Block Ford Engine and 4-speed setup (still searching for those).

Where to start....

To begin the search, I headed over to Ebay. I did a search for 1972 and 1973 Torino's, and Ranchero's and saved the searches so I would be notified daily of new parts being listed. Then I started doing searches out on "OneCraigs.com" which lets me search everything listed on Craigslist nation-wide on one page. Then I started doing searches in local junkyards.

Most of what I found was pretty high priced because it was intended to be sold to people restoring a Torino. I do not need high quality parts because I am building a dirt track race car. Then again, I don't want to spend hundreds of hours doing repairs just to make something presentable.

First Item I located was the right front Fender Extension. Found this item on Ebay, stripped it down to bare metal and fixed the small dings. Followed that up with a couple coats of white primer. 

Next up, I discovered an all Ford junkyard over in Hastings, MN which is only a 25 minute drive from our home. Joe's Auto Sale's has been specializing in vintage, rebuilt and new Ford parts for over 50 years.

My wife and I drove out there one Saturday a while back and spent a few hours walking around. She was busy taking reference photos for her artwork and I was busy trying to locate several Torino's, Wagons and Ranchero's. 

I managed to find a 1973 Ranchero that had a pretty decent set of doors on it, so I made arrangements to come back with tools and pull them off.

The doors were on a Squire Model Ranchero, so they had the wide trim pieces running down the sides. I stripped the doors of everything I didn't need (glass, crank mechanism, hinges, & mirrors), but they were still quite heavy.

After getting them home, the doors needed to be stripped of paint and all the inner metal and jams had to be removed to leave only the exterior panel. The Squire trim was held on using clips which required two rows of big holes down the length of the door.

A variety of hand tools were used to strip the door of their excess "dead weight". I used a 4 1/2 inch grinder with a thin cut-off wheel to do most of the cutting. There were a couple spots where I had to use a sawzall (reciprocating saw) with a bimetal blade. I left a bit of the inner door jam lip around the shell in order to maintain some strength. I will make final cuts and adjustments once I am ready to replace the rest of the sheet metal.

Here is the excess metal that I cut off the doors and rear bumper. The doors measure 4 feet - 8 inches long and were quite heavy until I trimmed them up. The unwanted scrap metal was then deposited at the local recycle station.

After removing all the exterior and interior paint, I cut out large steel discs and welded one on the back side of each of the trim holes. Once that was completed I ground the weld flush with the front of the door and then ran a dual action sander over them to flatten the repaired areas out even more.

After much grinding, sanding, a bit of spot putty, and a couple coats of sanding primer, 
I shot a final coat of white primer on to prevent oxidation while I gather up more body parts.

Joe (at Joe's Auto Sale's) also had a few bumpers laying around for a '72 Torino, so I dug through the pile and picked out the best rear bumper I could find. It has one small dent but I can push it flat using a hydraulic press.

Well, that's what I've managed to find for the 44 year old race car so far. I have a line on a few other parts, but they are a 6 1/2 hour drive away, so I will need to make arrangements to drive down and pick them up. More on that when the story develops.

Thanks again for stopping by. If you have any questions, please drop the in the comments section below. And if you have any Big Block Ford engines sitting about, please let me know!  Take Care!