The LeMons Rally, aka the LeMons Hell On Wheels Rally ’16, looks to be an absolute riot. There isn’t so much a price limit, as there is on typical LeMons racing, but instead the idea is to get interesting, low-buck rides together and drive them nearly 1,400 miles throughout California and Nevada, with passes through Death Valley, Las Vegas, the Sierra Nevadas and Monterey (ooh, just in time for the Monterey car week! Fancy!) It would stand to reason that someone from the BangShift community would be scrambling to attend, and in short order we learned that at least one of the rally’s participants is a man who is no stranger when it comes to making 1950s-era machinery travel long distances while surviving desert temperatures: our own Jim Forbes, known as “squirrel” on the Forums. Jim has tons of cool old iron in his Southern Arizona garage, so we wondered just what he would bring out. His 1955 Chevy and his gasser Chevy II are probably too nice, but he’s got a small fleet of GM trucks that are accessible. And he even hinted at having found a 1958 Volkswagen something-or-other that had been converted into a buggy of some kind. But we weren’t ready for the reveal at all when pictures showed up of his latest score: a 1959 Edsel.
To say that Edsel was a failure would be glossing over the truth. They were Ford products with Ford engines, questionable styling features (for the last time, little Timmy, it’s a “horse collar”), a Ford Y-block that liked to eat cam bearings, and all the cachet of a brand that lasted all of three years. Ouch. This four-door sled was found in Las Vegas and is in desert shape, meaning the metal is good, the engine might be okay, and all of the soft bits have been roasted to well-done. That means that a quick go-through of the 292ci V8, a replacement of the borked 3-speed with overdrive transmission, a new driveline (the car’s original had been taken out after being forklifted) and just enough work to make sure that the Edsel will make the drive no sweat. Ok, that’s a lie…have you ever driven a car without air conditioning through Death Valley? It’s rare, it’s obscure, and it’s the perfect car to park outside the gates to Pebble Beach when it’s all said and done!
BangShift Project Link: That Fresh LeMon Scent – 1959 Edsel Build
Go Jim Go!
If you are putting that Y-block back in, make sure the intake bolts go in in the correct locations or else you may be looking at bent pushrods (some of those holes are threaded all the way through).
My dad bought a disassembled 1957 Thunderbird with what was supposedly a rebuilt 312 in it. A quick disassembly of the engine revealed that to be true, and the bearings were immaculate and there wasn’t even any carbon deposits on the bottom of the pistons.
Unfortunately,whoever buttoned it up must not have been aware of that fact. A whole new set of pushrods had to go in before the engine went into the car. Also remember that it is a flat tappet cam with solid lifters so zinc needs to be in the oil.
thanks, there are several places it’s easy to screw up one of these motors. The head bolts are different lengths too, the end ones are about a quarter inch longer, just enough to cause problems.
You want a cool Edsel??? Boom! meet the Edchero…..http://phoenix.craigslist.org/evl/cto/5563478448.html
neat truck! too bad the price tag is about 15 times my budget…
This car screams “cool” – like “A.C.cool” in the desert! 😀
Tear up an original survivor? Brilliant!
…or bring a neat old car back to life? Lots of “untearing” going on right now, all the stuff I’m fixing.