1957 Ford Del Rio "Shooting Brake" Ranch Wagon

[Kanada Kustoms]

Great build... I like how you modified the trim!

Edited October 13 by Kanada Kustoms

[LennyB]

1 hour ago, Kanada Kustoms said:

Great build... I like how you modified the trim!

Thanks Jon, it was a lot of fun😮

[arpbob]

[arpbob]

Lenny,

A few photos that may help you out. Let me know if I can be of any help.

Bob Florine

ARP Inc.

[LennyB]

22 hours ago, arpbob said:

Lenny,

A few photos that may help you out. Let me know if I can be of any help.

Bob Florine

ARP Inc.

Thanks Bob, lots of good shots there. That will be a big help. I could use some chassis shots if you have some.

[LennyB]

The rear cross-member on the kit chassis is upside down compared to the '57. The exhaust cutouts face the ground when they need to face the floor. That will need to be inverted.

 

This now sits more like the real car. Next we have to add the inner frame rails. Crafted from some .100 x .188" styrene strips, which are slightly larger then the other rails but will be sanded down to size. I pinned them in place until the glue set.

 

I took a liberty on the top side of the new rail where it passes below the chassis pan. Rather then carving into the pan which would then create a domino effect on the interior I scalloped out the rail a bit. That center rail mount, the one original to the chassis will need to be moved to the inside of the rail. Then we need to add some bracing at the front and rear intersection where the rails unit. 

Bob, any photos of those braces would be welcome. 

 

That's a wrap for now, catch ya next time.

[LennyB]

Figured I would do some work on the engine as I will have to make it play nice with the chassis. 

 

Engine is a Boss 429 3D print from Iceman Collections. Nice looking piece and  it has an intake similar to our project vehicle. It will need some extra work as it doesn't have any drive belts and the transmission is a bit of an odd duck. Not really sure what it is, certainly not a C-6 that should be at home there. So that's the first thing to tackle. 

If you look at it you will see it's really too small for the engine. The starter actually sits outside the bell-housing. Were not getting started this way.

I'm not sure if the back of this engine is supposed to represent an adapter plate, but the adapter plates I've seen extend below the oil pan surface for the starter mount. You'll see what I mean in a minute.

 

Next we need to grab the proper transmission. The real Shooting Brake has a modified GM 4L80E unit. Picked one up from VCG Resins and that also is too small. Probably even more so.

 

Time to do some research. To add this tranny to a real 429 involves an adapter plate such as this one.

 

This allows you to mount to the engine and it also drops the starter down lower, which you see is down next to the oil pan.

.

 

So time to start fabrication. First the starter had to go. So this little bugger is coming off

 

Then with some flat stock we carved up an adapter plate.

Doing a quick mock-up with the transmission fitted to this still looks small but now it lines up to a point where the starter can actually engage.

Top of the spacer plate sits a bit high at this point but that's an easy fix. 

And before we get too far ahead of ourselves let's see how it looks between the fenders.

 

Clearly we need to lower the cross-member below the oil pan as the engine sits like it's about to launch into space. But that's a project for another day. See you then.

[customline]

Nice work, Len. This is a huge project and your craftsmanship is top notch. Glad you're back on this.

[Moparman18064]

Some great progress there Len. That 429 is looking sweet, great work with the trans adapter

[David G.]

Great work getting the engine and transmission sorted Len.

David G.

[LennyB]

Thanks guys, I thought it would be easy sailing once the trim was sorted, boy! was I wrong.🤔

[FoMoCo66]

Really nice work on this one so far!

[NOBLNG]

On 10/14/2025 at 6:33 PM, LennyB said:

Thanks Bob, lots of good shots there. That will be a big help. I could use some chassis shots if you have some.

Ask him if he has any scale cleco pins too.😜 Seriously…nice progress Len and some great problem solving going on here. The Boss is gonna look good in there!😎

[Big Messer]

On 3/5/2025 at 1:02 PM, arpbob said:

So you are kitbashing a 1:1 phantom station wagon...

[espo]

Like how you have been striving to be as accurate as possible to the 1:1 Ford wagon. 

[Quiet Eric]

Love this thread, just got caught up. Great work!

[LennyB]

Thanks all. Maybe I'm going a bit too far striving for accuracy. Think I'll skip the working touchscreen on the dash 😁