[delraydella]

This was a project our shop did for a museum display about automobiles in America. It's a scaled down version of (I think ?) a '64 Ford Galaxie . The car is part of an interactive display for kids that lets them see what it's like to be a mechanic. They can check all the fluids, replace the tires and muffler and a couple of other things. It's been pretty popular with the kids.

The car body is made out of carved 1 pound white styrofoam and covered in a gypsum/acrylic resin. The resin coating is backed with a mesh fabric that is very similar to fiberglass screen, but a lot thicker. The gypsum/ acrylic mix is a very strong, very durable and non-toxic coating that is perfect for museums because there is no off-gassing period of toxic fumes that could damage other sensitive museum artifacts. The coating is basically the same stuff that store mannequins are made out of. The windows are 1/16 th inch Formica sheets glued to the body and caulked in.

i didn't make the body, I'm not that artistic, but I did weld the frame,the pseudo-hydraulic lift and make the tire mounts and front grill. The front grill is made out of 1/2" thick aluminum plate that was cut and drilled as supports for the 1/2" aluminum grill rods. I made a mock up of the grill exterior and bent and fit the pieces to it. The light rings are 1/8th flat stock rolled in a planetary ring roller. Once everything was cut and fit in, I welded it all together and bolted it into plywood pieces that were glued to the inside of the car body.

The car is supposed to be on a rack so the kids can crawl underneath and it's on an angle to make it easier for them to look under the front hood. The whole thing is supported by what looks to be a hydraulic cylinder coming up out of the floor, just like in a real garage. The underside framing is 2 x 3 x 1/8th wall rectangular steel tube. I made a cross piece to act as the frame supports that you can see sticking out the bottom sides ( the yellow stickouts) and this was centered and welded to the car frame. To get the right angle and height, I supported the car frame on four corners at the correct heights and marked my vertical support pieces and welded those to the cross piece. The supports are all hidden by the hydraulic cylinder, which is just a piece of rolled sheet metal welded along the seam and ground smooth. Everything was then welded to the circular base plate which is a piece of 1/4 inch steel plate that I plasma cut to a rough size and ground smooth. The base plate is lag screwed to the floor.

The tire mount are 1/8th inch steel plate that I plasma cut to a rough size and cleaned up on the lathe and are sized to fit the inside of the rims. The tires were trailer tires I bought at Tractor Supply (what a great store!). The rims had four bolt holes that I used for guide pins for placing the tires on the plates. The guide pins were 1/2 inch bolts that weren't threaded all the way up. I cut the heads off and rounded over the cut edge with a radius cutter on the lathe, then bolted the guide pins to the tire mount plates and welded the plates to a stickout pipe on the frame. There was also a threaded pipe in the center of the plate that locked the tire on to the plate. The tire was held on by a threaded end cap.

It's held up pretty well for over a year now and with several thousand kids playing with it every day.

Other Steve

[weldin mike 27]

Hey,

Thats super cool,

you must be stoked to have your projects on show like this.

Mick

[TamJeff]

That's awesome.

[Otto Nobedder]

That's really cool. The number of people who don't understand their own cars well enough to change a tire or check the oil amazes me, and a cool exhibit like this that can help is A-one in my book!

[O12LDY]

That is a great idea. It looks like a Falcon to me,about a 1964 as you say.


Shawn

[delraydella]

Shawn, you're right. I went back and looked at the drawings, it is based on a Falcon, not a Galaxie. Thanks for noticing that!

Other Steve

[quietmale]

i agree about it being a 64 falcon but the whole idea is great

[dhazelton]

That's really cool. And probably the only time those kids will ever see a straight 6.

[weldin mike 27]

Hey,

Ford in Australia made a straight 6 untill last year. Now they have the v6.

Mick

[delraydella]

Mick,

Do you have a picture of that straight 6? I'd like to see what a modern one looks like.


Thanks,
Other Steve

[Otto Nobedder]

Don't know if they still do it, but some years ago, I worked on a Toyota Celica Supra that high a high-performance straight 6, fuel-injected, factory header, 4 valves per!

Steve S

[weldin mike 27]

Hey,

Here is a write up on the 2012 Ford Falcon XR6, which is the performance model, It has a pic of the motor. Ford are renowned for having motors that actually look sort of like motors. Easy to get at. Probably cause they break down so much (not really im just not a ford fan, particularly)

http://performancedrive.com.au/2012-for ... iew-video/

Only for sale in Aus and NZ(?) but im sure you could ship one to the us if the desire took you. lol

Mick

Enjoy,

[delraydella]

"Probably cause they break down so much (not really im just not a ford fan, particularly)"

Not many people know this, but Ford is actually an acronym for........Found On Road Dead or Fix Or Repair Daily

[Otto Nobedder]

You forgot "F@#Ked on race day..."

[weldin mike 27]

Hey,

Some more,

First on rubbish dump, Found on rednecks driveway. fond of rusty derelicts .

Mick

[Fat Bob]

... i'm sure you could ship one to the us if the desire took you. lol

What for? I'd just wreck it, the steering wheel's on the wrong side.

[TamJeff]

I have had good luck with most brands of automobiles. I like Ford as well as anything.

Here's mine. It has a freshly rebuilt (all new gears/bearings etc) toploader 4 speed out of an SCJ Torino adapted to fit a small block. 4:10 gears and a bunch of other neat things in it. I love this thing. '70' Bronco Sport.


It's probably one of the 'quickest' 4x4 trucks in my county. lol