Hi my name is Will Presley. This project is my own 1949 ford convertible. Every good old car has a story. Here is my car’s story. In the early fifties my real folks ( I was later adopted ) decided to split. My Dad was in a bind and had to the leave the state of Texas or possible jail so he left. Before leaving he jacked his new 1949 Ford convertible up on blocks and nailed the garage door shut. I had driven the car on his lap and once while standing with him by my side. He said the car was to be mine when I was old enough to get it outfoxed the garaged I did not see my Dad for several years and I moved on to a new family. Through a name change and the selling of the property that the car was located on the car was lost to an Uncle. I saw the car again when I was 14 in the same town that I had left. Another Uncle had it and it had been hit very hard in the left side. I never asked about the car and spent some great time with my Dad before he was killed in an oil well accident. Well, I did not find that Texas car, but I did find one in N.Y. The car is a driver and showed no rust. It is blue but came from the factory red the same as Dad’s car. I paid to much but I was tired of looking. A friend of mine who owns a body shop and has restored several cars pointed out the old girls weak spots. My plans are to restore the car as much as possible but not cripple it for long periods of time. I do not want to give up driving it. If I tore it completely down, it may never get back together. The first problem after getting it back to Ohio ( I did not drive it back ) was the generator was not working. A friend of mine who has spent half his life working on shoeboxes (49 to 51Fords ) sold me an adapter that would let me mount an alternator on the car. No one told me that you must find a small single wire alternator. All we had at the shop was a single wire large and it would not fit in the adapter. Even people who sell the adapter will not tell you what will fit. But they sure will sell you one. People who sell parts to to old cars should be more helpful than secret to just sell more. If you ever want to change your flathead to an alternator, the adapter fits and looks great just be sure to find the small GM single wire alternator. When I get to do it again I will order it on the internet and get the chrome one for under $ 100. I gave up and put the old generator and voltage regulator in the shop. The cost to repair the generator and replace the regulator was $ 150. The generator had been rigged and burned the regulator out. The car had been converted to 12 volt before I got it. Picked some friends up at the airport and surprised them and had a blast. 65 on the freeway was no problem. The oil spot in the driveway was a problem. The rear end was leaking. I climbed under the car to replace the seal and removed it. The new problem is the metal pieces that came out with the seal. Put the old seal back in and will only drive it around the shop. My friend who rebuilds shoeboxes told me now was the time to up date to a modern 9 inch ford rear end. The internet is wonderful. Many newer rear ends will fit but a 1970 era Maverick they say will fit the best. I have found one here in Columbus and will take pictures and let you know just how hard it is. Several people have written that they did it but just say I did it. I have never been lucky enough to just do anything. Either it does not fit without a torch or I trip and fall and hurt either myself or what I am working on. I will give you blow by blow how it goes and on the cheap, I am pushing my luck spending money around here. Have any advice I would like to hear from you.