The firewall required extensive panelwork to repair major rust, holes drilled by previous owners, and reversal of the right hand drive conversion back to left hand drive format. At this point of the resto, I was only going to be doing a tidy up in preparation for the new running gear and left hand drive conversion-then back on the road. After discovering all the rust under that shiny paint, it became obvious that it could not be left, so a full resto was on the books.

The original right hand drive conversion was a reasonable job considering it had been done in around 1960, to meet Australian approval. The steel dashboard had been reversed by cutting the original dash into several sections, and then welded back together, less the padded dash recess. The car was once a manual transmission, and the original manual steering column remained although the previous owner had adapted push-buttons from I believe a 62, and used the later 727 transmission. A steel bar ran across the firewall from the brake pedal to the brake pedal box which was still on the left side. It was fitted with a manual steering box. The cloth seat inserts had been removed and replaced with vinyl. When the carpet was removed, typical floor rust was discovered, along with many very poor attempts at rust repair. Patches upon patches. Holes. The floor was going to need many hours spent!

The floor pan, as is typical of 50's MoPars, was a nightmare. Rusty old patches braized on top of older patches welded on top of rust. Even the bracing under the floor needed major surgery. All areas of rust were removed to two inches past the nearest sign of rust, new panels formed-all with correct swages/grooves/indentations etc as factory, and these were then cut into the floor pan, butt welded, and then hammered and filed as if they grew there. There was also a number of holes drilled, which required cutting and patches butt welded in and then hammer and filed. There was even a hole on the trans tunnel which looked like the car had at some time had a floor shifter.

I started stripping the Fury with paint stripper, which I would not recommend. Under that shiny paint I found another 12 layers of paint, plastic filler, a lot of lead, and underneath that, there were lots of old patches on top of rusty holes, and a LOT of dents. The right rear quarter looked like it had been beaten with a baseball bat in about 10 places, and the rear by the fin looked like a horse had leaned against it at some time. There were lots of holes where someone in the past had used some sort of a body puller to pull out the dents halfway before filling them. I learned that paint stripper is not much good for removing plastic filler. After stripping the whole car except the trunk lid and the roof, it was decided that I would acid dip the entire body and frame. What the heck-do it once, do it right! If I had known what was under that paint, I would have acid dipped it first instead of messing round with the paint stripper by hand.

Can you help me locate any of the following parts that I am missing, so that my restoration will proceed through to completion unhindered? You can count on this being current-if a part is on the list then I need it, and you could get to see the part that you supply appear on this page installed onto this very 57 Fury! Fair prices paid for good parts. Any help appreciated. Contact me here.