1956 Steel support welded along chassis

[jon g.]

Can anyone explain why some 56 birds have 3/8” x 2” steel support welded along the full chassis, and 4 pieces cut to fit the x support.

 

[biddle]

Please follow the posting prompts on your future posts. "1956 Thunderbird" is not a summary of your post. Since we are an all-Ford Thunderbird site, you can also omit the make model. I will update your title now.

 

[REDTOY]

Can anyone explain why some 56 birds have 3/8” x 2” steel support welded along the full chassis, and 4 pieces cut to fit the x support.

Back in 2000 when I was restoring my 56, I asked about his answer was to not modify it or remove it as it was an intricate part of the car and that no 2 cars were the same as most of these plates were added after the cars had been shipped to the dealers. The reason if I remember correctly was that the frame was not strong enough and they would tend to bend and would cause various problems as one can imagine so dealers were asked to add the plates and they were not factory installed which made them all different. I have looked at several cars and yes there are slight differences from one to another. On my car BTW they look like they were installed by a rookie welder!

 

[doug7740]

This topic has been discussed several times over the years in the Early Bird magazine. Here are the discussons from three separate issues.

doug7740
1955 Thunderbird Blue