New project: '37 Ford Pickup

A good friend who lives in northern AZ has always wanted a traditional style '37 Ford pickup, and several months ago, he found one online in Mass.







A fairly nice, mostly original truck that was used as a drag strip push-start vehicle for the rails in the late '50s. Flathead with Edelbrock heads/intake and a pair of 97s, early '50s Olds wheel covers, plumbing headache rack with schoolbus turn signals mounted way up there (transport company broke one) pretty much stock otherwise. Previous owner sent this pic of it around '58:



The story on the truck is that it was reportedly sealed inside a basement in Massachussetts since 1960, and when the old dude who owned it died, it was sold at an estate sale. The next owner went through the Flatty with new gaskets, rebuilt the carbs, did a so-so job of converting it to juice brakes, which sorta worked, and that's as far as he got before deciding to sell.

You can still see the Ferrara Spring & Parts lettering under the Sandy's Auto Sales lettering, I suppose you could call that patina under more patina. The truck was originally green, then red, then a darker green, then navy blue with period pinstriping. Very cool.

Even more cool is that the new owner wants a period hot rod, but he wants to preserve as much of the current paint as possible. So the plan is for a total street rod rebuild, all Ford, with a warmed over '57 312 Y block, a C4, '57 9 inch rear with Galaxie wagon drums, and stock type cross-leaf front and rear end with a taffy-pulled dropped '36 axle and split bones.

Frame will be boxed and have a modern style tubular central network with hydroboost brakes under the floor and a 605 P/S box. Front brakes will be disc, wheels are undecided at this point, the owner is thinking of steelies mounting '61 Ford dog dish caps, new artillery wheels would be my vote. Interior will be cream and oxblood vinyl, dash will be stock except for newer nostalgia type gauges, column undecided, but it would be nice to use the original keyway banjo wheel.

Engine, engine bay, undersides of fenders, and inner fenders will be cream or tan, frame and suspension black. The idea behind this build is to have a very nice, drivable, nostalgia truck with the most important part of it's history not erased, but with everything finished to a high standard except for the paint. I am repairing all rust, making the patch panels that are unavailable, and I'll touch those areas up with custom mixed paint to match the navy blue, and then "distress" those areas to make them look like the rest of the truck.

Being an east coast truck, rusty fasteners meant that few things actually unbolted, but nothing stands up to a plasma cutter:





This is a trick that I learned here on the HAMB:









And so forth and so on until you get a bare frame:



The frame was loaded into the back of the unibody, and taken down to everyones' favorite frame shop, Industrial Chassis in Phoenix where Steve Szymanski and the crew will start on it after the Fathers' Day Roadster Show in SoCal.



And in the mean time, I got my order of patch panels in from Dick Spadaro, so it's onto the rust repair...

-KK

 

I saw that truck for sale. Wanted it but no $$.

There is a guy on ebay that makes some nice replacement parts. He goes by TomMeyerV8 I think.

Here's the link to his ebay store.
http://stores.ebay.com/tommeyerv8ford

 

Color me jealous...although I'm kinda raging against the fact that he's losing the flattie for the Y-block/C4 setup...

 

Dual windshield wipers, does that mean it was a "deluxe" version?

I can only wish mine was that complete when I picked it up.

I like the theme you've outlined, good luck.

 

A period hot rod?? It already is! Not to mention the flattie is already hopped-up. Why mess with a good thing?

 

Yeah i agree...i would rather have a flatty w/C4 instead of that Y,but it aint my truck so good luck to him.nice truck.

 

Saw it on Ebay numerous times, pretty neat truck. I am not disagreeing with what the owner is doing, but I would have left it.

I sure it will be even better after it is done though

 

thought is was a push truck for riverside speedway in mass.stock car races

 

wow! thats some truck , whatever yall do it will be cool..

 

The owner is a big fan of Y blocks and has several on display at his home, including T-Bird E type dual quad and F type supercharged versions. He wants to be able to slam the throttle open and instantly haze the tires, the truck needs to be quick and healthy. I like Flatties too, but we all know that to make one do that in a heavy full fendered, all steel non-bobber truck with an automatic is near impossible - while retaining good road manners and running cool. Flatties are bitchin, but I think that they work best in small light cars like roadsters, and hoodless is always a plus with a vintage hopped up flattie. And believe me, you haven't seen the last of this flat head/3 speed.

-KK

 

Hmm...in that case, I'm pretty okay with a dual quad Y-Block, or the F-type...

-=retracts previous statment=-

 

And finally, I have the frame ready to go.

 

Great work on the chassis Steve.
Lots of nice details and innovative ideas there.
Mart.

 

Well, I haven't updated this thread in forever, so heres a few pics of the progress.

When the frame came back from Industrial Chassis, it was way bitchin' with a side of "Wow, I wasn't expecting them to go that far!" But like Steve says, they ain't no kill like overkill. And overkill in frame stiffness is a big part of what makes a 70 year old vehicle feel like a one year old vehicle.

On the shops' frame table:





Back at my shop, the detail work is superb and exhaustive:













The '57 Thunderbird 312 back from Duffee Motorsports, the Ford experts in Phoenix. Brian ported the heads, Pat did the machine work and put it all together. Custom cam, easy 300 streetable horsepower with this combo.



This is an NOS Hurst engine mount for a Y block into a '35-'40 car, the truck crossmember is different so two tubes had to be welded on to elevate the mount to allow pan to X-member clearance.



The pan was extended down in the sump for an extra 2.5 quart capacity, and a big hunk was taken from the front for X-member clearance.



Backtracking a bit, while the chassis was recieving the Midas touch at Industrial, I got to work on the rust. Because this was a Massachusetts truck, there was plenty of it. And holes. What is it with old trucks and holes drilled and cut everywhere? Every one I've seen has them, and this one was no exception. Most of it went like this:









When you are working on crusty old vehicles, it helps to have crusty old dudes to help you out, because they generally know what's going on:







Holes welded up, rust and otherwise:



-KK

 

Leading edge of rear fenders was, well, gone. '35-'37 rear fenders are nearly impossible to find, and one of these was really rough, but they had to be reused. Nobody makes a patch panel for these, so it was up to us.













Everything is times two of course.



Running boards were really bad, steel repros were a cool grand and not available in time, so I reworked the originals. Had them media blasted to at least I could start off with weldable metal.





Didn't look too bad, but very thin. Owner wanted the spare tire hole erased, so I welded a football shaped piece of 18 gauge in it, and then welded a few pieces of welding rod to sketch in the shape of the ridges:





Allowing very little filler to be used to build them up to shape.



Then, they were taken to a bedliner shop to be black bedlined in the ridge area and completely underneath, all except for the body color outer edge. These now support a 200lb man easily, which is important at car shows when John Q. Average Dumbass shows his kid how to use the running boards on old cars, with yours as the example. I've seen it several times.



The cab was mocked up on the frame to start fitting the engine and trans, and to lay out the mods necessary to the firewall for the Y block to fit.



The firewall was cut out on the right side for the recess job, making room for both the right head and the distributor:





-KK

 

The chassis looks great! I am one of the first people that will say to build the car as you want to, but I would have had a hard time ditching the flathead for the Y-block. The truck is looking good so far!

 

Very nice work.

 

This is one of the more memorable builds I have been involved with. The truck drives amazing, such an unassuming hot rod.

 

Looks very nice,keep the updates coming!!!

 

I made up a mess'o'brackets to mount the mid '90s Suburban dual-return power steering pump (one for the box, the other for the hydroboost unit) and the GM alternator. The pump uses a V belt pulley from a V6 Cutlass, many brackets were combined from the Buick, Suburban, a few Ford pieces I had around, and of course, scrap box finds. All were painted in Hammerite finish, along with the Hurst engine mount.







With everything marked and sketched in, the engine was removed and the firewall began to take shape. The X in the right side was taken from a '35 car firewall to make it look as factory as possible, and the battery box was erased with a new angled piece of 18 gauge.



The lower lip was welded in, and the whole bottom edge was reinforced with 1/2 x 1/2 square tube to tie it into the coming toe boards/trans tunnel.



With that part done, it was a good time to start framing in the toe boards. The factory used a removable sheetmetal part here, but I wanted it to be really stiff - since the owner is in a wheel chair, he uses the steering wheel to pull himself in so the column has to be ultra stiff and well mounted.



The Flat-O-Specialties bellhousing and Lokar C4 shifter were mocked in place to fit the framework.



The upper framework was skinned in 18 gauge, and the lower floor was framed in and made removable for major servicing.



The floor uses the same screw points as the original did, with more added to the upper section by way of nuts welded to tabs. I designed this floor with a kickup at the front to make it more torsionally rigid, as it will add to the stiffness of the bottom of the cab when it is all bolted together. Maybe not by much, but every little bit helps.



The tubes are in a configuration to allow for access panels to be built in for the battery on the right side and the master cylinder on the left.







Then the steering column ('65 Mustang) was mounted and sized to the owner who came down for a custom fit. It started off with this connecting rod column drop, which is from a 302 Ford. Just the right size to clamp a Mustang column, as it turned out.



The lower mount was added to the toe board framework, and a heavy gauge plate was hole sawed, drilled, and fitted to the column for the tack weld.









Wheel will be a four spoke sprint car style leather wrapped unit from Limeworks. I use pattern board for all these panels, real time saver.





A double offset U joint was used for the column to GM steering box.



With everything welded securely topside, the cab was removed from the chassis and all the firewall, toe board, and column mount tubing was welded on the bottom side.

-KK

 

Great tech......I enjoy following this one.

what is the deal with the tall shock mounts?

 

thats awesome

 

Befitting a true hot rod, the 312 ain't stock - it's got a custom cam shaft by Cam-Motion, Mummert parts throughout like the intake and aluminum timing cover, Duffee ported heads that looked so nice it was a shame to hide the ports with the rams horn manifolds, MSD distributor, Holley 670 Street Avenger carb, and ARP hardware on everything. It's an animal...





The cab was removed and put on saw horses to do finish bodywork and painting all around. The bottom was painted with POR-15 semigloss black, as was the bottom of the bed.



The frame was blown apart and painted POR-15 semigloss black. Most all removable parts - rear end housing, links, front axle, wish bones, etc, were painted in POR-15 full gloss black. Amazing stuff, that POR.



Use whatever you have to hang parts for paint!



The spring went together with new nylon spring liner because, why not?



And the whole thing came together like it wanted to be that way.









Yep, that's an N case 9 inch, Daytona pinion support, '58 Wagon housing with big bearings, 3.70 gears, NASCAR axle retainers, and 427 Galaxie brakes. No kill like overkill, as Steve says. Nothing'll break though!



With the chassis assembled and the engine and trans in, the cab was dropped back on for the last time.



Then a million little things were done - painting small parts like the steering column and removable interior panels, more bodywork and paint on the cab and fenders, work on the bed, hydraulic lines laid out for the steering and hydroboost, and the list went on and on. All fun stuff, though.

Because the Y block oil filter and the large-ish GM steering box cannot occupy the same space at the same time, a remote oil filter was used. I put it on the firewall.



I should have asked first. The owner didn't like it there, and frankly, neither did I. Because there was absolutely no room to mount it inside the frame rail, it was mounted outside when the fenders were hung so we would know what the available space was.



I made a debris shield out of 20 gauge and POR-15'ed it.



Assembly continued with the bed, fenders, and running boards - plus all the time it took to make them all line up and agree with each other. All new grade 8 hardware was used, as much for strength as because most of the rusted solid original stuff had to be plasma-cut to take it apart.



Doors were hung and aligned.



Interior was lined with FatMat everywhere I could put it.







-KK

 

They were already there when the truck came to me. I think Steve said they were '48 F1, and were a common conversion to use tube shocks. They fit nicely.

-KK

 

Awesome....thanks...

 

Shock mounts are 48 Ford passenger car.

 

Very nice. Any shots of your battery mount / box?

 

This is a very cool truck, and clearly outlines why I could never purchase an old ('50s or earlier) hot rod that wasn't already perfect - I'd feel criminal messing with the history. Nevertheless, I think this truck is going in an awesome direction: So far, it's got just the right mix of new parts and old looks.

-Dave

 

It's a Speedway box welded to the frame under the right side floor.





-KK

 

Wait till you see the rest. I wouldn't have called this truck a vintage hot rod, it was basically bone stock with Offy intake and heads. It hadn't ran since 1960, and it was rusty, crusty, musty and full'o'critter nests. It would have been a lot of work to bring it back to that form, and then it would have been your standard underpowered flatty/3speed job that runs hot. I love flatties, but in something light that you can see them in - like an A roadster. The owner sold the flatty to the Petersen Museum, so it can now be enjoyed in a different way.

-KK