Projects Awesome 1949 Ford club coupe shoe box build lot of pics!

So here goes my build of this fine 49 club coupe. I bought it from an older fellow down here is SoCal who accepted the fact that at age 75 he wouldn't be able to build it. He brought it down from Colorado but it originally came from the territory of Alaska and gave me copies of the original title, pretty cool.. Only request he had is not to chop it, so no chop here. This box is all original, never repainted, personally I dig cars wearing their original threads sort of speak so no paint here either. Some hate the work patina so i'll say naturally weather exterior, all real rot will be fixed, and to boot it will be ford powered (the drive train was gone).

 

Wow, what a traveling project - so, no chop - how about a little sectioning?-Ha!

 

Great start and sounds like you have your project lined out. Look forward to watching your progress.

 

So picked up and then at my place. Also this 63 fairlane donated its drivetrain to the box (SBF, C4 and 8 inch rear)

 

Shame for the fairlane. Love the wheels on it though. Seems like a fun project. Another power plant for the fairlane in the works I hope. BART.

 

The fairlane was sold to a guy that was making a thunderbolt clone, it already had the whole fiberglass front kit, getting a 429 or 460 I believe.

 

I think its a good choice to keep the top non-chopped.Those coupes rarely look good when they are chopped.Good luck with the build!

 

First up, pull the front end apart and get the frame ready for a front sump pan. Also here is the donor drivetrain from the Fairlane. I kinda set the engine in to mark where the frame would be cut for the pan.

 

So I marked the frame and used my handy plasma cuter and cut the section out. Then I made a cardboard template and boxed in the section of the frame. No turning back now! Before welding I cleaned the whole front section of the frame mostly with wire wheels and wire brushes, the agony!

 

Took the template, cut the pieces with the PC, tacked into place, welded up, cleaned up (not perfectly on purpose) and POR 15'd the front of he frame.

 

I made some plates to mount the engine using the Fairlane motor mounts, and extended the trans mount to work with the C4 and the stock cross member.

 

I will use the factory kingpin suspension, Aerostar coils, disk brakes and probably drop uprights in the end. So all the suspension pieces got stripped and some POR 15 action too.

 

Very nice start . I didn't chop my Club Coupe either (build thread in my sig below)

 

So after the front end was semi done and the engine and trans in place, I swapped the rear ends, I guess everyone says to use a Maverick rear but this 8inch 63 Fairlane rear was almost if not exactly the same width (perches need to be moved). Lucky I guess, as I had the Fairlane before I even thought about buying the 49, and I was able to use the drive shaft from the 63 too! So put it in with 4 inch blocks. last pick was before and after 4inch blocks , sorry for the poor quality

 

Thanks Allen, I will def check out your build page!

 

Next was stripping the interior, removing all the glass and the starting rust repair on the floors and rockers. I dont have many fabricating tools like a brake or bead roller, most of the shaping is just beating the metal on a vise or bench tops.

 

Floor section repair. As with all learning experiences I would probably order a whole floor section if repair another floor, just saves time really, but hey I'm happy I tried.

 

Wow! And I thought I had a lot of rust when I did mine. You definitely have your work cut out for you.
Good job.

 

And more...

 

Removing the factory tar insulation was the worst, next time I'll pay someone to that job! Heat gun, scrapper, SOS pads and WD40 to get that crud off.

 

So I made room for the trans by raising/making a new tunnel section.

 

Once its was all patched up and cleaned up I primed the floor. I also got rid of the spare tire hump, wasn't digging it..

 

Next up was the dynamat, another PITA!!

 

Don't throw the headliner bows out with the headliner.

 

Thanks, nothing that was to be reused was tossed!

 

Very nice job on the floor- I'm enjoying your build-

 

Nice work

 

Looking good so far. Like the others have said, no need to chop a coupe, they look good anyway (and hard to make look good chopped).

 

If you need info, there's plenty of reading material in the shoebox social forum...

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/social-forums/shoe-box-hambers.112/