Projects UK based 1950 Shoebox kustom roof chop

Was just a simple safety thing as in photos, set screw acting as a pin passing through slam panel and held in place with a nyloc nut. Ill carry a spanner in glovebox

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Back home the jury is split on the new paint job. I personally think it looks nice, like a kid in the late 50s bought a US Army staff car from government surplus auction and started hot rodding it up a bit.

Feel free to like or abuse, i built it for me at the end of the day

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It looks very nice!

 

I think I will use your hood safety idea but with a hitch pin clip so it won't require tools to open

 

I will probably remove it and drill a hole in the bolt and do the same one day

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Very nostalgic and correct for the period, I like it. Were any military souvenir's left by an unscrupulous military member?

 

Been enjoying your build up.
I bought a house door safety chain to keep the hood of my Merc from folding over the roof in the event of it popping open driving Surrey's pot holed roads!
- Just adjust the number of links so that you can open the hood a little to get your hand in and guide the flat piece through the gate. - Flying eyeball is optional.

 

I like that idea

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Congratulations, you are doing a great job. Hope you enjoy some nice rides in your Ford.

I believe there was some speed equipment made in England for those engines in the forties and fifties. The engines were popular with specials builders, Allard and others. There were quite a few flathead V8s in Britain. No doubt you know Ford's biggest model, the Pilot, used that engine. And during the war Canada furnished thousands of army trucks to Britain, about half of them made by Ford using V8 engines. Those boxy snub nosed ones you used to see rusting away in the weeds.

The Ardun OHV heads were designed and made in England, and the first ones were tested on a fleet of London refuse lorries.

There may be some old heads, intakes etc lurking around the vintage car world. But if I know English car collectors, they would cost the earth.

 

Haha you got it. Speed equipment over here is rare so costly! There are more specialists now who break these engines and trannys which helps but its not like every town has its flathead specialist. Now early british 998cc sidevalve engines we do have a ton of! Thanks for the appreciation, i just want to enjoy it for a bit before i swap the engine and do more bits to her.

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If you have a good flathead I don't know why you would want anything else. I know it is not the latest tech but you can have a lot of fun, and drive anywhere at legal speeds. If you did want to hop it up you can get anything you want, brand new from the US. But you may find you have all the power you need with a stock engine.

 

This is true. I have a long term strategy to build an Av8 using this engine i built myself. So i have a Y block ready for this to free up the flatty for the A

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Nice moody rolling shot taken by a mate on her first proper 20 mile run out to a local cars and coffee today. Didnt miss a beat

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Paint all finished, just need one more bit of front trim needing to be sourced, and need to finish off the peaking/nosing of the hood over the winter.

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I like that color a lot!

 

Just found your posts on your 50, same original colour as mine, but mine had way less cancer than yours. Like your ride height and nosed hood. I chose to keep the flattie and hot rod it, plus a T5 Mustang trans and 81 FoMoCo rearend. Must me hard to find bits and pieces in the UK


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This is where we are at now. Forgot to update! Getting there. Paintwork is rough at moment just to keep the rain off metal

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Customised the 3 rib skirts to extend them 4", fitted my caddy caps and 6.70 15 firestone wide whites on, dropped the rear further on 4" blocks and raised the front an inch for the period stance i wanted

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Been a while since any updates. Sold the flathead and built a Y block for her, then started to.chop the roof, slanted B pillars, 3"/5" front to back chop.

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Looking forward to seeing this out and about!
Man after my own heart fitting a Y-Block. I imagine you'd have the same issues with a Shoebox as my Merc.
If you've not got it in there yet, then here's some photos of the installation I did that might be useful. -
https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/y-block-in-a-merc-49-51-build-up-chop-etc.1030047/
Keep the progress pics coming!
(Sent you a message re Y-Block bits.)

 

Few updated pics of the (slow) chop progress

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well done! bet nobody over there asks you what year studebaker that is!

 

Haha youd be surprised. Couple of years back it broke down and was picked up by a recovery driver who said how much it looked like a Stude

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Picking up a '53 Merc front bumper this week to test fit. Needs narrowing 2" but will hide cuts behind the mini dagmars/bullets. Should add some needed visual weight up front. Will stick up pics once I get a chance to hang it in position

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If anyone is interested in anything more interactive than this forum to follow my shittyford build, then you can also follow my Youtube channel where I post my various garage based activities on both my Shoebox and my old 60s Fiat 500, only a few videos at the moment, but I will be keeping it updated on a weekly(ish) basis

 

Looking good! Slow and steady on the chop makes for a better result. You nailed it....not too much chop, just enough to make it flow! Thumbs up.

 

Keep up the good work, its coming on , and a big HI from me in Sunny Devon

 

So I picked up some fibreglass replica foxcraft skirts this weekend off a mate and chucked up on for a test fit, biggest thing I learned is that my fender behind my wheel well has been dented nicely upwards at some point, but I never had a good one to compare it too, so it slipped my notice, but you can see it needs tweeking down to line up with the skirt bottom line

 

Chucked on the 53 Merc bumper for a mockup, made a few filler panels for above and below window and started to finish weld in the sail panels

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