I bought this Zephyr recently and am deciding what to do with it, It has nasty rims and is sitting on a 68 Thunderbird chassis thats kinda beat. Trying to decide if I want to rip the whole thin gs apart and just totally go crazy on it or what.
I already have one bagged one that I bought off of Lalo the 1940 so kinda thinking let this one kinda ride up high and paint it black.
Interesting. those were unit body cars, I wonder how hacked up it is underneath? If it's a mess down there, you might want to consider making a frame out of box tubing and re-doing the whole thing. If not, then just clean it up a bit and drive it.
so cool, how can I word this, p/o had a street rodder mentality, so work with what you got, since you have said you already have one you can tail drag. stick w/ your stated plan for it...now I'm jealous of you. Sweet rides have both ways.
picture of the bottom is nuts on the computer screen. but i take it the pan & mounts the way the p/o did it is not too bad? put up better pics....
...I doubt that they were a 'unibody' construction with a frame like that...my '46 Lincoln (not a Zephyr) had a frame but the body was factory welded to the frame and I had to tear out the entire floor area to separate the body from the frame.....
Yeah let me take a better camera over there and see if I can get some better shots and resize stuff so its a bit smaller
Here is a photo album of all the pics I have so far.. will take better quality ones over the weekend. http://picasaweb.google.com/legendarylars/39Zephyr
they aren't unibody like cars today. they are like you describe. the body is welded to the frame. the body's are similar to a vw bug where the front end is a part of the body (and subsequently the frame), but the hood, grille and fenders are removable.
Even though the Zephyr is a unibody car you can remove the original frame and either kustomize it or discard it for another. There are several Zephyr guys here on the HAMB that have done it before. I did it to my 37. Check out HAMBer Zephyr3789 for some kool pics also 427henryj has done a frame off Zephyr. Good Luck!
That 40 that was Lalo's car came from my uncle Merv Adkins and I believe Henry's car came from Merv and Mike the milkman. All beautiful cars. I just never thought they looked right without the skirts on em but you're off to a good start.
Lars, Your coupe looks pretty neat as purchased. You say it is on a '68 T-Bird frame ? I have a '57 F-100 sitting on a '71 T-Bird frame. The wheelbase is about 2 inches too long but may not need to modify it. A plus is that you can run about any motor Ford ever built ! Looking forward to your progress as you make your coupe your own ! 41 Dave
Thanks Guys Monday I will be gutting the Interior, and going over it with my Club members to see what the next plan of attack is
Get that car up in the air and see what you have going on underneath. If it looks like crap you know what your in for. Then get that car some WW's and some hupcaps, lower, smooth out the body, and chop it. Whats hanging out under the picture on the left there? Nice ride!
Ok So this project is now a bit further along, Decided to go full out on it and ordered a Art Morrison Chassis for it. SLung it over the hill to San Jose to have Gambino work his magic on it, and it needs a lot of magic, the car was pretty much crapo after they tore the body off, it is a Unibody so was quite a bit of work to get it all out of there.
The first zephyr and to me THE ZEPHYR is green, chopped and on hyd,,seen it in paso,after that there has been a ton done, Jim Wagamons gets a lot of ink lately, stock body, updated drive line. When I got mine it was a real pile, so I went crazy, that 39 is a nice piece to start with. Roger
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