I posted a bit of this in the Introduction section, but figured I might as well post this as a build thread as well. I have always wanted a '41-'48 Ford, so I started looking around and balancing my budget. I posted my '64 Tbird on Craigslist and ended up getting a few bites right off the bat. I also had a '60 Buick that I figured I could drive around in the meantime. Well, I sold the Tbird and then the very next day I was driving the Buick and a guy flagged me down and offered me an amount I couldn't refuse. The only caveat: Those were my only two cars. The next day, I was car-less and off to Arizona to watch the Padres spring training. My girlfriend likes to remind me that I was glued to my phone, making calls, scouring the internet, and training the wheel and deal. We spent a week in the AZ heat and then headed back to her parents' place in Apple Valley.... And that's when I struck a deal on the '47. The next day, I asked my poor girlfriend to drive me out to Palmdale, where surfcaliforniasurf picked me up in his '59. From there, we made the 450 mile trip to the California/Reno border to pick up the car. We arrived around 9:30 pm and inspected the car until about 10. Everything checked out... Aside from the wiring... Which was, and admittedly, still is a nightmare. After a quick late-night steak dinner I owed surfcaliforniasurf at the local IHOP, we decided to hop on the road and drive her home. Shortly after dinner, we passed a group of three CHP officers on the side of a two-lane road who seemed to be too dumb founded by old cars in the middle of the night to notice that my drivers'-side headlight was out, or that my tags were about a decade expired. We kept on keeping on until I saw surfcaliforniasurf start drifting around the road a bit in an effort to stay awake. Two seconds later my phone was ringing and we arranged to head to a 24/7 Wal-Mart in Stockton where we would spend the night in the parking lot. I knew that there was a possibility that we would have to make camp on the way back, so I asked surfcaliforniasurf to bring sleeping bagS. He said 'no problem', so I figured that was that and everything was square. Well, when it was 40º in the middle of the night and he said he only brought one, I was a little dismayed. I ended up sleeping for an hour or two before wandering inside of the Wal-Mart to stay warm. Why I didn't buy a cheap sleeping bag while I was there? I don't know. Running on no sleep will do that. I woke surfcaliforniasurf up around sunrise and we both checked our vitals and fired up our cars. No problems there. We decided to gun it for the James Dean highway in order to cut across to Paso Robles. That's when things got interesting. Somewhere along the line I broke my fan belt. The temperature didn't surpass 220º, and even then went back to 190º as soon as I was heading back down hill. For the most part, the '47 was running around 160º the entire trip. At any rate. the car began to chug around Shell Beach... And I mean CHUG. I told surfcaliforniasurf it felt like I was on the Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland. We pulled off the highway to check it out: My fan belt was wound around the fan, with indications that it had been slapping around my distributor/wires. No good. I was thankful that a few local guys stopped what they were doing to come out and help. They offered to help figure things out at a shop down in Santa Maria. The Shell Beach to Santa Maria drive was probably the longest, most nerve-wracking drive I've ever had. We started off by sailing at 45mph, then down to 30, then 20, until we literally limped into the garage under 5 mph (all on side roads, mind you ). After working and tinkering late into the night, we had nothing. New fuel pump, double, triple, and quadruple checking the wires.. Replacing the coil, ballast, and condenser... Nada. surfcaliforniasurf suggested it might be the cap, so that was worth a shot. He got on the line with some people and arranged to have guys deliver one in the morning. Everyone at the shop had prior engagements out of town that Sunday, so they split. I was once again left with the option of sleeping in my car. That sleeping bag was sounding extra-good right about then. I turned my phone on in the morning and was surprised by the countless texts and voicemails of local flathead guys who were willing to lend a hand. A local guy named Nick ended up coming out with a distributor cap. He ended up sitting there in the heat with me for a few hours trying to sort things out. At the end of the day, we still had the same problem. He was a nice dude and I hope to see him around to let him know how thankful I am. At this point, I'm stuck over 200 miles from home with a car that doesn't run. I arrange to leave the car in Santa Maria, and take the train home. Good thing the train left at 1pm and arrived in Oceanside at 9pm, right? To make things worse, it was my birthday and my girlfriend was pissed that I had stood her up all weekend for a car. To be honest, I was a bit surprised to find that I still had a girlfriend by that point. A week went by and the friend that I had left the car with called me and told me that I had to come and get it because he was going out of town on work for a few months. Great. I spoke to my uncle and asked to borrow his truck, then located a trailer. The next thing I knew I was on the road at 3am heading to Santa Maria. I picked the car up and hauled it down. On my way down I was thinking about stopping by Lucas Tire, and ran a quick search for 15x5 Ford wheels... And found some out in La Canada. I swung by there and ended up with wheels, tires, and various other knick knacks, all with the car still in tow. I hopped back on the road and made it to Oceanside around 4pm. Not bad. Unloaded the '47 by myself and parked it on the curb. The next week was spent re-wiring, re-testing, and plain out scratching my head. To begin, I remembered that the fuel reading was going crazy. Turns out the fuel regulator had gone bad and wasn't doing a thing. I ran new lines and replaced the regulator. I also picked up a new Power Valve for the Holley 94 because it was TOAST. I replaced the plugs, wires, cap, rotor, condenser, coil, ballast resistor, and ignition wires and I still had a miss, but no smoke. I wasn't losing coolant, either. surfcaliforniasurf kept telling me to swap out points, but I didn't have a line on a guy that could do the whole shebang. Out of nowhere I asked someone here around town and the referred me to a man named Dan out in Temecula. I dropped my distributor off with him and he had me sorted out the very next day. Nicest guy ever, with same rad cars to boot. Plopped that thing in and wham, the car ran like a top. He also sent me home with some longer shackles to lower the car, which I'd like to get around to doing pretty soon. So, here's to my new daily driver! My to-do list isn't very long, but with my student budget and limited amount of time/resources... It'll take me a bit of time: 1. Re-wire the car. 2. Install shackles, reverse eyes and remove leafs from rear pack. 3. Skirts 4. Drive it everywhere.
Thanks guys! The bigs and littles just wouldn't do. I ended up mounting those bias plys at home, only to find that my compressor was shot. So, I took to my handy bike pump. One tire wasn't so bad. The other three.... Not so much. Yesterday was Greek Easter, so I logged quite a few miles while making the rounds. After lamb and being harassed by two generations of Jaguar mechanics, I made the 50 mile drive out to Temecula to visit my lady. My phone buzzes as I'm going up the final grade that drops into the valley, "where are you???". A steady 55 miles an hour, that's where I am. The car ran cool (160°) and didn't lumber, rattle, or smoke. Now for the drive back... In commuter traffic.
Yup... That's a sweetheart! I love the short-door coupes. Congrats on the new wheels! I like your plans for it, too... especially #4.
Great looking ride brother, good luck with her. I'm working on a 46 business coupe currently so i'll be interested to see how your's turns out.
Nice looking car- be patient you are heading in the right direction - takes real commitment to make a car that old your daily driver- good on you!
Thanks again guys. Here's a little update: Scheduled with a local spring shop to reverse the eyes and drop the car. They're a very highly recommended and reputable shop here in North County, San Diego. I dropped the car off on Wednesday morning with clear and explicit instructions on what is to be done. I even had a friend who had given the same treatment tell me exactly what was done, and provided them with a picture of the car for reference. No problem, they said. It'll be done by the end of the day, they said. Get a ride from a co-worker to the shop at the end of the day and the car is on jack stands, rear leaf removed. That's about it. Tomorrow, they say. Cruise by around 4 in the afternoon the next day and the car is in the same place. At least the leaf had been reversed and readied for installation by this point. Head to the shop after work on Friday and the car was in the parking lot. I was stoked to see that it had at least made it out of the shop. However, I wasn't to excited to see that he rear was a generous inch higher than what we had spoken about and that the front leafs hadn't even been touched. He gave me a story about clearance issues and bottoming out, and how my 'buddies must be notched.' I replied that it wasn't and then I could see that old boy wanted to have a pissing match. I took my car and left. When I finally got it out of the parking lot and onto flat ground I saw that the drivers side is a good deal lower than the passenger side. The car never sagged or showed any signs of lopsidedness. Monday morning's phone call is going to be a good time. Aside from that I cruised up to LA to help my pops with some stuff around his place. Ran cool, but with a bit of ticking coming from the 1-4 side. I'll have to look into it.
Drove to LA and back no problem. Went to the spring guy first thing in the morning and got everything sorted out. The arch was "1/8 of an inch off on the passenger side." Yeah, yeah.... Took the front down a bit. Now I'm just waiting for some '49 Lincoln wheel covers to come in. Maybe I'll get around to gapping the hood and deck lid this week.... Or doors.... There's always something to do.
If you're still working on aligning your hood, I'll share a story... My '41 hood stood a good 1.5 inches proud of the cowl on the passenger side. I read on the ford barn that it's usually the springs that have weakened. They also recommended replacing the hinges too to make sure there's no play anywhere to interfere with adjustments. So, I duly ordered a set of hinges and spring arms, and was just about to set to it. As I opened the hood, the original pass. side spring arm literally fell off. Closer inspection showed that the tab to which it attaches to the hood had snapped. It wasn't the first time either, as if had been welded before. Anyway, this adds another headache, and I haven't got time right now, so I closed the hood. And the hood cowl alignment is now perfect. The spring must have been holding it proud... So, granted the hood needs a prop now but it did anyway. So - quick and (maybe) temporary fix that's worth a try - disconnect the spring(s).
Yeah mine sits funny as well and everyone I've talked to said they did the spring dance and never got it to lay down right until they just took The springs off all together
The Jalopy Journal
