Please excuse my ignorance, but this is a build my father and I did, and I was always told it was a 38 Ford Deluxe Coupe. As I browse through pictures though, I'm really starting to wonder. The short louvers and indent in the grille make me unsure of the year. I've seen picture of both, but the majority of them have long louvers and no indent of the grille. Mine is the one with the flames. Thanks in advance.
Title says 38, that's where the confusion is. I guess I'll have to run the vin. Is there a vin decoder for cars this old?
There's always been a lot of confusion in those years. If the car was initially sold by the dealer or titled by the new owner in 1938, the confusion could have reflected that. I wouldn't worry too much about it.
..............and like Mark says, the sheet metal could have been changed at some point in its' life.
Here's a picture of the back, if that helps any. I was reading on here that there's a difference in the deck lids, but I'm not quite sure what they mean.
The quickest way (I believe) to distinguish a '38 from a '39 Coupe body is the roof and drip rail. The '38 and earlier drip rail stops at the back of the quarter window and there is an exposed seam where the roof meets the deck area. On '39 up the drip rail flows back to the deck area and there is no body seam at the base of the top. It appears to me both vehicles in the pics are '38 (or '37 with later front end). Ray
I hated those years most of my young adult life. Now I have a strange...'love'...for them. Call it a demented fetish...or a ...
38 Delux. Hood ornament turns 90 degrees to open the hood. Also has the long louvers in the hood sides, 39 Standard has the short hood louvers. My first car in the 60's was a 38 Delux Tudor. Another "should have kept it story"
`38 Deluxe with `39 Standard side hood panels. Also, based on the rear pic, it's an early `38. Ford was still using pieces (e.g, trunk) from the `37s until approximately halfway through the `38 production run. At that time they converted over to the big trunk and roof line (same as `39 and `40). Also, where is your knob to push-out the windshield? On top of the dash is late `38 - `40. In the front of the dash is again leftover `37. Cool coupe, it's just the way Ford did business back then.