I love mild to wild...the classic Fords looked killer with just a stance adjustment...I look at nailing a look as a huge challenge and in so many ways walking a mile in a Automotive Designers shoes...no easy task... The attention to visual angles overlooked many times no matter how small just seals the deal...I can't wait to see Tony get this outside for some daylight appreciation of the new profiles he has given to this unique Model from Ford...
I suppose you’re all wondering “what has he been doing?” Well, wondering or not, I have been doing some things. With the grille basically dealt with and the hood fitment looking okay so far, it was time to make it actually latch, so I did this: I put a flange on the inside of the hood nose and made a bracket to hold a latch. And behind the grille I made a mount for a reciever for the latch. This flat plate will eventually be extended to meet the extremities of the radiator core. Time to put the radiator in. The real one. Up until now I've been mocking with an original of questionable useability, but I broke out the new Walker and installed it and made an interesting discovery: The support rods that fit with the stock radiator are now way too short! The solution came in the form of stainless steel bolts. Off with the head and thread and weld in the rest. Although not polished yet, it worked out okay. You can also see how I finished off the latch plate to flare up to the radiator core. As with a lot of things the big picture stuff is easy, then all the detail work needs to happen to make parts function properly. To that end I've been tweaking the hood sides and fabbing internal mounts/bracketry for them and mounting the a/c condenser. On the subject of radiators, after 25 years of faithful service, my roadster’s radiator developed a leak (small puddle of green on the floor) so I bit the bullet and took the front apart and took the radiator to an old local shop and I’m pleased to say they did a really good job of taking it apart, cleaning it, re soldering the whole top plate, re assembling it and handing it back to me with a fresh black paint job. All for under $200 AUD. And it is all back together and working well. I will continue to burn time on more fiddly stuff.
Nice job Tony...it's good to see your work on the latch. I have that job to look forward to when I get back on the '38 (still working on bringing the '32 back into driveable condition).
I thought I should post something. I have been doing things, but nothing major. Little things. Detail things that have to be done. But I haven’t been taking many photos. One task was making and fitting the mountings for the seats. Form the cut-out for the bumper bracket in the repaired right fender. Then I thought I should make inner fenders. I’ve made all the brackets but the panels themselves are still cardboard. I have been playing with the front bumper also. I’ve pretty much decided that I’ll go with over riders. I tried without for a cleaner look but it was just too flat and horizontal. Now I need to make brackets to suit.
Can't recall if you mentioned upholstering the running boards or not and if you are will the inner fenders you just fabbed be as well?
Running boards will be stock. Inner fenders will be invisible as possible black. They are there for water suppression and rock chip/star prevention
Man that is looking so good! I love the way the grill looks & the overiders certainly look at home there. As @Stogy suggested I could see upholstered running boards & inner guards, but I suspect you'll be driving the wheels off this one
Just for comparison. Without over riders: With: I know, I should have taken the pics from the same POV.
Just my opinion, but please ditch the overiders. Much cleaner look without them. As I said, just my opinion.
Are you going to balance this with a pair on the rear bumper? Does leave a place for turn signals on both ends if you do.
I like the overriders although from a 3/4 view they look to protrude too much. I'd want to "relieve" them such that they'd nest back into the bumper by an inch or more. I'm dealing with a similar issue.
Yes, if you use them they need "relieved". I could go either way, but if they are on the front they also need to be on the rear. How would they look back there?
The rear of the car is low and the overriders make sense, plus the license plate…the front, are you going to run a front license plate?
No choice, it's mandatory. The front one is smaller, only half the height of the rear. So, it'll either be between overriders or above the bumper on the driver's side.
I agree, they do help 'break up' that long bumper. But I also like @wstory idea of moving them in some. I'd also section them vertically; this would make them less prominent.
Overriders in context of the build make perfect sense. The body modifications have a prewar sensibility. Ok there will be some post war mechanicals and interior comforts but as is often discussed the dominant theme is prewar styling. If they are on the back, then they need to be on the front. It DOES look good either way… Tony knows what to do.
So, for everyone who's been waiting on the edge of their seats! I thought about things, sat and pondered a while looking at the patient and took on board a suggestion from @wstory. I trimmed 15 mm, about 1/2" from the back of my shittiest overrider to snug it to the bumper more. Tried on it looks like this: I also thought about trimming the back edge above the bumper. You can see the line, but I decided against that. Here you can see the comparison with a stock one: After some more pondering over a few days to let the look soak in I felt good about it and trimmed another one and this is the result. I'm happy. In the mean time I also finished the bumper brackets and mocked up the license plate in a couple of places and am happy with that too. Next will be to deal with the hood to hood sides gap. Thanks Bill.
I like Bill Story's suggestion of relieving the bumper guards (overriders) to fit the bumper more closely. You might also consider sheeting over the open back side of the guards above the bumper. That is, welding a plate to the back of the guard so that it appears as a solid object. I did this on my shoebox and I like the result very much (although it's quite subtle).
The Jalopy Journal
