Is it correct that these Lincoln Zepyhrs did not have a full chassis and were a monocque(unibody) construction.If so they could not fit the definition of a hot rod(at least in Australia).Here they must be pre 49 with an original full chassis.
They have a full frame, don't they? As I understand, the unibody is that the body is directly attached to the frame, no mounts. But, what do I know? Neal
Yeah its a frame pan ,,its all one piece,,I guess you call it unibody,,not sure what it was referred to back then
Yes, 37 and up are unibody in the sense that they have a partial frame that is spot welded to the cars body. We have 2 that we are hot rodding.
Thats about correct it has a full frame (not sheet metal) the body and floor pans are are welded to it. Hope that helps Dave
I was really suprised when I got mine and found out Zephyr bodys don't come off the frame. It is a real steel frame, shallower in section than a Ford and quite wide. It is about the same gauge steel and has front and rear crossmembers like a Ford. My floor pan was really solid and it appears to be arc welded to the frame. One with a badly rusted floor pan would be quite a chore to work with .
I would not sweat that technicality. Work with the car as it is and there should be no problem - don't try to put it on any kind of late model chassis. BTW Anglias have a rivited floor/frame thingy too.
You can do anything to a Zephyr chassis that you would to any other chassis as long as you don't throw a bunch of HP at it. You drop it ,bag it, hydro it, MS II it,4 link it,notch it or whatever. Check out Henryj429's build. He took his 37 body off the frame and did all the frame mods and mounted the body back on. As alreay stated it's only tack welded to the frame.
In Australia to get "hot rod registration" you must go through the various State club rego schemes administered by the Technical Advisory Committees of the Australian Street Rod Federation. The car must comply with the definition of a hot rod which means it must be pre 49 American origin body that came originally with a full chassis. You can use reproduction bodies and chassis as long as the original car came with a full chassis.You can't use a late model chassis(as I have found to my grief) as it must be original or repro
That is the Queensland version and that of states that operate with the TAC administered system. Other states, NSW for example, have independent engineers who will certify the work and you get normal rego. But, in this case the car you are discussing is a variation on a theme body/chassis wise. That blanket definition is obviously flawed as evidenced by the car in question (Zephyr). If you speak to a TAC rep, especially the head one, I'm sure common sense would prevail. (per my previous post)
Building a custom right now using the FRAME of a 1946 Zephyr, they are considered uni bodies but they are not, the frame is very beefy, the floor pans are spot welded in about 20 places, easy to break or drill out and removed the body, the front is connected to the frame, at least the inner fenders are, also with some spot welds. All in all, it's a full frame car, with a somewhat weaker (than other cars of the period) body spot welded in just a few places. The frames I have are very good to start with for a custom, nice and wide, boxed in the front, Z'ed in both the front and the rear, cool looking and heavy duty suspension. If anyone is interested in pictures.. look at these threads: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=372715 http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=396274
My 2 cents........ Yes, the 37 Zephyr has a full frame. The floor pan is welded to it, but so is a lot of structure in the front that connects to the firewall and side panels. Overall, this makes for a super stiff chassis. When you convert a Zephyr to body-on-frame, this structure gets disconnected. The frame by itself (without this reinforcement) is a little bit weak. I put a lot of steel into my frame to get the stiffness back. I can send a couple pics if you're interested. Now on to your "political" problem. Get your Zephyr up on a hoist so you can get some underside pictures. Find a buddy with a mid 30s car with a full frame and take similar pictures. To the untrained eye (ie: the government folks), they will look damn near identical. You can clearly point to the full frame under the Zephyr. Problem solved....hopefully!! Good luck!
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