well i have had this car for a while...had it for sale for a while....had it for trade for a while.....and not any real traction on any front. i bought it for $3750 it came with a title and the guys who built it were still in the area. i collected all the parts to make it run just like they had. it had an injected sbc 4 speed and some econoline seats. it had a lot of rough fab work that i would have had to redone to make it legal or safe to run at the strip. it wasn't going to be practical to drive it that way on the street. i brought it over to my dads to store it and to more or less forget about a 4 grand mistake. he called me up after a few days of it being over there and talked me out of it.... so here is the plan 1) remove the ugly. this car had a lot ....we took off the deck lid(i hung it in the garage) big radius rear fender, seat platforms, pedals, and scary roll cage. 2) start making it a hot rod. pretty standard hot rod here. pretty much a complete tci kit here. dropped axle reversed eye front and some split bones. the center x member looked like it was chewed out by a saber tooth tiger so it needs all the help it can get. keeping the drum brakes. tci parallel leaf rear with a 9". 40 ford wheels and cap 3) power train.... standard sbc and auto 400hp 350 with a 700r4. aluminum v covers, heads, intake and oil pan. 650 carb and some header. 4) body.... we picked up some nice rear fenders, running boards and deck lid. going to try to fix the hod and painting it monsoon maroon 5) interior... we are looking for some seats, going tomake it pretty much stock and driver quality so out with the old and in with the new not sure if anyone need the old stuff. im guessing that the only thing worth a dam is the rear axle/springs 8 3/4 suregrip, but its a 5.17 gear... so here is a before and hopefully an after pic
Right on! That's one of the best looking cars of all time, and it looks like a badly done homemade tractor the way it was! Street or race, it needs to look like an automobile at the very least. And driveable! Driveable is good! Lawn art was its only possible role as built.
There are going to be a lot of "un-gassering" threads in the future, since gasser has turned into the new pro street. The scary part is that some cars were "un-pro street-ed" and made into gassers so they will need both.
I'm subscribing. Maybe I can get some ideas for my '39. Glad to see you saving the car. It deserves a new beginning. Your plan sounds like a good one.
The difference is pastel painted pro-street cars sucked when they came out, and they suck now. They have no ties to the past, and they weren't an important part of racing history. Pro-Street was " hey look at how big my back tires are that I cobbled under the rear of this car, and if that doesn't get your attention, look at my ugly pink paint job with all the chrome painted pink too(mono tone) Where's the puke smilie? Gassers were cool then, and they're cool now. The current craze will probably slow down, but it isn't going away....not like Pro Puke,I mean street.
Much as I dislike the current trend to jack every car on the road up, stuff an straight axle under it and call it a 'gassser', I like a tastefully done hot rod with primitive (yet well engineered and safe) suspension set up that isn't scraping frame on speed bumps. I think that sedan definitely has potential, either a touch lower than the current ride height, or much lower than current ride height. Depending on how roached out the car is in person, I think $4K is a fair buy for that. Since this veered off course so quickly, and while I'm not a pro-street fan, by any means, I've gotta say that Morelands 40 sedan was/is a bitchin car. If your vision looks like the McCoy sedan, with or without the flames, you've got a winner. I'm not feeling the proposed after pick. But, it's not my car. I say build it how YOU want it, and wish you good luck!
Last year was a record sales year for those "Big" tires you hate so much, pink and tweed really do suck as much now as then ,but pink was a huge styling trend in the mid-fifties and we will most likely see it again---40 fords are great in stock form---i think you are going to have a nice car there and look forward to seeing your progress...
i am not a fan of white walls so black walls it is. we are just building an understated hot rod no flash no frills just a nice all around cruiser that the family can hop in for a road trip. since my dad is spear heading the build i am just supplying labor and parts. he is the one with a vision. his birth day is next month and i will see how far we get... maybe a christmas present to him for all his work tk
lol the stickers are hanging on the wall already along with the rear window with the class designation still on it with shoe polish. along wth the decklid
well its an update time. front end is reworked with the chassis engineering kit rear end has the parallel leaf chassis engineering kit with a bronco 9" we picked up all the missing interior stuff including the seats and other cookies and donuts i need some wheels now anyone have some torque thrust or tri rib radirs
The blue sedan is a good blueprint to go by. My pops has a 40 deluxe, there just cool ass cars. Huge rear seat, good sized trunk damn you can load them up and go coast to coast. Good luck it looks like you have your work cut out for you.
I'm looking forward to watching this thread. I'm not a Ford guy; in fact I don't know many, one from another, but the '39-'40's are one of my very favorites. The pickups too. I really want to see how this comes together! Thanks for posting it.
This might be the next epic turn around, brought to you with the help of HAMB! I will keep an eye on this