Projects 39 Standard Tudor build thread

This whole thread....
It's just impressive.

 

Looking real good, glad to see updates!

 

Nice updates, that anti roll bar is nicely squeezed in there, very tidy. Just noticed your heater, I have the same design and was thinking it was too bulky, but I think it looks good in your car, so i'll have to look into that a bit more. Interested to see what your firewall insulation plan is as well..

 

I'm thinking something solid foam covered in black vinyl. Maybe 3/4 thick, or 19mm on your side of the globe.

 

After a several week back injury I'm happy to shag a few hrs here n there for the 39. Gotta keep my kool, just keep checking boxes. Speaking of kool, I insulted the roof. Got some light wt heat reflective stuff from bLowes. I hit with some aerosol glue and stuck it in. Cheap, big ass roll was $27. I have dynamat, just didn't want to risk it ever falling off that hot roof some day. If this comes loose it weighs less than 1oz per sqft. The headliner lanyards will do the rest as well, no saggin in the headliner. I also got at the radiator/fan/shroud dept. Keeping my kool, see?

Anyways, no shroud. It would look kick ass but I'd have to work way too hard for distributor access. Have less than a finger's width. Assembly would suck too. 3 pcs was always the plan but even if I took it out for dist service, I can't imagine it happening on the side of the road. Did set up for a 6 blade 11oz fan. I had 2 of the 37-38 and 39 std fans. 2" hub and a 16" diameter. 1 was a bit rough with a possible bend. Knocked out the rivets and drilled the holes to 1/4", used a fillister head screw to fit in the recess, nyloc nuts will be on final install. Bolt pattern was the same on this fan as it is on the mock up aluminum. The plastic fan may need a 16th of bolt clearance, hard to find full specs. The shroud would look bitchin and add kooling but better if it was an 8BA with the stem distributor. A few pics...

Here's the insulation from bLowes:

In the car:

My biggest fan :

The OG hub:

Hub dimensions, might help somebody some day:


The shroud in cardboard:




I didn't take a pic on the car but it was too close for comfort. Does have me thinking electronic, not gonna lie. Anyways, more to come, keep checkin boxes...

 

My advise is TO LEAVE IT ALONE body wise. I have a 39 Deluxe I built during the "smoothie" era and it's looks are crap compared to yours. Hated the recessed dash knobs so even built custom dash which I now hate. Update for modern cruising but leave the Henry parts as is. Keep us updated.

 

Not touching a thing. Dash is restored but some custom grain touches. Have all the OG stainless for it. Interior has custom stainless mldgs that pay homage to the outside trim. The end. The rest will stay original on the outside.

 

Att; Hambers

Wanted complete 1939 Ford Std/Deluxe OEM lighter assembly...PM @Highlander

Apparently 40 Ford Std/Deluxe Assembly is the same despite the knob being different...

Used or NOS...

Check your parts cars and parts collections...thanks in advance Hoodlums everywhere...

 

You rock @Stogy ...

 

Thanks Highlander, just hitting things from different angles. I wonder if 39 and 40 Mercury car despite a different location shared the same mechanicals as their Ford cousins...Lincoln comes to mind as well...

The more brands that carried the same mechanicals widens the possibility of nailing a slam dunk...

It's funny since your bringing this search to our attention I find it interesting they called it a Cigar Lighter as opposed to the Cigarette...is this perhaps giving it a more upscale status...or was it cigars were hugely popular over the lowly cigarette at the time...hmmm...it's all up in smoke now I guess...

 

Stogy, on a related note...

I grew up on a farm and as a result tractors are also an interest of mine. My particular tractor obsession focused on the Farmalls of the 1950's and of those, primarily the 300, 400, 350, and 450 models. I am bringing this up because Farmall provided lighters on these models of tractors and they too called them cigar lighters as opposed to cigarette lighters. I assume this may have been because cigarettes were viewed as feminine by the farming set and no self-respecting farmer would want to be viewed as a girly man and would instead smoke cigars.

Steve

 

It's a boy!! Comes to mind...thanks for that insight Steve...

 

http://www.rockymountainrelics.net/

...I have no affiliation but perhaps a good Ole collection of rusty's might be the cat's meow here...

I don't know how components fare in these conditions but seeing some glass in these in addition to it being a seemingly dry state raises my optimism something might come out of it...and just a phone call away...

@theHIGHLANDER I'm excited...please let us know what you find out...
​

 

Some small boxes checked again. I got the steering wheel as close to what my twisted brain was seeing. The OG taupe-ish color but like a translucent wheel from something finer or newer. Hard to take a pic of what the eye sees but I tried. Goes like this:

The switch/center and column are the OG, so is the wheel but I floated some HOK White Sparkle dry pear and just a dash of PPG gold pearl paste. Tricks the eyes into seeing a semi-transluscent wheel. Didn't try for a clear Lucite look like a Continental, something more akin to war time Packard or Cadillac which are usually ivory. That's an easy effect but this was tricky.
Also finished the bodies of the arm rests. I was thinking woodgrain but so little would be seen and it would blend away, so the same metal utility taupey color is it. I like it. If you recall they're actually 49-51 Chevy cpe rears with ashtrays. Still have to redo the pad for the other one. These will be on the front doors:



Time to get dirty again and get under it. Big boxes to check there. Cya next time, same tudor time, same tudor channel

 

So I was looking over the lacey trunk tool box area. Not the 1st time, probably the 1 job I had the most dread for on this one. Alone, nobody around, I said aloud, "...hey dickead it ain't gonna get done lookin at it." so I grabbed a chunk of sheet metal and tape measure and decided to get dirty. I was a bit slack in pics so don't hate on this too much, and more to follow and I will take proper shots. 1st part was the step for the plywood panels that cover it. Part rusty, part solid as can be. I whipped up a short repair section and cut the original to fit, will weld in soon.

Next I took a bunch of measurements and started to map out the bigger area. Thought about small sections but then said fuck it, make new. Couldn't get sheet metal that day, so I found a trunk section in that old roof from the Impala job Heavy enough but not too much so I diced out about 36 X 24 inches. Next I decided measure and sketch and, and, fuck it. Grabbed an aluminum welding wire and made a shape gauge. I laid out where I want to bend and took it to the bigger break at home. At 1st the plan was to lay a chunk of heavy tube and get radius corners, it fell out once, then the second time almost smacked my nut sack. Regular bends it is.

Now the fun starts, cut, fit, install, pull out, measure, cut some more, shape the ends, try to duplicate somewhat but honestly not looking for Dearborn Award restoration. Strong, accurate enough to keep the tool box and panels once done. I'm so close, time to trim out the car for final fit and get ready to weld it all in.



For the lower corners I cut a piece of poster board and stuffed it in, observed the bent area and made the cut, sticking it back in to see the final. Laid that in the corner of the new floor and marked, cut and welded to close up that lower transition. Cleaning up the work area of rusty shit and tools not needed for now, install coming soon. I got a new tail panel too that I'm super happy with. Stay tuned...

 

Always enjoy seeing what you're up to with this...any luck with the cigarette lighter?...

If not do you have a wanted, wanted...really, really wanted ad for this here...so many 39/40 standard and deluxes kickin around here...someone's gotta have one...

Your mods and restorations are truly impressive...she's gonna be a nice one...

Seasons Greetings @theHIGHLANDER...

 

Thanks @Stogy , nothing on the lighter yet. Sort of set that aside but I ask a lot of our usual suspects now and then.

 

Man that looks great in the trunk. I gotta do the same to my tool tray on my 39. Maybe in the spring

 

I'll try to detail step by step. It seems easier than I 1st thought.

 

A couple details I cover more in depth later but 1st important move, I cut a cpl ¾ box tube sticks and supported the original floor before I took the 2 body bolts out. Once the biggest box section is out you don't want the floor to drop and it could, which then could buckle ¼ panels and shit. No thanx. Also leaving the decklid mounted so I can monitor fit as I go. Before the big cuts get done I'll scab in a temporary support across the opening to maintain size as well. If it all can't move around it won't. Film @ when I get some more done tomorrow.

 

Did a 39 Std about 40 years ago and my nephew still has and drives it. Was done when the "smoothie" craze was in so all trim gone. Used a sbc which had a heating problem so swapped for a 4.3 V6 which has been a great engine. Needs to have the fuel fill moved out of trunk to get rid of gas smell. Dash is hand formed from 18g to accommadate the in dash a-c unit.

 

Well, next phases. I braced the opening side to side, then cut out the old tail panel. Nasty job but...




The taped area will be left in. I don't want to get into body work on the qtr panels and the corners fit the lid perfect. I'll weld/metal finish to the taped area.

Once the old was cut and spot welds chiseled off I fit the new panel. Fits like it grew there with just a spot check. No complaints, in stock, got it in 3 days.




With everything out of the way time to set the trunk pan. Originally it had a 1 ⅞ return flange, I don't have that level of break equipment so I made a separate C channel and will spot weld the trunk floor to it, will weld it to the car to set hgt and distance.



Next phase is to final trim the car itself, cut the floor bottom back to the channel, clean it all and start makin sparks. New tool box coming soon to a std near me. See ya in a cpl days...

 

just reading through a few pages of this thread. (dammit man, this is old)
Anyway...what a great looking project. In June, I took delivery of a '39 Std Coupe. Been waiting my whole life, for a Hot Rod. Unfortunately, my mentor up in Cleveland had to die, for me to get my hands, on this one. Was nice of him to leave it to me in his will. There's a whole thread, on her, about it. got it running, pretty quick and been driving the wheels off it. Just went over to Daytona, in it, last weekend. Drives great.
That's my buddies '39 Ford Woody wagon, parked behind me. Serious museum piece. Drove my car to his house about a month ago, to fix the radiator.

 

That coupe is the goods man. I too am sorry for your losses, but happy you have a 39 std for a coping mechanism. In my youth I thought this series was the ugliest of early V8s, now I like em better than the deluxe.

And yes spans a few years on this one. Running a shop, life in general, health issues, makes our stuff take a back seat at times.

 

Nice work on the tool box. I had to put more arch in my new tail panel to match the arch of the trunk lid on my sedan convertible. I think my tail panel was an EMS brand though.

 

I have an original tail panel. It came with the car, cut out from another. I soaked it in a molasses bath for several weeks and it came out full of pinholes. This new one matches every dimension and my deck lid arch perfectly.

 

Did some more. Got the new panel fitted now, seems to be as good as I expected, maybe a bit better. I duplicated the mark I made on the original corners. Again, the idea was to not have to do body work on the existing qtrs and preserve the corner fit of the decklid.

On the car I cut right at the tape line, on the new one I traced the tape and cut inside the line to make up for the blade thickness and reduce the trim/fit effort.

Worked out well, not a lot of fit, trim, fit, trim, took about 3 prefits and all good.

Got a consistent fit at the lid and preserved the corners.




I trimmed the excess length on the floor portion, set in a piece of weather strip and I'm pretty happy with how it all clamped in. Should be an easy and clean install. Taking a page from my "I'm lazy like that" book the final moves before welding will involve cleaning the frame, inner sheet metal, all the insides and under sides of the new stuff before it gets burned in for good. I'll coat with POR-15 (cuz I have it) and the bottom of the new floor with red oxide primer to match the existing original finish preserved by the gas tank all these years. Why the hell not, right? Yes, I'll paint it before welding and just leave clean edges to touch up after. I don't wanna do too much over my damn head. That shit sux. I'll detail that whole process in the days ahead. On a roll...

 

Looking good....me and Terry need to get down there

 

I'd like that...

 

Your new panel looks great!
I think there was talk about a cigar lighter in your thread. I remembered coming across one the other day while searching for something else. The Old ford Store offers a new one at a decent price.

https://www.earlyfordstore.com/products/12v-cigar-lighter-socket