Projects An Exercise in Practicality - 1939 Ford Early Custom

I am definitely subscribing to this one.

I LOVE the way you build!

 

Nice!!

 

I like your plans for that one although I would have gone with white walls even though blackwalls are spot on for the period you are shooting for. That said you can always go WW next tire change if the mood strikes.

 

subscribed.

 

Subscribed. I have recently joined "39-40" with my 39 deluxe coupe. So I'll be watchin' & learnin'.
Looks real good so far. I love skirts. I'm totally undecided on whitewall/blackwall for myself. Cool either way

 

I like where your going, and perfect timimg as I am starting a 39 DeLuxe sedan myself along the same lines. Looking forward to see how you lower it without any drastic work. !

 

Hooray....finally we get a tudor going in the right direction....keep going, I love it.

 

Tonight after getting home from work, it was time to get the carbs tuned. Of course I did it in the traditional method...

Step one: mix up a Mai Tai using Trader Vic's 1944 recipe:


Then, some other steps.

 

I think you perhaps stumbled down the steps a little later.

 

Hah!

No, but really, here's the video showing success. Well at least to this drunk...



The carbs are sync' and tuned. Just gotta make a run to the local fastenal in the morning for some stuff to finish up the linkage. Then cruising for the weekend...

 

Also, I sent out the flipper hubcaps for chrome earlier this week.

After driving the car for a good portion of last Monday, it died on me, less than a block from the garage. No crank, no nothing. And pretty much no voltage the n the battery. After pulling it and throwing it on the charger overnight, the most it would take was four volts. Pretty sure that was caused by a bad cell, and was likely the real reason behind my hard starting and solenoid issues.

In the end I made a made a pretty big, but not very exciting order for a bunch of wear items on the car including a new optima battery and new cables. The battery showed up today, that's how I could do the carb tune session.

For lack of any more exciting progress to show, I'll just dump a bunch of pics of the car here...









And the Dude...

 

Now that is a great picture of the "Dude"

 

Excellent plan, and way more fun than my '06 Fusion! You're making me think I should buy pals '46 Merc two door sedan and off the Fusion while it still has some value. 5 years to retirement, I think I could make the Merc last that long...

 

Wow, that little flatty idles smooth! Great job, bud. When you gonna bring it down to the Lone Star State for me to inspect in-person? (looks like she'll drive anywhere)

 

no teething on the steering wheel for the little dude... My old 47 Ford sedan had the same thing happen to door glass...It was Ford script also... never could find a good used Genuine Ford glass for replacement . Just had a glass cut, cheap but not Henry's stuff... Flathead sounds great Evan... It's not running on alcohol (lol)... Well done sir ! Who is doing the plating on the caps ?

 

nice car, good luck with it,put the whitewalls back on

 

Got the linkage all buttoned up and then decided to tackle the rear spring. Out with the old...



...and you'll just have to wait for the new. Long story short, many-decades-old shackle bushings are a sonnavabitch.

 

I hear you on the shackle bushing. Just replaced the ones on my 41. only thing worse then getting them out is getting the new ones in.....
Torchie

 

Ok, so after an afternoon and a morning of pain and load noises, the new rear spring is in.

Before...


After...


I put in a Posies "low" rear spring and I know it doesn't look like much, but it did drop it a good inch, maybe an inch-and-a-half. It's advertised as a two-and-a-half inch drop, so I'm hoping it settles a bit. In any case, the car now has the slightest of reverse rakes, which is what I was going for.

I may yet be putting in longer shackles, but I'm gonna give it a week before I even think about anything to do with shackles or bushings.

 

And since I've got some free time, I started to look at the next step, a shave. Reading the Dan Post Books, and combing period pictures, I know I want to remove a lot of the chrome's bulk without removing too much of it. the idea is to visually lengthen the car, especially the nose, without cutting. Playing with photoshop, here's the progression of chrome removal...






I'm torn between the third and fourth versions. Comments?

 

I think the third is the best looking.

 

I go for the third version too.

 

I am hesitant to reply since everyone else thinks you should start prying pieces off. I like the side trim the way Henry put it on. I have never liked 'bobbed' hood trim on Fat Fender Fords. In the case of a '39 it interrupts the 'Aero' look that is so wonderful on these cars. Same for Hood trim, which leaves a bald spot that makes the '39 & '40 appear to have a bulbous nose. And, with the deck-lid shaved and the tag on the bumper, the expanse of sheet metal becomes visually boring and alters what was pleasingly punctuated by the propeller like handle (on the '39). If you shave it, as has been done successfully by others, the only solution is to sink the tag into the lower portion of the lid, and carefully consider how it lines up with the sight line of the tail lights. The Ford designers walked around the models of these cars for months looking at all angles to determine how to make them as visually pleasing to the eye as possible. They were educated in art schools and mentored by sculptors and journeymen designers, some of them geniuses who added their mark on other masterpiece designs of the era. To think that we can assault their creations without some humility is an insult. Only a few car designs have become Classics, and those were the sweat and tears of men like Raymond Loewy, Harley Earl, Larry Shinoda, to name a few. So tread lightly and carry a big screw driver not meant to pry off the good stuff and keep in mind what the very astute observer of car design, Lil' John Buttera is reported have said, "If you want something smooth as a bar of soap, buy a Toyota." Mild is about what a guy could do in the backyard with a few hand tools. Others opinions may vary with age, experience and education.

 

Exactly how I feel about these old Fords. My choice is the top photo... number one. It's rare to find nice clean complete original cars.
Sometimes to keep them original is different. I know this is not traditional. But traditions change over time.

 

I get what you guys are saying, but I hate to tell ya, this car ain't exactly perfect, and ain't exactly rare. It's a Ford. It's a Sedan. One of eleventy bazillion. And I'm turning it into a circa 1946-47 custom, and that means some trim is going away.

Oh, and I'll be filling the holes with either brass or lead. So if anyone down the line wants to restore this car to a masterpiece of stockdom, they're a torch away from removing the mustache from Mona Lisa.

I'm leaving the trunk handle, because I like it. I'm moving the rear license plate, because I don't.

 

4th. And get those flippers back on

 

3rd pic down. Long & sleek, looks like you're goal. 4th looks too standard/base model.
But, I do love whiskers, for me.

Awaiting your license plate treatment.
& maybe you get 3"rear drop with 3 friends in back & a full tank of gas?
What's plans on bumpers?

Lookin good, I like your ideas & keep'em posted.

 

Don't worry @gwhite the flippers will be back on as soon as they come back from the chrome shop (squee!).

As for bumpers, I have a line on three options right now: original '37 DeSotos, '41 Ford Super Deluxe, or '40 Merc.

I think I'm leaning towards the Mercs at the moment, but I'm still doing my research and looking around for other options before I drop the cash on bumpers, and more chrome work.

 

I'm really limiting myself with the time period that I've chosen. My thought process goes something like this after I see a picture of a modification that I like:

1: can the modification be done using only parts or materials available in 1947?
2: can I find, or do I have, the parts needed in the form of originals or very, very good repros?
3: can the modification be performed with tools available in 1947 (hand tools mostly, which is most of my garage anyway)
4: Would the modification be representative, if not common, for a custom car in 1947?
5: With the modification, would the car still be usable as a daily driver?

Only after answering yes to all of those questions will I consider taking tools to the car. Yes, when it comes to parts that no one will ever see, I will cheat and use modern stuff for the sake of safety, maintenance, and usability. I'll also use modern tools for the same reasons, I just don't want to do anything that couldn't have been done by a normal joe in the '40s.

I just hope I can pull it all off...

 

Pic three, then lose the door handles in favor of Lincoln buttons.