Hot Rods Let's have our own 84th anniversary event for the 40 ford...

Maybe he didn’t want to be the next to throw his ice cream in the floor after the talk at lunch?

 

From snowy and cold on Tuesday to nice and sunny on Sunday.

 

Love that shade of blue on the Deluxe,seldom seen IMO.
Also that single driving/ fog light should piss off the haters of “the single fog light thread”

 

......Love it.

 

Yep....

 

proud member of the "single fog light, New England Chapter"

 

From The Past...

 

Old Blue Eyes out for a drive this morning.

 

Great thread about a great car, now a great picture. Thanks 39 guy.

 

Thanks okiedokie ! It was a great morning to get the car out for a drive I am really enjoying driving it with the 5 speed. Stopped at this riverside park and took a 2 1/2 mile walk.

 

Gettysburg AACA Fall Meet

 

First ‘40 at an IKEA? Quick stop this morning.

 

Stopped at this local cruise today about an hour away. Last to leave .....

 

I believe that is the first time that I have seen your hood open.

 

A shot on the way home from St Louis today. It was the coupe's turn to get photographed there.

 

A friend of mine wanted to show his son the engine, as I normally never raise the hood.
Always willing to accommodate a young boy who shows an interest.

 

These 40's are so nice, I just never get tired of looking at them. Like i.rant, I never raise the hood but to show someone the engine.

 

^^^^^^^ Beautiful 40.

 

.....It's like the reverse of yours......Grey with Black wheels. Both are beautiful '40's.

 

Sonny, I am still waiting patiently until we can get together so I can see your coupe. Such a cool car!

 

1957-1958 the Tri Fives were tearing up the streets in Baltimore. My buddies were putting Olds engines into Fords to take them on. A trip to the boneyard yielded a 303 with a flywheel attached. It was torn down in my parents basement, dipped, bored to 324, cam sent to Engle Cams, new innards from the local Olds dealer, and new magnesium rocker arms. The engine was reassembled using a book from the library. The plan was a B/Gas vehicle.
Next I needed a Ford. On a Sunday afternoon trip to York PA, we found a black 40 sedan sitting outside a Hot Rod Club building. No one around so I wrote a letter when I got home, got a reply a short time later. A trip back to York and $150 we were bringing the 40 home driving the flathead down York 83 stopping only once to fill the crankcase with oil.
A rented garage was obtained for the swap. The first week we needed to drift start as the engine was tight. Then key start worked fine and a late night ritual reliability run to Frederick and back proved an engine well built. Some time later a J-2 came my way and opening up the two end carbs using progressive linkage exceeded my expectations.
The weekend scene was Champs and the Varsity restaurants on route 40 west. Interesting the government was building a beltway around Baltimore. The part of the road near 40 west had some unfinished sections that were void of traffic and late at night provided a 1/4 mile venue to take on those Tri Fives and any others.
Some time after running around in black and primer we painted to 40 with blue lacquer using the bays of a friends gas station over night and early morning hours. Priming and body prep took some hard labor as did rubbing out the lacquer. Lacquer paint is very forgiving to someone who was painting a car the first time in his life.
After a year my insurance company sent a nice young man to see the car. I was proud of my work and showed him the engine. A week later a letter from the company cancelled my insurance. The rationale was in the event of an accident (even not my fault) pictures at a trial would convict me and them. The only way to keep the car on the street was very expensive Maryland no fault insurance.
It was time to convert to a drag car. With some research we learned that some 37 Fords came with 4:11 rear gears. A trip to the boneyard looking at the rear axels of wrecks yield one. We pulled the rear from the 40 and reassembled it with the 37 gears. Changing gears in closed rear ends was no fun.
Now off the street we began racing by flat towing the 40 to 75/80 Drag a Way using my buddies 57 Merc hardtop. With cheater slicks and the 4:11 I could not gain traction off the line in 1st gear. The solution was to use 2nd and 3rd only. Competitors could beat me off the line, but once they shifted to 2nd I was pulling 3rd and flew by most of them. We did fine in B/Gas even winning some trophies.
During the time of owning this 40 I rebuilt the 39 top loader trans so many times even today I think I could rebuild one blindfolded. Even Lincoln gears did not hold up although they seem stronger than Fords.
After the season we put the old 3:78 rear gears back in and I began purchasing Maryland no fault insurance and we were back on the street. This part of my life occurred during the last year of high school and the year following. My parents finally put down the proverbial foot and told me to get a full time job (quit the part time that was funding my adventures) or go to college. Since college would be on my dime the 40 needed to be sold. My $1,100 investment was sold for $500. A sad day.
My avatar shows the 40 Coupe I purchased in 1982 in its current look. When I got it, it was rough with lots of hidden rust and some bad cutting and welding on the frame. It had a 350 that I rebuilt and drove the car this way until 2000. I ended up buying an aftermarket frame and took the new frame and old frame and body to a Rod builder in PA. The 40 got new metal, Bitchin Products metal from firewall to trunk. Rear fenders were toast when cleaned of the old paint. The may have been able to be fixed, but the decision was to go with Wescott fiber glass. Old Rodders just keep on truckin as you see from the dates this story started.