Hot Rods Let's have our own 85th anniversary event for the 40 ford...

Legends 47 -what a great picture-Congrats to the young couple. Lynn Pew always has great photos and write-ups on his site. Love the 40 pickups on there.

 

This coupe appears to have a 3/4 ton rear end with full floating axles and six lug wheels. The nerf bars make it a 60s ride probably. I went to Auto Tech school at Morrisville, NY in the early 60s. Guy there from western NY, forget his name, had a '46 coupe with that axle powered by a 239" overhead that successfully ran F/G. A real bulletproof axle setup from back in the day. Gone by the wayside with all the companies doing axles and complete competition rears in the last couple of decades but back then we scrounged what we could. Plus the weight of that rear and the small displacement overhead helped him get in the lowest overhead gasser class. I think G/G was flatheads and sixes if my old memory serves me right.

 

I think that was a pretty standard set-up on stock cars back in the day.

 

Absolutely right, Don. In fact that's why quickchanges, for example the cast iron Highland Machine ones out of Springfield, MA, were made for both the half ton rears and the 3/4 ton rears too. We had a few of the half ton ones, but the 3/4 ton Highlands were butt ugly to put under a hot rod. Just thought it was an anomoly to see a hot rod '40, obviously a street car with lakes pipes, nerf bars, white running boards, sporting a 3/4 ton rear. Gotta wonder what motor was in that coupe, eh? Big Olds or Buick with maybe a Packard or Lasalle floor shift?

 

Here's a question for you guys who still buy magazines? Did anyone publish a 75th anniversary issue like the 40th anniversary issue Street Rodder did?

 

All you have to do is turn this right here.

 

Yep and I still have all the Street Rodder mags from Vol 1 #1 to 2001.

 

L D Ottinger was quite a racer. I saw him race at the Nashville Fairgrounds in 1971 on the original hi-banked 5/8 mile track. He also has quite a collection of 1940 Fords !!

 

..................I watched him through the late 50's and early 60's at my hometown track in Newport, Tennessee and yes he was quite a racer for sure.

 

...........Had the pleasure of spending some time with him at his shop a few years ago. What a special person he is.

 

Apparently not. I was kind of surprised at the lack of interest given the fact that a big deal was made at the 40th and the 50th anniversary of the 40 Ford.

 

I mocked up the front clip on mine.

 

VROOOOM! Keep at it Dan! You need to be drivin that Sedan!

 

Fall on my street.

 

back in the day, how sweet it was

 

Change of pace for tonight, couple of vintage photos from Ken Nailon, illustrating both the bad and good times surrounding '40 Fords

 

Its still 2015, isnt it?

 

Maybe we should see who can get the last post on this thread by 12-31-15!

 

another from back in the day for "throwback Thursday" as my grandsons tell me it is today

 

Now before you get your knickers in a twist, I know this is a '39 coupe, not a '40. but this signboard for it, at this years Dawsonville Moonshine festival, is a real blueprint to how a '40 hauler would have been constructed back in the day. I figured some folks might not have read the HAMB thread I lifted this from:
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/mountain-moonshine-festival-dawsonville-ga.995209/
The 1940 Ford is an iconic part of moonshine distribution. The legendary Junior Johnson has, so I have heard, 14 coupes in his collection, a couple he actually used to haul shine with. Junior had a slight incarceration due to getting caught hauling his family's production to market. And there is a terrific movie that I saw at the NC Motorsports Museum tracing the origins of NASCAR to Sunday races held to see who had the fastest hauler back in the day. I tried to get "xhauler" on my NH license plates but some sharp eyed censor at DMV was smart enough to deny it on the basis of "promoting alcohol". Bah, humbug!

 

Fall foliage.....I can do that!

 

Well we talked about moonshine haulers and '40 Fords, now how about John Law who pursued them??

 

1963-64 Minnesota (GSTA) car show '40s, courtesy of Gene Sonnen

 

WOW! 8x2 MEL, that is cool!