Projects 39 Ford Conv build (update 5/8/25)

Oh man that engine colour looks nice! (I have a reason for saying that)

Excellent score on the NOS crossmember.

 

You Do Great Work Sir And Have A Well Equipped Shop To Accomplish It...Best Of Luck On A Worthy Project...

 

Nice work, nice shop (obviously not your first rodeo ) ...looks strikingly familiar though yours appears to be in much nicer shape! I'm subscribed and looking forward to watching your project come together.

 

Thanks for the kind words. I’m a lucky guy.

 

Thanks a bunch. Not my first rodeo, but I learn something new every day. I’m watching your build too. That’s the great thing about the H.A.M.B.. We can learn from each other’s builds.

 

Vnak photo
Hello,

One of my wife’s favorite hot rods is this 1939 Grey, Ford Convertible. #1, she likes convertibles, having grown up with her mom’s 47 Buick convertible. Ever since, she has always been on the lookout for a convertible. We have looked at very old hot rod convertibles, 50s convertibles and even into the modern sporty car convertibles. But, nothing hit her like this 39 Ford Convertible. The odd thing is, she does not like Grey as she thinks it looks dull. But, this Grey convertible must have hit the spot.

When she got home from the neighborhood car show with her sister, that convertible was all she could talk about. It was a lucky thing she did not have her checkbook and the pristine 39 Ford Convertible was not for sale. Otherwise, we would be tooling around in a Grey 39 Ford Convertible in our neck of the So Cal woods... In recent days prior to the locked in place directive, we did see it at the local Cars and Coffee event. It looked classy moving and in place with the bright sun shining down on all of the cars.
Vnak photo

Jnaki


Nice project you have going and we will follow along as we have been 40 Ford owners since high school and 20 something years. Good luck and take your time during the build, there is no rush to get it finished in record time. We all have extra time with this awful pandemic going on, everywhere.


PHOTOS BY VNAK
We do like a nice rear end…

 

Thanks Jnaki. While that light Gray would probably not have been my choice, I must say that is a good looking car. I like the style. Very clean. As for me being in a hurry, a couple of factors will keep that from happening. One is, I spend most of my time working on other people’s stuff, and secondly, we seem to keep the road hot visiting our five grandkids. One in Texas and four in Tennessee. But I’m fine with that. Thanks for the kind words and stay safe out there.

 

WOW!!----Great that you have both the patience AND the skills needed!

 

Nice work and a gorgeous car. I am a '40 man but I must say that the '39 is a better looking convertible because the top is shorter and the rear deck is longer. It just makes the proportions so much more sportier looking when the top is up.

 

Had a couple free hours this afternoon, so I decided I’d start on replacing some of the rusted areas on the frame. I still need to cut out and repair the top surface section of the body mount. Most of the frame rust was hidden under the padding between the body and frame. Moisture along with mouse urine is pretty corrosive.

 

I love ‘39 Verts!

Congratulations on a true classic!!

 

I'll be embarking on my frame soon, I hope, so following along for tips and tricks

 

Hey Ron, Thanks for letting me know about your nos '38 rear fender. I've stripped the primer from mine and it's in quite good shape (especially when compared to the mess I was working with on the passenger side). Looking forward to seeing the progress on yours.

 

Your frame is very good compaired to the one i am rebuilding. 39 2 door.

 

I’ve been super busy working on paying jobs, but lately I’m trying to get into the habit of knocking off around 6 pm and get an hour or two in on my frame. After replacing a piece of the top of the rails on both sides around the body mount area, I was not satisfied. The outer rails just felt like they still had too much flex in them. So I made up some gussets out of 1/8” cold rolled to tie the top of the main rails to the x member rails. It made a huge difference in the rigidity of that area. I will probably add some partial boxing in some key areas, but not without thinking it all through. I don’t want to paint myself into a corner.

 

Nice welds! That's going to be a very nice car.

 

I like those gussets, will they be welded or bolted/riveted? Only ask as i was having a chat with a friend recently who builds a lot of cars, on the subject of boxing. He said, and it made sense to me, that these old frames twisted a lot, they were designed to. When you start welding or boxing areas, it stops the movement in those sections of the frame, but transfers that movement to some where else, possibly increasing the movement and fracturing that area. He said you either box it all, or nothing.. an interesting thought, although I can see with a convertible, that a stiffer frame would be good. I was also told by someone else, that convertibles use truck frames because they are made of thicker material, so flex less??

 

Ron try working on your ride the first two hours before starting customer paying jobs. It has worked better for me and several of my friends. Because at the end of the day you are to tired to work on your own cars but if it’s a paying job you will push on till it’s done. Enjoying your build. Frank

 

I’ve heard similar discussions over the years, and in certain situations, your friend may be right. I’m not sure if the open cars had thicker rails or not. There is one little added brace from outer rail to x member just behind where the pedals mount. I’m sure Kube over on the barn could answer that question. Anyway, here are my thoughts, and I have no hard facts to back them up, they are just my thoughts. With a buggy spring type suspension, such as is the case here, your springs are attached to the frame dead in the middle. The wishbones, when unsplit like I will be running, both front and rear, will have a single pivot point, again dead in the center of the frame. With that thought in mind, I see no need for the frame to have any intentional flexibility. The only forces to cause twist would be from a sway bar, or anti roll bar, and shocks, both of which I think would benefit from a stiffer frame. I also think a convertible body would benefit from a stiffer chassis. These old bodies are pretty weak when the top is down. To answer your question, I plug welded them in. If I ever get this thing together, I guess we’ll find out if my thoughts were wrong. Lol. Thanks for your interest and input. Ron

 

I love a 39 convertible and this one is going to be cool. Thanks for sharing the progress. I’ll be following along now.

 

I have done that on occasion, but for me, it’s easier to find a good stopping point in the evening than it is in the morning. In other words, if I try knocking out little bits in the morning, I don’t want to stop, and the next thing I know, I’ve stayed at it too long, neglecting the paying customers. Lol. Thanks for the good words. Ron

 

That frame is pristine! I especially like your idea to plug weld the two layers together.
What is the engine paint? Color and supplier?
Thanks!

 

Thanks. That paint is a single stage urethane I got from Summit. I was going to look up the part number for you, but I searched Summit on their app, and I couldn’t find it. Hopefully they still have it, because I was planning on painting the dash that same color. I’ll look at the can tomorrow when I get to the shop and let you know.

 

I checked the can. It’s called Mayan Gold Metallic single stage acrylic urethane. I got it from Summit, but it looks like they no longer offer it. Bummer.

 

You might try checking Kirker. They were the source/supplier for the Summit Brand urethane paint.

 

I’ll do that. Thanks a lot.

 

Thanks for the heads up. I wondered where Summit sourced it from.

 

THANKS!!

 

Well, after the Frenchtown Flyer started that thread about build threads going cold, it shamed me into giving a little update on the ol 39. Lol. As I had said early on, my intent is to keep this car as traditional as I can, with one exception. The transmission. I’m setting it up with a TREMEC T170 four speed. (4th being overdrive) I spent a fair amount of time adapting it to the Flathead, and I’m not quite done with that part yet. I’m purposefully leaving those pics out as Moriarity suggested, so as to remain in the traditional vibe. I am converting the banjo rear to open drive, so I have been working on my rear suspension setup. I’m attempting to do the radius rods and additional rear bars in such a way that it doesn’t look too modern. I wanted to keep the suspension function as close to the original design as possible. I want to keep a single pivot point for the rear rods to attach to mimicking the single pivot point of the torque tube bell. I started by getting this giant sized rod end. It’s a beefy piece, and certain to hold the power of my Flathead. After removing part of the center section of the x member for tail shaft clearance, I decided on the location needed for the mounting point for the front joint. I first made two plates to bolt the rod end to and welded them into the rear of the x member. After this came some 1/8” gusset plates that were tig welded from the top of the x rails to the top length of the mount plates. This should be plenty strong, however I may add a similar pair to the bottom later. Remember, my motto is, if it’s worth doing, it’s worth overdoing. Lol.

 

I’m not sure why my pictures get out of order, and double post, but you get the drift. Anyhoo, after getting the mounting point set in place, I bolted the rod end in just to see what things looked like.