Hot Rods Florance's 1940 Ford sedan

We bought this sedan in 2018 and got it running a few years ago now. It's an all original one owner car. I was purchased new by a lady named Florence. This 40 Ford was the only car she ever owned. After she passed away in the late 1970s it was used as a field car on their farm until the late 1980s. At that time Florance's brother suffered a stroke and the car was parked next to his 1950 Ford that was also bought new. The cars sat in the same chicken shed until 2018.

 

Wow! What a find - More photos, please.

 

We got the car home and cleaned it out. It sat in the our shop for about a year before we started on it.

 

I love this kind of stuff. All I can say is, "what took you so long to get it started"? I just bought myself a 40 Ford Coupe. It was wrecked 25 years ago. I bought it from the Widow 3 weeks ago. Frame repairs are all done, and motor bolted back in place. I fired it up this evening for the first time since the wreck. Big big smile on my face also.

P.S. I want your front seat.

 

Great find! 40 Ford's are awesome cars!

 

We brought the car back from storage in 2020 and started working on it. Overall the car was in very good condition. The engine was loose and after checking everything out I figured I try and start it. I replaced the plugs, wires, and rebuilt the carb. I also changed out the distributor to a later crab style distributor. The engine fired and had oil pressure but, it was missing on one cylinder. After a little more checking I found a burnt valve on one cylinder. I made the decision to replace the bad valve and guide. I probably should have did a full valve job on it but we wanted to get it on the road. I also added Red's headers and 1.5 straight pipes out the back.

I ended up rebuilding the banjo. The LH axle seal was leaking for at least a decade by the looks of all the grease in the brake drum. When I got it all apart I found bad bearings so I went through it. I was pretty happy when I found out the rear had 3.54 gears in it.

I reversed the eyes on the front spring and added the 700-16 rubber in the back and 600-16s in front. Other then rebuilding the brakes and fixing some wiring that about all we've done to it.

 

Haha thanks! We have a few projects that were ahead of Flo. My 32 Sedan was one of them.

 

Elicia and I have gotten some pretty good photos of the car.

 

We're pretty happy with the way the car turned out. Elicia has plans for some upgrades in the future but, the look of the car won't change. Future plans include a Y-block with a 37 Cad-Lasalle. I'm not sure if I'll keep the torque tube or change it to an open drive shaft. One thing I do know is it will get 9" axles in the banjo.

 

In the first picture, what was under the tarp in the shed?

 

Its a Volkswagen Bug.

 

What an incredible find. A true time capsule. Love everything about it. What happened to the Brother's '50?

 

So hard to believe that car lasted all those years and is still in wonderful shape. You would have thought the mice would have made a mess out of it. Congratulation

 

Field car and stored in a chicken coup and it looks like that ?

dang what a score ! Congrats !

 

Seen a lot of N Dakota field cars, never seen one that straight. Can't believe the fenders are that nice!

 

I can totally relate to that. I

 

In my case the Vermin had made a total Hotel out of the car. I didn't dare move it inside before doing a total interior removal. At that point I just kept going to light up the motor. Jury is still out as to how healthy things are. I'm sure I'll learn more today. Looks like yours lives amongst some grate garage mates.

 

Florances nephew takes care of everything that has ever been on that farm. He is the reason it stayed so nice after Florence passed away. He was able to keep the mice out of the car. He also had a tarp over the 40 and the 50 Ford.

 

The 50 Ford is still in the shed.

 

..Can you scoop it up as well?

 

No, the 50 isn't for sale. The last time I talked to him he was working on getting it running.

 

I know it's a long shot but, we sure would like to find seat covers like the one on the rear seat. Unfortunately there are no tags on the rear cover.

 

Matching that seat cover would be pretty hard to do in my opinion. I would just build a new set so it all looks the same, new and fresh.

 

This might be an idea.

 

I'd like to ask a favor, and no hurry really. Is there a panel board under the headliner between the rear side windows and back window? I thought I had the remains of one for my tudor but can't find it. I think someone did me a favor cleaning one day and tossed it, but I'd like to know if that's what it was. Thanks in advance. Bitchin car.

 

Good on you and looks like Elicia is getting along with 'Flo' REAL WELL !
Thanks for sharing and keep on having fun with Old Iron !!

 

Great find. And always remember @RDR , happy wife, happy life.

 

Hope you leave that '39 Deluxe grille in place. It looks right at home. What a find !

 

Personally, I like the body-color headlight doors. It gives the illusion of frenched headlights. Think I will replace my deluxe ones with standard units.

 

She hit a pheasant in the early 50s. The accident broke the fog light and, one side of the grill out. They replaced it with the 39 Deluxe grill. They bought the 39 grill from Ford with the trim. Unfortunately he hasn’t been able to find the trim for us. We also have the original broken grill for the car.

We have no plans to change it back to the 40 standard grill.