what HOT ROD 40 said--pop up ashtray are early-tilt out is later--also ashtrays and brackets won't interchange and fit right--some very early 40's also have the 39 design on the underside of the decklid and the angled support braces are different as well-have had two with the early design-there are some other small differences as well-I have been told also that 40 Deluxe business coupes( as opposed to opera coupes) are usually early and kinda rare
so just to help me out what is the difference between a 39 deluxe grille and a 40 standard grille? and can i use a 40 std hood with a 39 deluxe grille on my 40 2 door sedan?
This is a stock '39 DeLuxe. Notice that the stringers are parallel to each other, so that the outer ones are cut short where they intersect the fender. The grille itself is painted body color, but each stringer has a stainless trim piece attached to the front of it.: This is a '40 Standard. Now the stringers are curved to echo the shape of the fenders, so they are no longer straight and parallel. Only the wide center trim piece is chrome; he rest of the bars are painted body color. This car has '39 headlights, just to confuse the issue a little: Some guys plate the whole '40 standard grille, and run chrome (DeLuxe) headlight rings, but neither of those bright details was done by ford. Here's a comparison of two '40 standards; the green one looks stock while the black one has the plated details I just described: I understand that the '39 Dlx and '40 Std grilles are interchangeable, but I've never swapped them myself. Personally, I think the plated '40 Std is the best looking of the bunch.
Thanks 50Fraud for posting those pictures. I love the look of the 40Std grill in full chrome and would love to run that setup on my 40 Deluxe. I have a complete 40 Deluxe coupe and am about a month away from re***embling the car after paint. I had always thought that I couldnt run the standard grill with deluxe fenders and hood. Am I wrong on that? If I can run the standard grill with my deluxe hood and fenders I'm going to do so. Will it work?
No, the DeLuxe hood and grille need to be used together, or Standard hood and grille together. The '40 Dlx hood has "speed lines" on the side that are an extension of the shape of the side grilles; it wouldn't match the Std grille well at all.
My '40 Deluxe 2-dr has standard front bumper brackets on it which locates the bumper a bit closer to the grille. Seems to be no big deal. By the way, the Standard '40 is pretty bad*** looking, but I'm keeping mine Deluxe simply because it is complete and running. Drive it like you stole it.
I concur completely with you on the location of wind.wipers. By the way, Henry thought so much of his '40 cars, he started the model nos all over, you know, model 01A. I believe that was his second crowning success. Can anybody say, ""DEUCE"" ? Please, no hate mail, please ?
Hey, Labold, down in Texas we screw, glue, and tattoo a '39 windshield to the body so our A/C won't leak out. That damn A/C is necessary almost 24/7.
Here's a little more on the subject of the design evolution of these models. Edsel Ford and his chief designer, Bob Gregorie, were both boat guys. They owned and loved boats, and frequently used boat-like shapes for the noses of the cars they developed. The '39 Ford DeLuxe is one of the clearest examples of this; the nose came to a graceful leading edge like a boat's prow, which curved down under the car at the bottom in boat-like fashion. The hood had a complementary downward curve toward the front, with a generous radius to the vertical edge of the grille. I'll use a '40 Std to illustrate this because I have a better photo to illustrate my point: Of course it's well known that between '38 and '40, Ford carried the previous year's Dlx front end forward into the next year, redecorating it slightly as the Standard, and then designed a new and completely different nose for the new DeLuxe model. So, the '39 Dlx nose carried over with minor changes as the '40 Std, and the '40 DeLuxe was an almost completely new design. While I have never heard this said authoritatively, I am certain that somebody within Ford management decreed that the new DeLuxe should look longer, prouder, more sharply tailored than the Standard. So the new Dlx hood was straightened out at the top and sharpened, the radius to the leading edge was made tighter, and the centerline of the hood and grille were made into a straight vertical line. Gone was the boat-bow curve at the bottom: I don't have any specific explanation for the difference in the design and detailing of the different grille bars -- horizontal vs. vertical, side grilles, and so forth. But I'm pretty confident that my explanation of the revised profile is correct. Interesting sidelight: There is a pretty good biography of Bob Gregorie, in which he talked about his relationship with his boss Edsel and details the various designs on which they collaborated. He talks at some length about the design of the '39, sounding rather proud of it, and he owned a '39 convertible for many years after leaving Ford in the '40s. He NEVER MENTIONS the '40; has absolutely nothing to say about the redesign from the '39 version. He goes on to talk about the '41 as if it was a great improvement over the preceding designs. Who knew?
I have a 40 standard and have always felt it has the best front end styling. Also the standard only has 1 tail light. Something that I will never change. Chuck
according to some authorities, ALL '40 standards left the plant with A tailite on the drivers side, some states required one on both sides, so they were dealer installed. you can usually spot them cause they are ALWAYS installed crooked. Show me a Pickup hood from 40 or 41 with chrome trim..? Nobody pointed out the woodies, from '37 thru '40 had w/s wipers on the cowl, and the w/s didn't flip out, but had stainless. Just fer kicks, when the headlite bucket is out, put a straight edge from headlite opening horizontally over to grille side and note indentation, 39 fenders have less space to fender, will sometimes vary on same car, Ford used up the parts..All deluxe had clocks in glove box door, 39/40 deluxe garnish moldings had a horizontal indentation and came down farther on upholstery and were wood grained , pointed at each end. Of course all forty cars had column shift, all 39's had floor shift.. 39 deluxe grille was one piece steel, with vertical stainless pieces, '40 3 piece cast aluminum?
you can definitely use the fenders. Not the deluxe hood with a standard grille,or standard hood with deluxe grille. If you find a '39 deluxe hood at a swap : with no chrome.. it will have holes, two rows, on sides and 2 rows coming out from center for trim,, note the chrome in pictures on deluxe 39 above, and see the "cat whiskers" above the grille chrome.. and holes where it says Ford Deluxe,, 40's don't have these holes..
This is because woodies and convertibles used the same cowl and windshield, and the wipers were at the bottom on the converts.
Why???? you have a perfectly good car right there. Unless you just have money to burn and can't find a 40 Deluxe to buy. Just one man's opinion.
Hello, When I purchased my first 1940 Ford Sedan Delivery in 1960, it was not the grille that made me want it. It was the 348 Chevy motor that was making some wonderful noises when it approached the line up of teenage hot rods and sedans, sitting in our local drive-in restaurant parking lot. When I saw it again, I noticed it had a deluxe grille instead of the standard that our friend had with his 1940 Red, 2 door sedan with a Buick motor/LaSalle transmission combo. It was not something that made a difference to me, but it was the power that my friend’s Buick motor made, the sound and then finally the stance of the 1940 two door sedan. When the sedan delivery was now mine, it no longer had the big 348 motor. But, the sedan delivery was cool anyway, because no one else in all of our Bixby Knolls area and our expansive cruising area had one or knew what it was. It was not your normal roadster or sedan. Once I owned it for a while, the deluxe grille had more character and a smoother flow into the rounded fenders and pointy hood. The standard had a presence as a sturdier grille, but somehow the outside additions on the deluxe grille seemed better for overall styling. Jnaki Years later, when my wife and I bought our next project, the first thing I noticed was that deluxe grille was shiny and made the bright red color stand out. We were happy with the deluxe grille and then after many months of reconstruction and repairs, the sedan delivery with the 327 was road ready and safe. Now, as we drove to other So Cal functions, we began to see other sedan deliveries in all different styles of modifications. It was no longer a strange hot rod, but a private camping, cruising hot rod that was a good, all-around vehicle with more SBC power, not Flathead power or lack thereof. YRMV
...Thanks @hotrodharry2. I get mixed responses to the stripes, but I appreciate the positive comments very much.
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