finally bought myself a real car! haha not American unfortunately, but iv always loved these. she's a 1933 Ford Model Y. shes had one owner since new and is solid as a rock, im really pleased with her. i want to build it as traditional as possible so am only gonna use 40s and early 50s parts. i want to give her a bit of a roof chop, but everyone keeps telling me "NOOOO!!" shes really rare because shes so early so has short rad grill, 9 flute bonnet side's and the fenders are open at the rear (these will be coming off anyway hah) ill probably still give her a chop! unsure what mill ill be running id like a flathead v8, unsure of how easy thats gonna be, might tune up a 4 banger! will probably put v8 pilot front brakes on. heres a few photo's havnt done anything to her yet as only got the other day!
haha, thanks. im loving the wires too a model A motor did cross my mind as these Y's only have a weedy 1 litre 8hp lump haha
If it was me I wouldn't take any half measures. Either restore it to factory original or go full hotrod and chop it, ditch the fenders and running boards, and put a nice V8 flathead with a couple of 97s on it. Scott
Love it, its great! My only tuppence i'd throw in is dont do anything you might regret, having said that, if you wanna chop and channel just go for it. You've got good base for a project though, i recently picked up an old 30's chrysler and i'm still umming and ahhing over what to do. Good luck!
Well that's what I'm thinking! Haha. I'm gonna be doing it over a period of time, as she is my daily car but I'm definitely going fenderless and I WILL chop her!! Dunno about channelling I quite like the height looks more like a 40s rod, I will be going v8 eventually and the only one I'd have would be a flatty. Gonna be totally stripped with bomber seats and ww2 USAAF parts
what exactly are the rules for use limeys on fenderless? is it until the fuzz stops you?! A freind bought his 32 Deuce over on the weekend, original v8 flatties sound gorgeous, sounds like you got it covered!
That whole law over here is real hazzy! Ya see police over here are only interested in making money, so will stop and do you on anything they can hand a quick fine out on!! The whole fender less thing is a strange one, as I think you only need them if you car kicks up spray, so that would only be in the rain, I'm just gonna make some crappy ones to chuck in the back if I go long distance, just in case they get arsey! Haha but am unsure about MOT as the wheels must count as extruding parts!?
Hi Skoty, I think your best bet would be to restore it to factory original in view of it's rarity as a very early example of a Model Y plus the fact it is also a one owner car. Not teaching you how to suck eggs here, but are you aware of the 8 points system ? What you can legaly do and not do to your car before it's identity is called into question ? If this is all new to you i suggest you have a good look around on the ACE site BEFORE you make any alterations to your car. http://www.the-ace.org.uk/ If you have any questions you can always give me a call on 07762 - 747643. Cheers. Russ.
Hi dudford, Running without mudguards/fenders is illegal in the UK comes under "construction and use". A couple of people have been stopped for it and had prohibiton notices put on their cars then and there, i can't remember who they were but Kev Rooney over at ACE will know. Cheers. Russ.
Run it full fendered and stick a Ford Capri GT V6 under the bonnet. It'll fit without too much effort, go like stink because it's so light, and the 70's V6 is a traditional motor to boot! Cheers, Glen.
Banger! love the Bangers.. so ill stick with that i like the fenders tho.. but a chop would be okey also i do like the interior thats originally in there.. just saying
V8-60 from a ford Pilot is the obvious way to go. Chopping it would make you to Attila the Hun IMO. It's rare so why not resto rod it and make it a sleeper? Why would you want to take all the value and originality out of it by chopping it? You might just as well burn the money. If you want to hack something up buy a Ford Pop....
I'd probably not chop it either. Rare and original is only once. Maybe it you advertise youre gonna do that, other owners will pay you because theirs will be worth more. $.02
Didn't one of the German makes produce a small hemi looking engine? That would look good in there. I love these Y models but only full fendered. I think it would look rather dumb without the fenders, but thats just my opinion.
nice but find out what the regs are before you start and remember the amount of wood in it even the doors screw into wood and sag you will probably have to steel it out do it once do it right or turn it to worthless trash.
you wont need to worry about an MOT, but i do hope you're responsible http://www.dft.gov.uk/news/press-releases/dft-press-20120521a
Not sure what engine you mean, but a Daimler 2,5 litre V-8 Hemi from the 60's would also be nice under the hood, i'm sorry under the bonnet
Deffo a V8-60 (BTW contrary to an earlier poster these were NOT in Ford Pilots- they had the 21stud flatty) Hopped up V8-60 only way to go!
I've got a '37 long rad one of these and the plan has always been to put a V8-60 in it. A full-size banger is way too big and a 21/24-stud flatty is huge. The V8-60 should fit - just - but will require relocation of the steering shaft (or ingenious usage of u-joints). I've also considered using a Jeep Go-Devil 134 engine - about 60hp right out of the box and they're pretty small as well. An 1172 100E engine can be fitted without too much trouble - roughly doubling the stock HP (which isn't much). Transmission & oil pan surgery is required, but it's relatively straight-forward. You've only got about 24" from firewall to radiator to work with and about 28" at the wide end of the firewall width wise. Not a great deal of room. The body is riveted to the frame, so removing it for drastic surgery and rework is a chore. On the long-rad version, at least, there is room to move the radiator forward in the grille shell about 2.5-3 inches. You could use a later pop axle and wishbone, the kind that has the spring in front of the axle and relocate the front crossmember about 4 inches forward to gain valuable clearance there. Additionally, you can piece together axles from pop and 100E to gain open drive & more favorable gearing (3.54 vs 5.44) while keeping it narrow enough and there was also a manual overdrive conversion for the 100E 3-spd if you go that route. Get in touch with Nervous Bob over there - he'll have dozens of ideas for you - and a lot of the parts as well!!!
It's your car to do what you want to, but once you start cutting into it, there's no going back. Your car looks as solid as an original came come. So there's no need chop into it, just desire. Use your head and not your heart in this decision. If you know that this is "The Car" you've always wanted then go full steam ahead. If it's not, add value to it and trade to your advantage. Paint can be resprayed, fenders can be bolted back on.....I'm a fan of fenderless tall boys so I'd go that route myself. Whatever you choose to do, that's one nice little car you have. Enjoy.
Was gonna say - where in Suffolk are you? Nervous is your man. Everything and more and Thurston way. Bob used to have a chopped & channeled Y with a tuned 100E engine in it. Didn't fit it though and had to sell it...
Haha, I'm loving all these ideas, I'm really unsure whether to chop it, I really want too bit the roofs don't even sit that high on the Y so I would be doing just because I can!! Haha I may eventually do it, but for now I think imma just make her fenderless and stock ride height then maybe I'll chop it in the future. I definitely want a flathead in her eventually but might just tweak the stock motor abit now until I've collected all the parts I'll need and figured out how haha, I'm thinking of putting a long rad grill and bonnet on her as I prefer the look, but I'm growing to love mine now haha its different as its rare. Also I got her running today! Fitted a new fuel pump and she fired straight up after I spent hours cleaning the crap outta the tank not bad considering she was last on the road in 89 haha has no smoke, no rattles or knocks.