1940 ford convertible coupe revival?????

i just viewed your 40 build, this is where a vision becomes a reality, the workman ship is the best, and the coverage.... should have been on tv,,

we r takin the sedan to the shop in lordstown, wed. eve., john is going to mount it to the frame n comince cuttin,, the vert is alresdy wacked into pcs.


''we dont need no stinking badges''

 

I am also interested in the differences between the convt. and coupe cowl. I know the convt. uses a wider dash so thus the with inside the cowl is wider and also uses a beefer brace (square tubing )at the door post and the extra foot to bolt to the frame. Other than that is the lower half of the firewall & cowl the same?

 

the only diff. we can see in the cowl is the top section, their is a extra heavy gauge body to frame mount on the bottom bac side of the door jam,
looks like henry really didnt have a sturdy body to frame on these conv. we will more than likely add some trickery to add support to the cowl n the rear of the door jam.
so we went out to johns shop yesterday, the sedan body is bolted to the conv. frame, he then got the sissors ,n the sedan has been wacked,, he's going to use the bottoms of the sedan doors ,mated to the conv. doors,, also we found that the conv. has a differant door latch assy. than a closed car,,looks like maybe next wk ill get it bac, will post pics later


''excuse me while i whip this out''

 

ive been meaning to mention where i got the 40 sedan,... its budds auto and truck in deerfield ohio, on route 14, hes on the bay and has a webpage,,, good solid vintage cars,,some from the dakotas,, and kentucky,, a good man to deal with,, check him out


'' those kids were nearly munson'ed''

 

Anything is possible just matters how bad you want it

 

'
this is a 39 ford woodie upper cowl.. similar to the convertible except the top of the cowl on a wagon is "open" to receive the frojnt "header" of the wood roof on a woodie..



looking at the "A" pillar of the woodie cowl what you might not be able to see is that the door side of the a pillar is more "straight" than curved

this pic shows it alittle better


and you can also see where I mated the cowls together.

compare the front edge of a 40 coupe door.. and see how it fits the cowl..



now take a look at how the vent window meets the cowl on this convert.. perhaps this image shows it best.

a convert cowl from (at least) 1939 - 1949 all have this sort of feature.. where the a pillar is more "straight" than a coupe or sedan..




lastly

I am not sure about a 40, but on a 41 - 48 the doors are actually "thicker" to allow for the window mechanisms.. so you MIGHT need to repair the convertible doors rather than the sedan doors..

 

sawzall,, thanks for the info,,matter of fact the pic u gave look very simular to the way john has cut my convrt. cowl,, and he decided to use the convrt. doors and graft the sedan door bottoms on. were going out to his shop tommorrow i have several pics i want to share here


"" what exactley is a grit?""

 

Well Don..... looks like you're on your way! I'll be in Lordstown Mon, Tues and Thurs this week. If you are going out let me know and I'll meet you out there. Would love to check it out. Give me a shout!

 

Goin to try n post some pics. I previewed n the pic come up sideways?? Here goes

 

here is the rear of the convertible goin on the sedan pan the pics probably wont b in order of construction

 

This is impressive. Really like how the convertible quarters are tying in with the sedan super structure.
Congrats for proceeding with this. You're right: 'Wanted it for 20 years, gotta go ahead with it'...

 

Looks great. Keep the updates coming and the photos. I wish mine was that far along. I can't wait to see how things go on the cowl adding the upper half of the conv.

 

the car is home n we did a reverse eye on the front spring, cut out the 55 chevy rear end,, cleaning up the frame to mount the leaf spring kit havent decided on what rear end to use,,im wanting to run the 5.5 in bolt circle ford wheels, heres some more pics

 

picked up the motor tonite,, 1960 chevy 283, goin to run my 6-2s, n a 5spd

 

its coming along nicely ...

keep up the good work =)

 

forgot to mention i have an extra 40 conv. cowl w/top bows n linkage, if anyones interested,, cowls rough but i believe anything fixable,, more pics....

 

go for it don .that oughta keep u out of trouble for awhile .

 

u know trouble is my middle name,, n thanks to fellow hamber oldskoolljc for helping me understand these pics to b posted

 

Keep the photos coming. Its looking great!. Are you going to run the extra brace down the back of the front door post?

 

probably fab a support on front n rear of each door jamb, the lower front cowl had a cast support to the frame,, the sedan didnt, so for sure we will add a foot too the bottom of the cowl to the frame,n run it up the post further than stock

 

plan to install motor n trans today, not sure about the 57 chev rear end????? got a line on a granada 8.8??????? the 8.8 is 57.250 drm to drm, so i would have room for the 5.5 wheel adapters , otherwise chev on the rear n ford on the front,,also just for mock up mounting 900-15 s on the rear, n 205 on the front,'i dont have bias for the front just yet

 

Heres some rearend widths for ya. Would a 66 to 77 ford bronco rear be an option for ya if you could find one, they are only 58 and the rite lug pattern, I dont care for adapters if I can get by without em.
http://www.carnut.com/specs/rear.html

 

i dont care for the idea either[ wheel adapters] back in the sixties there were no 9in. 8in. or bronco rears that would work,, olds, pont, n chevy were the ticket, unless u went with a bango or quick change,, ill probably use the 57 chev, any other ideas,,

p.s. dont know where i could find that bronco ???????? would b nice

 

Well after looking back at the chart again I see the 57 to 72 ford pickup is only 61.25,
The 57 chev rear is 60 but with adapters at probably 1 inch thick each that would put you at 62 inches,so if that would work, the easier to find than a bronco 57 to 72 ford truck with the correct bolt pattern would also be a option.

Im not sure if the 57 chevy axle flange would be wide enough to allow for a 5.5 redrill but that might also be a option.

 

going to use the 57 chev. rear end 4 now,got some mock up pics

 

That thing is looking great!!! Good work on the body graft also!! Keep after it. Tim

 

thanx 4 the encouragement,,, heres a couple more pics,, i think im going to wack the bottom of the hurst style mount, to drop the motor another 1.5 in. that way the tail shaft will b at a better level to the r. yoke,, also im going to have to remove the trans mount someone installed 40 some yrs ago.

 

so today we got the 57 rear end installed, will have to buy some new u bolts n plates, my plan was to have the body reconstructed, motor n 5 speed installed, need to redo the trans mount yet, install new parallel leaf springs, get the stance were it should be,, most of this is well on its way, now ive got a few days left to work on the 40,, this fri, may 9th im goin into the hospital for total knee replacement on both knees,, , it sucks but i got to do it, so ill have time to plan my next move,,ill post pics when i mount the wheels n tires and roll it out in the next day or two

 

I wish you the best of luck with your knee replacements. Thanks for all the info and photos. Keep them coming. When you put the windshield/upper cowl on did you use the side all the way to the seam? Also it looks like you decided to join it at the back of the windshield instead of at the spot welds? Just curious so I know when I get to mine.
Thanks!

 

the cut was made above the spot weld john did a very good job, will need very little filler and thecut was made above the parting line so not to disturb the braces n spotweld under the dash area,,, so my surgery went ok, but not able to make it to the garage,, but the 40 is one of my incentives, for the healing process,