Hello all, I figured I should introduce myself after lurking here for so long. I'm a classic vehicle broker based in Oakland, CA. This forum has been an invaluable resource for me over the years and I just wanted to say thanks for all the help and knowledge. I picked up what purports to be a 1947 Super Deluxe Convertible from a nice guy in the South Bay. He hadn't the car for very long and really didn't know much about it. I wanted to verify that the car left the factory as a convertible so I decoded the VIN (799A15XXXX) and it all checked out. I then searched for the visible location on the frame and found 1789451 - which bears no relation to the VIN tag, which is a reissue and does match the CA title. At this point, I'm a little lost as to what I have. The car does have a Mustang 2 front end so I suppose part of the subframe might have been changed out. My question is, what physical signs might there be that I'm dealing with a chopped coupe? I simply don't have enough hands-on experience with these cars to know. Muscle cars and exotics I know very well. It's really important that I represent the car properly as I'm not in the business of shipping bogus vehicles to remote buyers - and 90% of what I sell does head off to the East Coast or some international destination. I don't think anything cynical happened during the build of this car, it's history is lost and I'm trying to piece it back together. It was built to keep by the builder - something I put together from various clues such as the engine choice, etc, but he's sadly passed on. Here's a few pictures of the car for reference. Scratch that, DropBox is down. I'll upload them in a bit. Thanks in advance for any help.
To make one from a coupe, and have it look genuine, you'd need major pieces from a conv. The windshield framing, doors, the metal all around the back of the top, and the folding top ass'y. Post some pics of those areas, for the board to tell you their opinions
As modified as this car is, I wouldn't worry about it. It looks like a 'vert and if it functions like one, that's what it is. This likely isn't going to sell to anyone who would be concerned about it's 'genuineness'.... Nice looking car, too bad about the V6 motor; that won't help with value.
All the right parts for the convert. Look under the hood at the bottom of the fire wall. There should be some feet ( brackets extending from the fire wall for frame mounts. Coupes do not have them, Vin number is stamped on the left frame rail near the radiator mount.
The cowl to frame brackets are the key although some converts may have had them removed. Your car is totally modified so I would advertise it as a custom convertible. Here are some photos of a real convert. Note the firewall and rear trunk supports have been welded. Those are stock on a convertible from the factory. It is difficult to make a coupe look like a convertible without lots of work. Yours looks like a convertible. The VIN on these cars do not indicate body style. The VIN is located on the driver's side by the front x-member and maybe partially covered by the MII crossmember hats. The cast brackets are behind the front firewall feet and can be seen by looking under the car. The rear trunk braces are welded as shown in this photo. This is stock as the floors were from a sedan and there will be patch welded over the spare tire hole.
1,500,000 and 1,700,000 type numbers are both in 1947 range...but of course would indicate a frame swap, so it is a different car than titled number. Presumably original complete serial on trans is long gone. It had the 799A prefix parts, which just indicate 1947 239 Ford passenger car. Ain't no mo info there, it is just a pure serial/sequence number. Note Ford style numbers: 1 is I, 6 and 9 have straight vertcals.
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