Projects Brought my '49 Business coupe home! **Update**

So here it is...my 1949 Business Coupe that I bought off of J. Beale from Beale Kustoms. Local history with me being the third owner. This was the first '49 in Canada and ended up in a local Ford showroom. Original colour was green and it was pretty basic option-wise.
Here's what it's got:
- 5" Channel with C notch at the rear
- Original Flathead V8
- Custom headers with lake pipes
- Full custom interior (custom seats, carpet, headliner, door panels)
- All new metal floors from firewall to trunk pan
- New metal front and rear fenders and rockers. New skirts.
- Custom front end with '56 Chevy grille
- All original glass
- Custom radiator
- Coker tires on original 16" wheels.

So I've got a great car to start out with I think. It runs great and drives pretty decently. The headers and Lakes make the damn thing so loud that I have a feeling I'll be getting a ticket soon. Don't get me wrong, I love it! Here's what it needs:

- Carb leaks when you turn the car off. I need to rebuild it.
- The speedometer , fuel gauge and gauge lights don't work
- The heater motor spins but barely works
- The keys don't operate any locks. (needs new locks maybe?)
- Steering wheel isn't straight.
- Interior lights don't work.
- Doors need aligning.
- Needs paint (got that part sorted out)

That's about it for now. So I may be asking a few of you how to fix stuff from time to time so please be patient with me. I am super excited to finally own a car that I have been in love with since I was a kid. I intend on keeping it traditional so no joining the 'dark side' so to speak. thank in advance for all of your help!

Some pictures of the build:

 

Lots of work went into that Coupe. Very cool. What is your color choice?

 

I'm liking it. I take it you plan on getting rid of the leaf springs so you can bag it toi use that C notch and deepened driveshaft tunnel?

 

All in all I call it one of the nicest shoe boxes I've seen on here. You'll iron out the few problems.

 

Cool

 

Nice looking coupe. That trans/driveshaft tunnel is nuts ! Might be banging your elbow on that sucker. Car will be cool when finished.

 

Dark Cherry in satin. Colour may change by next year.

At first I was all over bagging it because it rode so low. I would love to be able to raise it over bumps and can it to the ground if I needed to. Now since bringing the car home it sits perfectly! Fits over my weird driveway 'bump', most speed bumps and dips and uneven pavement. Plus, I do think airbags take away from the traditional nostalgic look and feel of the car.

No, not banging my elbow at all! Yes, it looks huge but really its just a nice, big armrest. I'm really digging it.

 

Here's a brief walkaround I did last night.

 

Looks good, sounds good. Could use a bit more idle though , or it sounds like it at least.

 

I realized that I put the choke back in a little soon so it may have been labouring a bit at idle. Once its warm though, she runs quite nicely.

 

Man, thats a nice one. Congrats on getting the car you always wanted

 

Sweet. Looks like a black interior, on your paint colour thread it looked blue (or maybe I'm just getting dumber in my old age). Go for the oxblood, dark cherry, it's going to look killer.

 

Haha...thanks A! Yeah it looked blue because of the lighting. It's 100% black and looks great IMO. That with the black wheels with dark red....Mmmmm...delicious!

Thanks michael knight!

 

car looks great! Love the interior

 

Nice!

 

Here's an update! I went to look at my car today which was 'painted' this week by a friend of mine. he also did a little bit of door aligning, body work, blocking and a few other small repairs to get my project going.

Now, to clarify, this 'paint job' is 100% temporary as I will be looking at possibly chopping, shaving and doing some other body modifications before I get it properly painted. Timeline will be about 1-2 years or so. Until then I want to drive the car and enjoy it as much as possible before I do anything else to it. I am open to suggestions as well!

The colour is dark cherry in satin with some light silver pearl in it. Yes, it looks brown but I an assure you that it is a dark red...maybe even a wine colour. The lighting is crappy and my camera quality is not so great. Without further ado....here is my business coupe!

 

If you really want to be "traditional"....remove the door handles and deck it..!

 

That looks sweet, I'm liking that colour choice. Spray dip, I assume? It will be interesting to see how this ages.

 

Love it man! What product did he use? I am looking to get the same look in a dark green.

 

Looks great. I'm also curious what it was painted with for your temporary squirt. In thinking about doing the same thing till I'm done with mods.

 

Thanks for the compliments guys!
My guy used plastidip in dark cherry with pearl. It's just called 'dark cherry'. I got it in satin because we'll, it looks badass and gloss plastidip looks like shitballs. My old car was dipped and lasted two years which was great. You can always redo or touch up when needed.

 

I do like that car. The stance is perfect and you ought to have a ball driving it once you get a few things ironed out and laugh at the guys who comment on how rough it must ride sitting that low.

The satin paint reminds me of my 51 Merc when I first got it in high school with the metallic emerald green lacquer paint job that went from shiny to "satin" in about two weeks if you didn't stay after it with the polish and wax.

 

The suspension is stock Mr48chev! It actually rides quite nicely but the lake pipes do prevent me from going over larger bumps and driveways. It is lowered body on frame.

 

I was thinking of plasti-dip/elasti-wrap , but I'm a bit concerned about spraying it over primer and never being to be able to remove it. That would suck.

 

Nice car!!! Like the way it sits. Keep us in the loop as you go.

 

Spraying on primer is no problem especially if it has been sanded beforehand (I did a 320 grit once over).

Here it is in the sun.

 

Very nice.

 

Car looks great.

I used plastidip on an off topic car hood once.

Removing it was the worst pain in the ass I've ever had lol.

 

Jealous! I'm just starting on mine with the tear down. I'm a long ways away, but know I want a dark maroon/burgundy look as well. Love the stance!