After reading the thread on roadster mirrors I thought I would ask about 40 Fords. I have a 40 convert and it has a BAD blind spot on the right side. It has the cowl mount mirror on the LH side which looks and works fine. Drakes offers the same mirror for the RH side for 90.00 plus shipping. I hate to spend that kind of money and then can't see shit. What are you guys with 40's using? Any recommendations? Thanks in advance for the help. Dan
Don't waste your money on the PS cowl mirror. Have someone hold a 4" disc in the location it would be and sit in the drivers seat and you won't be able to see the disc.
I used aftermarket door mounted mirrors, but I still couldn't see anything out of the passenger side. I put a convex stick on mirror on top of it and that helps quite a bit.
I installed the Drake cowl mirrors on my coupe during early mock-up, but realized the right side was useless. Finally decided on using the Drake swan mirrors after seeing these on several cars. I did add small round convex to aid backing and ground level sight, but am very satisfied with the results. IF you decide on mirrors that require drilling the door, Have someone first hold the right mirror against the door while you sit in the car to find the best location. Generally on a '40, this will be about centered between the wing vent and side trim, and back from the door edge until the mirror can be seen clearly through the vent.
My 41 PU has Hagan mirrors that I mounted like peep mirrors from the top of the doors. They have 3 1/2" convex mirror glass and I am impressed by the view I get. I also installed Hagans interior fatty mirror. The right side mirror is so impressive I just ordered another pair for my roadster.
A pair of motorcycle mirrors @ 25.00 modified with a keyed backing plate and clever mount plate by my brother for my coupe. Work well, just another idea.
Yeah, the cowl-mount mirrors aren't the best and would be my last choice. My avatar had a pair when I got it. The drivers side was 'usable' but because it's so far forward your field of view is narrow. The passenger side is worthless; if I leaned forward and sat up real straight, I could see about the top 1/2" of the mirror. I went with the 4" swan necks. The Drake mirrors are overly expensive IMO, I got mine off ebay for $40 for the pair, prices have gone up but you can still find them for around $50 a pair. These are identical to the Drake mirrors. Yes, you'll have to drill a couple of holes in each door and pull the window trim/door panel off to install, but if you want to see these will work very well. They have been on my car for 8 years or so, look good and have held up well. Worst part of the project was finding the correct cowl trim to replace the mirrors for my '47 (not the same as the reproduced '48 trim). REALLY don't want to drill the doors? Having a '40, you do have another choice; hinge-mount mirrors. Speedway has them for $40 each (will fit both sides) but the downside is you have to drive out the existing hinge pins which can prove to be real PITA on some cars. These are semi-duplicates of the optional OEM mirrors. Speedway Ford Car/Truck Door Hinge Pin Outside Rear View Mirror (speedwaymotors.com) I looked at the 'clip on' style mirrors Bandit Billy used, but my door gaps were too tight to fit them...
I have had a great luck with the Drake hinge pin mirrors, I had the cowl mount ones and as others have said, the Right side is useless.you can see in this pick how far up the Pass side is so you can still see it.
Here’s a few pic’s of mine Dan, no problem seeing from driving position. These are Drakes but there’s similar out there. PM me if you’d like more photos.
Hello, As we were still young enough to enjoy riding around in an old hot rod, we began to get used to the “old car” ways. Thinking that if a part needs replacing, it would be the lowest cost. But, for the long run, at the time, N.O.S. was the thing that most aspired to in their cruisers. Lucky for us, one of the best places for N.O.S. parts was located several blocks from our old Westside of Long Beach house. My brother had gotten married and he lived in Huntington Beach, then Santa Barbara. We moved out, but saw the old car parts business, Ford Parts Obsolete was still going strong at the time. So, every time we arrived for a visit to my parents, we drove by the old car parts store. When we stopped, it was a place as big as a grocery store. (an old grocery store had closed and FPO had converted the store for their business. Even with an old car sitting on top of the sign.) Finally, we came to the decision that hunting for a cheap replacement part, a mirror, a hood lever, side trim was not a thing to do at an all day swap meet. Here they were, sitting a few blocks away from my old house. So, we got used to stopping there every time we rolled into the Westside of Long Beach. We both enjoyed driving the 327 powered 40 Ford Sedan Delivery. It rode fine after spending a few months repairing, replacing and aligning the whole front end, including shaving the tires. It got to be such a reliable driver that my wife took it out for a short run to a friend’s house or a drive to the store. It certainly was better than driving in a 62 Corvair. Ha! The rear views in old hot rod has always been a sore point for my wife and me. When we were 20-30 somethings, we had small outside mirrors on this 327 powered 40 Ford Sedan Delivery. They did what they were supposed to do for our hot rod driving at the time. But, over time, the right side mirror played a major part, due to the total blind spot on the right rear solid panel of the sedan delivery. We just shrugged it off and because we had used the outside rear view mirror plenty of times, it worked out ok. It was a panel van of sorts and those that had real factory production vans converted to surf trip vehicles had the ultimate outside rear view mirrors. Tall and wide enough to see the whole world back there on the blind right rear side of the vans. We were stuck with little round mirrors. Those were great, but not for an old hot rod sedan delivery. The sedan delivery had its own mindset. It allowed us to enjoy driving aspect of hot rods. When we arrived at family functions or a gathering of our own friends, the sedan delivery stood out from all of the other “family cars.” We had our own car show everywhere we went. All was good… then more night time driving in the sedan delivery started to cause some problems for us. Our vision was still good, no glasses necessary and we were having fun cruising all over So Cal coastal and inland areas. Some little things in viewing traffic and movement on that right rear outside panel crept up now and then. At the time, we just shrugged it off. 1-2 second time exposure shot... The front view in the sedan delivery at night was great. Comfortable, quiet and safe. Coming home from a late photo shoot about 40 miles from our small apartment… near a popular drive-in theater location close to Bixby Knolls. Less traffic, but noticeable when not able to see outside the right side blank wall panel side, while driving and using, other than the dinky round mirror. So, now, a couple of harrowing incidents with the blind spots on the outside panel scared us to a point of no night driving. We liked the view out of our windows, but at night, the right rear blind spot increased for us, despite being the same as during the daylight times. Then, the constant daylight driving with the sedan delivery was beginning to be a problem with coastal highway driving to/from the beach locations and photo shoots elsewhere. Sight is/was everything for enjoyment, and this small outside mirror was trying to overcome the total right rear panel, blind spot and not allowing us to have a clear, safe vision. Jnaki So, we tried to look for a larger mirror. Our neighbor gave us a ride in his larger van and he had the ultimate large rear outside mirror that left no blind spots. Even, my brother’s VW window van had more visibility than our sedan delivery. So, we were stuck between a small mirror that was hot rod appropriate and one that gave us the whole world out back. We kept the small mirror. For your convertible, the top down is one of the all around views we all like. But, with the convertible top up, now it is hindering the sight line and greenhouse views as you are driving. My wife took these photos on a home tour before the pandemic started in 2020. She wanted a new direction in our daily drivers and this convertible just hit the spot. Luckily, it was outstanding, but not for sale. The blind spot in the “top up” convertible is almost as bad as our old sedan delivery. We thought the small rear convertible top window was nice, but it was almost as small or smaller than our sedan delivery rear window. That would have been the first modification for us, if we had bought it. The outside mirrors were similar to our hinge mount versions and they fit the style of the old hot rod. Note: Being So Cal residents since 1946 for me and 1950 off and on until permanent residents in 1956 from OKC, for my wife, we have seen plenty of mirrors. But, the hot rod look, style and functions were the appropriate parts to have. So, there is that direction for most. Besides, as young 20-30 somethings, isn’t a convertible for top down cruising in sunny, mild climate So Cal coastal areas year around, anyway? YRMV
The Jalopy Journal
