Projects Bought a 51 Ford on Purpose

Geez, everybody is spending your money Jeff Dan

 

Well, my wife already helped me spend some money a couple days ago when I ended up with a 37 Chevy 2 door sedan that I am not sure what I am going to do with yet... Oh, and for anyone that has been following along with the Model A saga, seems that may have fallen through after a couple weeks of waiting... I figure it just wasn't meant to be and that I needed to be focusing on junk in front of me instead of chasing more squirrels...

 

Awe man I was hoping to get a Phaeton out of the deal, had me a spot all picked out and everything
But a 37 Chevy is a heck of a find no matter what it looks like!! And the wife made you do it that’s gotta count for something

 

Well, I haven’t completely given up on the A’s, but the situation seems bleak at this point. I was sent a video of a 32-34 pickup on a trailer on the interstate last night that came from that place that has been sold again by the investors. So, who knows…

 

Man I was hoping to build something like this next,
Outta that junk!

 

Drove the car to work 4 out of 5 days this week and then took my grandson to get lunch today. Trying to teach him what to call it so he can impress his friends that think supercars are cool. Pretty sure he has it down now.

 

All it takes is one ride!!!

 

Cool!
So what does he call it?

 

Man this thread has got me so excited for this salt to be off the roads. I’ve been trouble shooting for the last year or so and your photos have just got me ampt to be back driving old cars.

 

Training him to just call it a 51 Ford.

 

I’ve never understood why they call them shoe boxes.

 

Look at all the cars that were built up to the late 40’s and they all had big fenders and all. Then comes a slab sided car from Ford and it looked like a shoebox.

 

Also, after driving this car daily for a while, I’m starting to consider an O/D transmission. The speed limit between home and work is 75 which means most drive 80. I can only go between 65 and 70 before it starts to heat up some and I feel like I am pushing it too hard. Anyway, some folks run right up on you like they don’t even see you (likely on their stupid phone)…. I definitely feel like the old guy putting down the highway and rarely p*** anyone unless it is an old guy that is just driving too slow.

 

Are your front shocks bad or is it just the roads down there?

 

Jeff, do you have any idea what your RPM is at that speed? I'm tying to figure out a good cruising RPM with the 40. I know the Columbia makes a hell of a difference. POCO was trying to sell a Ford overdrive 3 speed ****** I know. Dan

 

Hmm…good question. I think I may have put new shocks on but honestly can’t remember now.

I was considering a tach as well since I am also curious on RPM. And, Don contacted me on the transmission. I happen to be in Tulsa this weekend but couldn’t haul it in my wife’s mini cooper if I wanted to…

 

An overdrive wired like Ford originally did is a joy to drive. Had one in my 54 Mercury and another in my 58 Impala. The addition of the overrunning clutch in the OD unit makes the transmission shift smooth as ****er. In fact, below OD cut in speed, you can shift without using the clutch.

 

An overdrive in these is a real benefit. I had one in my high school '51 and really liked it. My current car doesn't have it, and I keep finding myself trying to "grab" another gear on the highway. The first car had 4.11 gears (standard for OD) and this one has 3.55's. I've got the hopped up Merc in this one and fully expect it to pull those gears in OD. If it doesn't, I have a 4.11 chunk in my Tub so I can pull that while I'm looking for another one.

Have you given any thought on a gear change when you get the OD?

 

I have overdrive in all of my shoeboxes and never used them. I need to figure out how they work so I can use the one in my Tudor since I’m leaving the flattie in the rascal. When my dad put the OD in the Tudor he kept the 3:55 in it and it worked great with the OD.

 

Way back when I 1st had my '51 coupe I ran a '54 Ford 3.55 pumpkin and axles with overdrive. When I found the car 32 years later it didn't have OD and had a noisy 3.78. I bought a 4 dr to switch out the fresh engine and OD and will rob the 4.11 also. The engine is temporarily in my '32 4dr sedan. Building a different flatty for the '32 so I can do the swap in the '51 coupe.

Dave

 

Ok, so planning on getting the O/D transmission from Don (poco). I think I will just try that and then debate whether I like the rearend gears or not. Also, I was driving around town last night and tripped across a 37 Buick just parked on the side of the road so seemed like a photo opportunity. Made my car look small.

 

Great shot! I always felt those old Buicks were great land yachts Dan

 

Good Lord you live in a time warp….. think you have some room for me to move over there with you

 

Come on over Billy! After I took that pic, I went to see a buddy in town that lives in the same time warp. He has a 49 Ford sedan, a 36 Tudor, a 32 roadster, a couple early Chevy II's, some old Harley's including a 37 that I painted for his dad about 30 years ago, etc. He inherited the old cars and the 37 Harley from his dad that I was friends with, but he also gets the old car and bike deal. There is always someone to go hang out with that is into this old junk in town even when I don't feel like working on my stuff like I should have been doing.

 

It would be a buggar and a half to move all of my stuff but I would be closer to family in OKC, and be in the heart of car culture

 

I put a 3.22 chuck out of a '56 in mine (swapped the axle shafts too) it made a huge difference on the highway - of course, I also had a 195hp 283 in it to make up for any loss of acceleration

 

If I could go back mine would have the s10 five speed trans. It has the s10 automatic in it, but cruises nice at highway speeds, dog out of the hole.

 

Well, appears my daily driving may be on hold a few days now. Got home from church yesterday morning and saw antifreeze running out from under the car and appears my radiator has sprung a leak. Hoping my buddy that has a radiator shop down in OKC is still in business after getting beat up a few months back over someone trying to take their radiator that they apparently didn't want to pay for. He is in his 70's and I can't believe someone did that to him. Anyway, that is a long story in itself. I guess this gives me the excuse I need to finally replace all the hoses and thermostats that I bought not long after getting the car. Oh, and I also need to pull the heater core and get it fixed as well since it drips every now and then too. Hopefully I am not down too long, but I needed to do some of this a while back anyway.

 

Awe that stinks, but at least you can get it repaired. And you do need to replace all the hoses and t-stats just because don’t want to be sitting on the side of the road in the rain trying to fix it.
Every car I have bought (including a couple of new ones) I’ve had to have the radiator replaced or fixed one so I always figured that into the price of the car. I have the worst luck with them for some reason

Shame you’re not closer because I have a couple of NOS radiators in the shed along with a Walker re-core. Lucky for me Walker was a local shop and my dad and I always had Vernon fix them for us so all my old cars have a radiator from him.