I am a lucky fella. I am now the proud owner of Ryan's Jalopy Journal 1938 Ford. I have been considering this thread for a bit, and I guess here it goes. I am not a great writer, so please bear with my story and progress on this car. I have been an enthusiast of cars all of my life. Before I was born, my Uncle Dan, pitp***65, sold my father a 38 coupe, I can remember playing in this car from my earliest memories, it is long gone and I always wanted another one. About five years ago, I acquired one that was quickly sold due to being a giant rusty shell. I also finished after a 20 year restoration, my 1956 F100, nailhead powered truck that I have driven all over the country, that is another long wanted vehicle. Again Uncle Dan took me to the Hershey swap in 1983 in his Bigwindow F100. The fire was lit. In the last year or so I decided that before it's too late in life to build and enjoy I needed a coupe. The 34 Ford is my favorite, followed closely by a 36 three window and the 38. I had been on the lookout for my next project. I was surfing around on the web at work on break one day, and saw Ryan's car for sale. I remember reading about this car, and saved a lot of the pictures and details of his parts and progress. My wife and I headed out to dinner that evening, and I told her about the car. She said I'm tired of hearing about cars, then they sell, you better message him right now. We were headed to Austin from Ohio about a week later to get the car.
I really love the patina and look of the car the way it is. Updates will include drivetrain, suspension fine tuning, brakes and Interior. The outside will remain basically how it looked before. It will include steel wheels, black walls and Mercury hubcaps. I am starting on the interior at the moment and starting buying parts before I arrived home with the car. I know these changes may not be what everyone likes but here we go. At the moment I'm working on the dash and Gauges. Ryan included some unbelievable Stewart Warner gauges , and the absolutely will be with the car. I have purchased an original 38 dash and it is going back closer to the original look. I have thankfully owned a machine shop most of my life and have all fabrication resources available. I am at the moment modeling and machining adapters and surrounds for the dash. They will look more like plated castings than plain old polished billet so please no worries. The TKO trans will remain and I have make a shifter handle from a parts 35 Ford I have around. The steering column will be changed a bit to the 35 column and a original 38 column drop. I have purchased a banjo wheel and will utilize a 35 dash ash tray for the horn ****on that will be plated. I have some of this mocked up and here is a couple pictures. Transmission tunnel and floor pan fabrication will take place once the car goes to my shop, just doing things now at home where I can stare at it and come up with my exact plans for the car. My goal is to have it on the road for next fall's Gathering the ROC in Bartlesville OK. It's going to be a push. Looking forward to going to Hershey in a few weeks and find many little things I am looking for.
Most impressive indeed! Its in the right place, in the right hands and its future is very positive and extremely interesting! You have spent your money, very well indeed! Congratulation from Dennis.
Can someone please locate and post the infamous smokey burnout video from the KC Speed and Power tour? Pretty please?
Is it still going to produce large amounts of tire smoke spilling out of the rear fenders when you get it back on the road again? I hope so.
This is already one of the iconic hot rods just because of its m***ive exposure on this site. It may always be "Ryan's 38", but I hope HAMB members will be tolerant of any changes you make to fit your own vision. You have made a good start!
The Jalopy Journal
