Bob Drake Cancels 1940 Ford Coupe Project

oh hey!!! i'm waitin on a quarter panel and inner rockers over here..

 

It's going ahead as planned. The car is in the paint booth right now.

 

Hey man!!.....Did you know your steering wheel and pedals are on the wrong side of the car.......LOL

As far as the bob drake repo 40 coupe, The project never really made any sense to me, As there are still plenty of good late 38-40 ford coupes that can be bought real reasonable. A project like this is not cheap by any means, And if it were me, And I was going to take on a project like this, I would invest my money in the 37-41 willys coupe body, As they are rare and Very pricy, And highly sought after.

 

I hope that nobody put down a deposit on any of them.

 

Cool! I thought SAR only did the roadsters. I need to check that out.

I guess I know where my end of year bonus will be going!

 

Thats a shame...I wonder if he was looking to the future with this one? Predicting an evolving market. Its not that hard to find a decent model A body, but brookville still sells them like hot cakes. Guys that have cash and aren't into the nostalgia as much like the idea of new / perfect. Whip out credit card, paint, mount to new chassis, done. It seems like it could have been a sucess with the more money than tallent crowd.

 

you're putting it together backwards!!!

 

It's bad for the whole hobby when any hot rod company has such a set back. It was a pretty ambitious undertaking though. Good luck on his next endeavor.

 

I spoke with the Drake Company parts people a few weeks ago. I wanted to order the trunk floor system for my coupe. I was told they would not have any until May sometime. I did get the tail pan piece and it was very nice, and came right away. It was pricey no doubt, but I considered how many thay may sell compared to the cost of production and was O K with the cost. The person I spoke with told me these parts are stamped overseas. I was truly disapointed to hear this. I wonder if they will still offer these items or not?

 

Here is a spy photo of the first one (and only) that we got from Drake.

BUT, of course this is AFTER we chopped it, and relocated the back window.
Yes, its chopped.... 1 1/4 inches.

This is the Street Rodder Road Tour car, ther will be a series of articles on the build and chop.

 

Looks good Troy! I like when people do subtle chops on those cars.

 

That is a lovely, subtle chop.



It's repop, and 'glass, but Rodz North make a '40 coupe.

Link;
http://www.rodznorth.com.au/products.html

 

Yes.

 

This can not be true ! Jerry Dixey is using a Bob Drake 40 Coupe as his Tour car this year for Street Rodder Magazine , 8 Tours across the USA.
I have met Bob Drake and Staff on a few occasions and they have been awesome People to deal with.
A few Years ago when we came down South we were late getting into Grants Pass but Mike Birmingham still let us in and gave us a 2 hour tour. How is that for Customer Service.
Drake parts are ALWAYS correct size.
How can we confirm this sad news ?? Model Eh aka Jalopy Driver

 

It's true alright. Saw Dennis Carpenter today. They have brochures out already. Carpenter will be the exclusive seller of fenders and some other parts, but not exclusive dealer of bodies. Their bodies will be assembled in Florida...no doubt others will buy the pieces and put them together too.

There are no rear fenders available yet, and they have not even started on any hoods yet. Standard and deluxe will both be available eventually.

 

This was all funded by an investment group in Taiwan, and when they were left holding the bag, they contacted Dennis Carpenter.

 

anymore update on this..cos seriously...I'm waitin on a quarter panel for a client.

 

bump

 

You need to call Dennis Carpenter. I'm pretty sure they are the only one's with any parts at this time. Don't know about quarter panels specifically.

 

you don't think bob drake kept some parts to fill orders that were made before it all went south? i sure want more info on this.

 

Kinda agree with you there - always seemed pretty arrogant to me.

 

The facts:

Bob Drake is no longer involved in/going to offer the 1940 sheetmetal. That entire project has been taken over by Dennis Carpenter and will be a Carpenter exclusive.

Real Deal Steel, LLC (my company along with my partner Randy) will be building the 1940 coupe bodies in our plant (assembled from overseas components) in Sanford, FL by June/July and will offer them wholesale only to dealers like Dennis Carpenter who will offer them to dealers and customers. Not sure of final pricing yet, TBD. Hope to have #1 assembled and on display at SRN.

The politics:

A big long story that really does not matter. We'll all have new '40 sheetmetal and bodies; just from different suppliers. Bodies will be US assembled instead of overseas assembled.

Real Deal Steel, LLC currently builds 55-57 Chevy new steel bodies and offers parts. Take a look: http://www.realdealsteel.com/

Feel free to send me an email to comment or ask questions. I will tell you what I know. joew@realdealsteel.com

See ya'll! Joe W.

 

Well, there you go.

 

Interesting.

 

In a story/article in the latest edition of Street Rodder it says that the tour car was the first (and maybe only) body that was assembled at Drakes.

Stuff happens and stuff changes all the time and at least it looks like we will be able to get the 40 Coupe bodies out of Florida now. That means that outside of not having the money to do it I am running out of excuses for not building my wife the 40 she has wanted for the past 39 years.

 

My experience.........being waited on by him at his vendor booth at shows....I found him to be very helpful and polite. Watching him help others while waiting my turn, it was my observation that he couldn't have been more professional.

Having been in business myself for many years, dealing with thousands of people, I tend to think I have some basis for forming an opinion.


Funny thing about our impression of others.......psychologists call it "Projection".......we project on (attribute to) others our own attitudes and judge them accordingly......and usually don't even realize we are doing it.

Ray

 

Exactly what I found to be true when I picked up my last order at Hershey

 

I’d like to put the story straight. I’m sure a number of you have heard rumors and stories about this project, but here’s the conclusion:

<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:

We invested a great amount of time and money on this project. We supplied original car bodies, numerous parts and technical support. We put together a tremendous marketing plan and did everything we could to deliver.<o></o>

Our partner in this venture didn’t feel that we were selling an adequate amount of parts and then they lost hope in our potential to sell complete bodies. We could not agree on who would be responsible for the final assembly of the body. So, this company decided they would not continue our relationship and is no longer producing parts/bodies for us.<o></o>

I’m very disappointed that my dream of building a complete 1940 coupe body will not come true, not only for myself but for the whole Drake team. They all have done a wonderful job on the ‘40 project.<o></o>

I apologize to our many customers and potential customers that had hopes of owning a Drake ‘40 coupe and I want to thank the many customers that helped support us during this project by buying and installing ‘40 coupe sheet metal parts.<o></o>

We’ll still continue with all the other ’40 parts that we’re so well known for and the Drake team looks to the future on the horizon, as there are so many more things still to be done. Trust that our team will give you the very best service and quality out there.<o></o>

Thanks again for your support.<o></o>
Bob and the crew<o></o>

 

good rear fenders are NOT difficult to find.. PERFECT rear fenders... ARE..

bob.. having met you and done business with you I am certain that your feelings are genuine..

thank you for the efforts you make to keep these early fords alive..

 

Thanks for what had to be a painful post Bob. Now we know "the rest of the story".