Im just getting started to tear apart a 40' standard coupe and looking for a company that can supply floors, rockers and quarter patch panels. EMS looks good, Dennis C has a trunk pan as a single piece, as well as rockers, United pacific web site sucks, do I need to email them?? is there a go to place or does everyone piece meal parts depending on what they need? there will be a Tremec T5 going in if that matters for the trans hump. thanks for the input everyone!
I put EMS panels all the way around on my '40 and have used them for a bunch of other cars and I have been super happy with them. Don't forget to post pics of your '40 and thanks for supporting the Alliance. -Abone.
Sounds like we're repairing the same sections of the same car! I used United Pacific floors, firewall, and under decklid panel on my '40: https://clampdowncomp.com/projects/1940-ford-floor-repair/ https://clampdowncomp.com/tech/replacing-an-under-decklid-panel-on-a-1940-ford-coupe/ No complaints, very nice stuff! Will be using the same for the rear quarters.
Perhaps EMS has changed their dies from back in 2001. My friends replaced the tail pan & the lower fit was beautiful. Unfortunately, in order for that area to be right the gap at the top was excessive. So much that the rain water could not be contained by the new trunk seal.
I bought EMS panels for my 40 coupe , the fit was so poor i didn,t use any of their panels , return fees were so high i sold them at a swap meet . Recommend Carpenter , Drake , or United Pacific . I,ve been doing metal repairs for 30 years .
I used Drake and would use Carpenter. I used a piece of an EMS tail pan and had to do a lot of rework. I don't have any experience with United Pacific.
I think the firewall came from Carpenter actually. The story is muddied, but the gist is that, aside from EMS, the aftermarket sheetmetal for the '40 coupe can trace its origins to the complete body that was being offered (still?) a few years back. One company offered the complete body while another the repair panels. Fast forward a couple years and that's where the story gets cloudy. LOL Bottom line, the sheetmetal you'll find from Carpenter, Drake, United Pacific, etc should all be very similar and I've found it to be very nice. I've also found that you need to hunt around for certain pieces as some companies don't offer what others do. And yes, that car was rough! Winters in Wisconsin can apparently be pretty brutal, but that's what you get when you purchase a car sight unseen on eBay!
So I called DC today and they are phasing out all that good 40 coupe stuff!! maybe all the money is in Broncos now.... The guy said buy it now because who knows. Maybe he is a really good salesman.. . And yes PotvinV8 that firewall was from there, you probably got the last one.
From memory Drake did the heavy lifting to bring a complete 40 coupe body to the market. Turns out there wasn’t enough of a market so sold off and DC took it over and was getting the bodies assembled in Florida I think, plus selling loose panels. Still, not enough of a market. They stopped the complete bodies and continued to sell loose panels (which they no doubt supplied to other resellers.) It seems there is still not enough of a market to justify the expense of any more production runs of even panels. Of course none of these companies operate as a charity and things cost what they cost to bring the market, but when push comes to shove, the retail price was just too much for most people. When dreams meet reality, dollars have the final say. So, if you can , buy what you can. Or practice rescuing shit. (My method)
Yup, there were promises made to the manufacturer that didn't pan out, so they started shopping the parts around and here we are...
Yep, 40 stuff is getting hard to find, grab everything you can now. Items that were around 7 years ago when I started mine are now not made any more. MAC's is gone, Cartouche and Lebaron Bonney gone, old man Carpenter is gone and his kids are moving onto mustangs and broncos, Drake has very little 40 stuff in stock at all, EMS owner threatened to retire in another recent post when people complained about the fit of his panels. Its like the 1970's again you have to use refurbished original parts except they are not lying around lightly used as they were 50 years ago. Happy hunting.
People complain about the costs of new parts then complain when the companies quit making them....It costs a lot to tool up to make these parts and you have to sell a lot to recoup the investment...To sell a repo body gets into title issues to....
------------------------------------------------------------------ Click here ! to expand When looked it like 40 Fords were going to become available as a new car, I got a warm happy feeling. A year later things did not pan out, I thought it to be strangely odd.
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