COE 1941 Ford COE build

That's fantastic, Eli!! The proportions of all the pieces and parts are perfect. I've thought about leaning the cab forward a bit also and have several thoughts in my head for that... #1 at the moment is widening the fenders and dropping the front using the torsion bars. Thanks for all this work. It's great...

 

Tilting the cab till the belt line was parallel with bottom of sleeper will make it . Love it . Blue

 

Rick have you considered running standard style running boards on your truck? Working on some stuff now and that thought came up.

 

yup, the long range plan is running boards from the front fenders to the rear ones that would be there on the tow truck-ish bed.

 

Here you go Rick, not quite 100% proportional but hopefully close. The bed skirt is based on a '41 pickup bed. Eli

 

That looks awesome!

 

That is absolutely incredible. Who knew my temporary solution, ****py flatbed could look that good!! Thanks very much for doing this. The blue color is spot on, the lowered front end is very nice.

 

You're quite welcome! Makes me want to build one now.

 

I think I missed something in an earlier post. Are you going to use a "tow truck" type bed? Might make it easier to use the Ford rear fenders.

 

That's right, Eli. I put the flatbed on until I can get around to building something nice like Tony and OlsSchool... Certainly not for nothing, however, cuz I had no idea the flatbed could look that good and the trim and fenders you came up with could be a nice addition to what i have now and easily convert to my tow truck bed down the road.

If I have a choice on more artwork, I'd love to see tan fenders, skirts and running boards.

 

No probs. Round two coming up.

 

WOW! Those are the colors I wanted, but I'm sure not "feeling it" like I thought I would. I think it's more the scheme that isn't doing it for me... Maybe too much tan?? At first I was thinking that reducing the tan to just the fenders and running boards might do it, but the more I look at it the more it feels like I'm trying to put a modern 2-tone paint scheme on an antique truck.

I simply can't thank you enough for this, Eli. Imagine if I actually painted it and felt this way!

My intent is to have similar colors to the boat it will be towing. The boat has 3 colors. Blue, tan and off-white... Maybe off-white gets promoted as the secondary color above the beltline, the rest remains blue and paint just the beltline tan.

 

Thats the nice thing about Photoshop. Its cheaper than a real paint job. I'll work on the other colors,
and the "tow truck " bed really seems to have possibilities.

 

This one looks closer to some of the original type colors from back in "Olden Days" I think. Your color combo works well.

 

Oh that's it!!! What a great mix of period-ish scheme, commercial flavor and colors that really work. Thanks so much, Eli! I hope I can do it justice IRL.

 

Your welcome! This project is one of those that, as it progresses, even more ideas pop up, and those are the best kind. Stay tuned for a wrecker style bed. Also, have you ever thought about running dual wheels?

 

...and the wrecker style bed. I even bought some diamond plate for the inside of the bed.

 

Incredible!! Continuation of the tan beltline really ties all 3 pieces together. It also terminates the white very nicely. I wondered if just dropping the white would look funny, but it flows perfectly just like that. Could even extend that tan beltline all the way down the edge of the bed and it would get a similar curve towards the ground as it does on the cab. Triple line right where you have it, double on the next step down then single on the curve towards the ground.

Thanks again for all this fantastic work. I'm just blown away by it.

Meanwhile, back in primer land... Both side windows roll up and down now. I think I might be able to add electric locks that are controlled by the Corvette fob, but the actuators will need to be small.

 

..and I had thought about dual rear wheels, but have pretty much settled on wider, hot rod-ish look singles.

 

Thats a good idea on extending the tan beltine. Fits the art-deco theme of "back in the day.". hmmmm, lemme see what I can do.

 

In case I didn't mention it before.. I had to create my own forward window channel, this wider channel wasn't available anywhere. The smaller generic channel that Wescotts sells worked fine for the rearmost window channels although I didn't realize at first that it wasn't just a straight shot. I was very fortunate, that I had 1 channel in 1 door and the opposite channel in the other door to model my replacements after.

I also had to tweak the replacement door gl*** retaining channels. It seems the Argentinians have trouble with lining up the brackets that form the bottom of the track. Mac's, if you're listening, they were yours thru Wescotts.

The other HUGE challenge was welding inside the doors... My welding skills are barely adequate anyway.

 

I started separating the dash section from the outer panel of the donor cowl. Removing the spot welds was pretty easy as was the WS brackets. However, the folded over seams along the roof area and the beltline are proving a challenge. They seem to have "hidden" spot welds in them. Also the upper corners near the rain gutters are loaded with lead and I've been unable to determine where the factory seam is located. I'm rethinking installing the *entire* panel.

My Swiss cheese is on the beltline on both sides and the WS frame area. But the WS frame is only toast along the bottom and a small 4-6" area along the top of the driver's side. I'm thinking I'll cut the panel a couple inches up from the lower WS opening corners and splice onto the truck there. I'l only have exterior welds the width of the A pillars and won't have to mess with the roof seam or the heavily leaded upper corners. I can then address the small rot area at the top of the driver's side WS opening separately. Does this make sense?

 

Have you ever checked with Owens Salvage in Texas for possible parts? Not only do they have a hell of a selection but they're also HAMB Alliance vendors. If they can't help maybe they know someone who can.

 

Btw here's the photoshop with your bed beltline trim idea. Gives the bed a nice finished look.

 

Incredible again, Eli.. thanks... You're right, it really finishes it.. My issue with the cowl is more of an installation issue than parts, but I'll keep Owen's in mind for other stuff..

Got an inspection sticker at lunchtime...!!

 

How well does it drive? I'm guessing you have a couple hundred miles on it by now.

 

I probably have 1000 miles on him now. He drives pretty well, but is certainly still a work in progress. Lots of wind noise, of course... On hard pothole hits, I get a disturbing clang, bang noise, I've yet to diagnose. I thought it was fender to tire contact, but I've addressed that for now and the BANG remains... It sounds sheet metal on sheet metal, but I now have the alignment pins in the doors, I would think that would stop the door slamming in the jamb. Seems to just be on the right side..

For the most part it drives very nice. It's got plenty of balls, the steering works very well (which was certainly a concern). It's hard to remove the smile from my face driving him. I tend to giggle like a little girl leaving a stop sign (quickly). hehe

 

lol I bet! That LS1 doesn't have much weight to hold it back right now. So whats next on the list for the build?

 

I have a pesky S10 in the garage now which is a "refurb" of sorts for a niece... Hopefully, I can boot that little thing out soon and return to my project. I plan to go back to working on the cowl replacement although my wife would vote for running boards.