Hi guys, Many years ago while on one of our many "tin hunts" I came across a 1938-39 shaped Ford sedan. Nothing strange about this, because in those days ( 70s ) they were fairly plentyful. But this one had a side valve 6cyl in the engine bay. I have just done a google search, and according to history these motors were fitted in 1941 thru late 1947 ( G series ) So I take it that what I saw was at least a 1941 model As I have only seen this one vehicle,, my question is.. Has anybody got any pics of this model and its engine bay?? Were they an export model?? Or a cheap war effort model?? Looking forward to your feedback. Cheers Grant.
They put those flat 6's in '41 pickups, essentially the same frame that's under a '38-'39, so it's possible that somebody swapped one in years ago. The '41 6 cylinder pickups used a deeper front crossmember to clear the oil pan, pretty sure you'd need that crossmember to do the swap.
Since you didn't state otherwise, I am ***uming you saw this car in your homeland of NZ. I am no authority on cars exported to your part of the world but I do know they often were/are not the same as our home market for the same time period. Mopars especially fit that situation. My point being, perhaps there were some Fords ***embled Down Under that used earlier body shells with the later running gear options. i.e '38/'39 body style, produced in '41 or later for that market. Would have been easy to do and inexpensive. Just a thought......may have no basis in fact. Ray
Henry Ford hated six cylinder engines. He made one in 1906 called the Model K. It was not a success. From then on he vowed to make only 4 cylinder cars. Then came the Chevrolet six in 1928. This was strong compe***ion for the Model A. Ford's response was the V8 introduced in 1932. Until 1934 you could buy a Ford with a 4 cylinder. They were the Model B (1932) and Model C (1933 - 34). The next effort at a lower priced, more economical model was the V8 60, a mini flathead V8 of 137 cu in and 60 HP as an alternative to the 221 cu in 85 HP model. The V8 60 was made from 1937 to 1940. Then it was replaced by a flathead six. The new Ford six bore a strong resemblance to the Studebaker right down to the bore and stroke. This one lasted from 1941 to 1951. For 1952 it was replaced by a new OHV six. All this to say the only flathead six cylinder Ford was made from 1941 to 1951. The car you saw was probably a 1941 - 1948 model which looked very much alike. There is one other alternative which is that the car you saw was a 1939 or 1940 Nash. They were a dead ringer for the 39 Ford and they came with a flathead six. This page has numerous pictures of 1939 - 40 Nashes. See if they don't look a lot like a Ford especially from the back. http://oldcarandtruckpictures.com/AmericanMotors/Nash.html
Yeah I forgot to mention this was in New Zealand.. I think Ray is pretty close with his sugestion of maybe a runout of old bodies fitted with the 1941 side valve 6cyl. It was definately a 38 /39 Ford, I suppose a 40 body was the same?? ( I owned a 39 deluxe at the time ) Thanks for the imput guys..
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