Last weekend was Forty Ford Day at La Palma Park in Anaheim. This is a long running event in a nice location, and this year's turnout was outstanding. Swarms of really nice '40s, mostly done in a traditional hot rod style and owned by a bunch of guys with an average age of probably 70. Here are some highlights: Completely traditional '50s-era coupes, a bunch This car was an outstanding, near-stock resto. The engine was a 327, detailed as if it were a new crate motor with a Cad/Olds air cleaner painted body color. Nice! A few very nice '39 coupes in similar style This one is powered by a blown Chrysler! There were several nice sedans This one is allegedly original paint and interior (astounding!), and runs an Art Chrisman-built blown flathead! A couple of nice converts Just one pickup that I saw And a couple of sedan deliveries Seems like purple is rising in popularity -- there were at least four purple cars there. I regret that the show judging calls for hoods to be raised -- cars certainly are more photogenic with the hoods down. Altogether a very pleasant day (perfect weather, too) with an outstanding bunch of cars.
Thanks for the pictures. I really want to get to that someday. After what you said about the average age, I better do it soon.
I posted all the '39s and '40s that I shot. The rest ranged from a T coupe to a '65 Falcon. Do you wanna see all that stuff too?
Thanks Tony. The hood thing sure is a negative on such swoopy cars. But, there's a lot to love in those pics.
For all two of you that asked to see more... A couple of novel taillight treatments on '39-'40s. In my opinion, neither is necessarily an improvement over stock, but look OK: (I love Stude taillights, but in my opinion these are upside down) ...and a bunch of non-'40 miscellany: This roadster had a couple of unfortunate details, but overall had a good look. A few of you know just how rare V8 Falcon 2-door wagons are. This one was absolutely like a brand-new stock car.
The hoods are up for the cars that want to be judged, so we can see the engines. (If the owner doesn't care about judging/awards, etc. he is free to leave hood down). Maybe next year, we can announce that judging is complete if anyone wants to close their hoods. (I agree, they look better with the hoods down, and I'm not a big fan of the whole judging deal, but a lot of people seem to look forward to winning the hand made trophies that we've done for decades now).
Stu, I understand the reason the cars have their hoods up, and I like to look at nice engine compartments. I just think it spoils the looks of the cars, and makes for ****py photos. I think your idea of closing them after judging is a great idea all around.
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