got a new car 51 ford 4 door what to do with it?

i agree i think i am going to leave all the handles and not try to make it something it is not. to each his own i guess. i have seen a few lowered i think to start 2 inch blocks should get me about where i want and i think skirts would look cool too. i had already started pinstriping the car for the po and when i first looked at it thats how this all started i got goose bumps and told him if he got sick of it i wanted first crack at it. now i gotta find a bumper

 

yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees you need to shop it

 

well well i got skooled. apparently it is a 50 with a 51 hood and fenders. anyone wanna trade fenders? lol now i like it even more.

 

I've had mine about 45 days now - first thing I did was installed the seat belts. Second thing ordered a Mac's catalog. Third thing installed 2" steel lower blocks in the rear to get it sitting way it should! Then I painted the wheels dark Ford blue and put on the old Cal Custom baby moons on the wheels that I took off my T Bucket I sold to buy the Ford. The Mac's catalog came then i ordereda '49-'51 Shop Manual. I need to re-wire it and put on new brades this winter. By the way I'm having trouble with the over-drive - sometimes it don't want to work. Any ideas?

 

Lower it and drive it.

 

Looks killer...i'd drop it a bit, drive it and work on it here and there. Looks pretty dang good now...Congrats man

 

bludice we must think alike i already have the macs book comming they have had mostly anything i needed with my ranchero so sounds like they would do the same with a shoebox. i am lucky that all the original wireing is in amazing condition and everything works. other than it had a turnsignal installed and it has no front parking lights i would asume that the parking lights are also the turnsignals. yes no?

 

Correct.

They have a double filament type socket.

 

Here is a link to the thread on using Aerostar springs to drop the front (in case you missed it).

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=260795&highlight=aerostar+springs

 

Yes,the parking lights are also the turnsignals. You better check the front parking light bulbs - my car came with turnsignals installed from the factory, but I've got a short somewhere - RF and LR don't work correctly. I've seen alot of cool "more doors" - if you shave the door handles it's hard to tell it from a 2 door. I'm doing a mild custom on mine, but first I got to get the electrical problems sorted out - good luck with yours

 

There is a commercial with NASCAR driver Greg Biffle, driving a 4 door shoe box Ford. The Ford looks cool with flat black paint white walls and black wheels. A friend had a black 51 when we were kids. The flat head ran great.
We went everywhere in that ford. Ran it into a ditch so hard the doors popped open! It suffered no damage other than a broken front bumper bracket. Pulled it out and drove away. A very rugged and dependable car.
I think you will enjoy yours immensely. MickeyC from the bayou

 

great story i took it out around the property for the first time with the exhaust cut off right at the front doors. i still gotta to a full exhaust for it. ran it around a bunch then called my boy out. we went around a bit then around one turn once i had her good and warm floored it and wow not bad kicked it out sideways i am impressed. did that way faster than my 62 ranchero whips around. i am so in love with this car even though she aint a 2 door she is cool.

 

Their a very good car to build. I had a 51 2dr. coupe with a 6-3sd. and another that was a 4 dr. V-8 and overdrive. The V-8 would pull down 18-20 mpg @ 60-65 all day. The only things I added were Fenton header/exhaust 2 1/4" all the way back, and a 2X2 intake that was an Edelbrock. It was already 12 volt, and a dual master cyl. when I got it. You'll Love it.

Michael

 

I'd leave it stock or close to it. I'd start with maintenance and cosmetics before changing things around. Pop some seat belts in there for the kids and wife.

After that, just a throaty exhaust and a little induction.

 

Be different and leave it stock,buy a grey hair wig and
drive the hell out of it.

 

haha grey hair wig thats great. yea for now i am gonna leave it as is and just drive it. the engine runs well enough so for now i am gonna leave well enough alone. only thing might be to try and do some things to the cooling system i have been trying to find the posts on the subject here but cant seem to find much. what should i put in the search?

 

thats a clean machine "bag it" .....

 

Perfect!

 

man i got it running after two days of playing with wireing. ran good drove it around the yard pulled it back in because she is not road legal yet. let it sit for 3 days went out to crank it and nada cranked twise and dead batt. got a charger for 6 volt put it on there for a few hours and got it to fire but with the volt meter on 20 range it read 6.05 at idle and reved 6.07 which would leave me to believe the charging system is dead. but i let it idle for a good 20 min to see where the heat goes to and it only goes to 1/2 and stops so thats good. but after all that and i will admit after having a few i got brave and ran her down the road and back (man i gotta adjust the brakes she pulls real bad to the left i was steering for my life and then tried to downshift and did not get the gear i must have given the guy in the mini van a start who was behind me. so i get back to the house after a good full throtle run got it up to 65 in about 1/2 mile not bad for a single 94 then slowing down by steering into the brakes i tossed the volt meeter back on and after all that it is at 5.89 idling. i pull it into the garage turn it off and i already know what is going to happen when i hit the ****on, click click. is there an easy way to test these things?

 

So many opinions. But, I'd get it running reliable and safe...brakes, seat belts, steering and so on. Then drive it. Pick away at it doing small things as you go. Make it a comfortable hauler for wife and kids. It looks GREAT...enjoy it!!

 

take it to the barber shop and get it a hair cut and a shave ..
chop top lower her down
frenched head lights.custom tail lights some cruiser skirts ..ya know white walls

 

The hood looks like a '51,but the dash and door trim is 1950.Check your vin numbers.A mild custom is always cool. Pretty much anything that could be done has been done to the '49-'51 Fords.Old custom books may give you some ideas.But hey,it's YOUR car,build it your way.Looks to be in great shape,ya done good!!

 

Looks like a nice car....a good starting place. Regarding the parking lights/turn signals...
if they work as signals but not parking lites, they may have done same as I did.....I did
not change to a double filament socket base and just hooked them up as turn signals.
Hardly ever use parking lites anyway. I did change the tail lights to double filament so
can have tail lights, brake lights and turn signals.

Sounds as if you must have a power drain somewhere, even though the wiring looks
to be in good condition. You might start by getting a battery cutoff switch...there are
maybe three different styles......see if that keeps it from running down. Those switches
can be found on ebay or just google them on the net.....the kind that attaches to the
battery post is the cheapest.

And -- if you are still 6 volt, you need large gauge battery cables like 0
gauge or 00 gauge to let the power flow better. The little skinny cables
are for 12 V. You can use welding cable, if handy, or go to a battery
specialty shop (what I did) and they can make up some cables for you -
not all that expensive. Good luck on your project.

 

That's already a nice looking car. Don't get in a hurry to do anything ... except maybe to put the grill and bumpers back on ... just drive it for a while before deciding what changes to make.