We have a 39 Ford Deluxe at work that had an engine fire. We were able to find a good used hood, which looks to be a 40 Standard hood, and the 39 Deluxe hood ornament/latch handle does not fit too good. It looks as if the hood needs to be a good 1/4" higher to allow the latch handle to fit the grille correctly. Can anybody shed some light on why this may be like this or what the exact differences between all the 39-40 Ford hoods are? Here's a profile shot to show the issue... And, the old hood that was on it (crispy) The "new" hood we got to replace it
I have a friend with just the opposite problem. His hood hangs over the grill about an inch or more and leaves a huge gap between the grill and hood latch handle when shut. The latch system on your new hood looks like the one on my 40 pickup. Does the hood fit the cowl ok? I would say take the latch plate off the old hood and try it on the new one and see if that works.
It looks like you have a '39 DeLuxe hood latch handle trying to work with a '40 standard grille. I had the same drama on my '39 Deluxe. Your burned hood is a '39 Deluxe. I'd bet the other is a '40 standard. Mike
Hotrod Mike, So if the 40 standard hood had a 40 standard ornament and latch handle this should solve our troubles? I gotta be honest this whole 39-40 Ford similarities and differences are new thing for me. Any more info would be great! MJ40, The problem is that the charred hood did not use the original style latch so, unfortunately, we cannot use that. The hood seems to fit really well everywhere else, that is why it's kinda stumping us. Thanks for you reply! The boss has a 40 Deluxe convertible, but of course everything is different on that car so it's not very helpful, and this burn victim seems to have a combination of parts on it so we really are not sure what the customer had to start with. I'm really interested in learning more about this so that if I have a customer in the future who has questions I can look back on this and help them out.
Believe me, I'm no expert either. There's all kinds of little differences. Anyway, Your burned hood is the same as my '39 DeLuxe hoods (I have 2 at the moment). The original latching mech was removed and a modern style latch was installed. The hood you put on is different underneath which makes me think it's a '40 std. I do know that's a '39 DeLuxe latch handle on there.Well, the bullnose and latch handle is shaped differently on a '40. I think , if you get the correct bullnose and handle, it will fit right. I'm not sure how a '40 latches with the stock stuff so maybe someone will post that up. You might want to take a look at: www.bobdrake.com so you can see the differences in the handles. And they are on sale at the moment. I hope that's of some help. Mike
That's a big help Mike, thank you! We are a dealer for Bob Drake and I spent a little time on the phone with them today, but the gentleman helping me really didn't know what the problem could be either. he just said "it sounds like you have the wrong hood". Ha ha ha , well I know that! But how do I rectify my problem. Anyhow he was nice and tried so I appreciate his time. We definitely have the Drake 39 Deluxe bullnose. I just got a tip from a friend of mine (who also works with me) that he seems to have a 40 standard bullnose at home so we can compare it with what we have tomorrow. Even if that bullnose is a 1/4" shorter it will make all the difference. Thanks again for the replies! And if anyone else has any new ideas please chime in!
Yes, the 39 and 40 bullnoses are different. But, the steel hoods are the same (other than some trim holes on the side). You will need the bullnose to match whatever year grille you use. If you decide to go with the original latch inside, I am 99% sure either year bullnose will work on the latch you have. Pretty simple, huh?
If it helps- My friend has a 39 deluxe grill in a 40 pickup- hood shuts and fits like shit. I belive pickup and 40 standard share the same latch assembly, so I don't think you can use a 40 standard bullnose with a 39 grill and vise-versa.
The 40 Standard grille in stock form will correctly fit 40 Standards, and 40-41 Pickups, Panels, and 41 Sedan Deliverys It will also fit between the fenders of 40 Sedan Deliverys BUT they have DeLuxe hoods so the hood would have to be changed too). The grille also fits between the fenders of 39 DeLuxe cars but the grille does not match the hood hose in shape. Since you now have a 40 Hood, go ahead and get the 40 nose and handle and finish it up. The above is the grille you have in your 39 DeLuxe.
Yes, the grille in the car, now, is what it had when it caught on fire. We are not sure if it will clean up good enough for the customer so i did order a new grille from Drake. I believe it is a 40 Standard grille (all chrome) that I ordered, so that means that I should use all of the '40 hood trim (Bullnose, latch handle, centerstrip, and front trim)? Thanks again for everyones help! This stuff gets confusing!
The hoods are not the same. The curvature on the nose is slightly different, so the 39 DeLuxe nosepiece will have a slightly sharper radius and will stand away from the Standard hood. You should be able to use the 40 Standard pieces. Whatever you do, don't get the hood release from Drake. It is grossly underdesigned amd WILL break. Bet you can guess how I know.
Yes, the grille will fit. The trim is the issue. The point of this post was, if you want to run a hood, you'll also have to have the correct hood latch handle.
Thank you again everybody! I think I've got it figured out and will get some 40 Standard parts together and see how it all fits! If, however, I come to find out I do not have it figured out... I will be back on here posting more questions.
Just to make it more interesting, take a look at the new Bob Drake flyer. It shows the hood handle and bullnose for the '39 DeLuxe, the '40 standard,'40 pickup AND the '40 DeLuxe. Four different parts. To hell with a hood!
If I'm late on this post I'm sorry, phone calls kept interrupting before I was finishing typing. This is a 40 std grille in your 39?, the hood trims are not interchangeable. Here are pictures of the handles , they are different in length and pivot pin index. Since you have a 40 std grille you will need the corresponding nose piece.
That's what I suspected! Thank you Dick, and everyone else who responded. I will get all of the 40 standard parts and get this thing fitting correctly!
My understanding of 1939 Deluxe is there were two different latch assemblies. The one on the burnt hood is the early style (which had two heavy wire hooks), the later version was the same as 1940 standard. You do have a 40 standard grille and except for the handle not fitting it looks pretty close to right as to the hood fitting the grille (the grilles usuall fit so it looks like the hood is back about 1/4". There may be different hoods out there (two words to avoid with Ford are ALWAYS and NEVER) but when we made our fiberglass hood we checked our pattern hood on a car with both original 1939 Deluxe and 1940 Standard grilles and ornaments and everything seemed to fit up ok (39 to 39, 40 to 40 of course). There have been fitting issues with various repro ornaments, I believe both Vintique and Drake have retooled their ornaments at least once each. If this is a street rod consider adapting a late model plunger latch (and operating with the stock handle) instead of the original hook type, Someone who does not know what they are doing can easily break the handle trying to force the latch.
When I first got my 39 DeLuxe, it had a 40 Standard hood on it. So I painted it figuring I could add the holes necessary to accomodate the 39 hood trim. When I went to install the hood nose trim, there was about a 1/4" gap at the nose. This was with an original Henry Ford piece. Needless to say I was pissed. Subsequently I bought a 39 DeLuxe hood and the trim fit perfectly. That's my story and I'm stickin' to it. As I said, I was not happy with the Drake repro. The gusseting that was on the underside of the original was painfully missing on the repro.
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