Here's an interesting development for hot rodders/custom car folks....Ford is offering new 40 Ford (deluxe) coupe for sale.........(plus Mustangs and a Bronco)..........New steel and modern welding techniques........... http://www.autoblog.com/2012/10/26/embargo-10-26-12-01am-est-blue-oval-adds-40-ford-to-its-growin/
11,900 for just the body is a very good price it seems. the steel 32 and 34 from others are 26,000 and 29,000 each. I would think that they will sell a lot of those.
I'm confused. So, Bob Drake started the body repop project, it got sold off to Carpenter, now Ford is licensing the sale of it as an official Ford part but its sold only by Carpenter?
I ***ume the coupe body "shell" doesn't have doors, fenders, a dash, or any of that stuff if it's only gonna be $12K. But, seems like if you had that, a new trunklid, and a 4 door to donate literally everything else, you could build a relatively reasonable '40 Ford coupe that's still partially original. Not the worst way to go.
No confusion, Ford are licencing the bodies as replacements - available from Dennis Carpenter. Thanks to Bob Drake for kicking the project off though. Cheers.
'40 Ford coupe that's still partially original. That's like saying a "gl***" 32 Ford is original. To build that 40 Ford coupe you'd need everything else. That includes inner window mouldings, trunk doors, hood, etc. It may be a good idea but like Mustangs, 57 Chevys and others, it ruins the value of originals. I don't care who or what says these cars are traditional pre-65 cars, if they were built after 65 they are no different than a Prius or other cookie cutter. My 2 1/2 cents. I know, many of you will *****.
My thought is, if you started with a complete 4 door sedan, and just swapped the coupe shell on, it'd be more like a coupe conversion of an original 4 door, than a completely new car like a gl*** '32 would be. You'd still have the original frame, fenders and front clip, dash, doors, and most of the small bits, where as a gl*** '32 or a T-bucket kit is an entirely new car. I'd still favor an all original coupe if I wanted a '40, and I know exactly what you're saying, but I feel like a distinction could be made there.
here is the dennis carpenter website,seems almost too good to be true, I like seeing these kinds of things happen personally. You will still need an original frame front end not to mention EVERYTHING ELSE. http://www.dennis-carpenter.com/1940coupe.php
From what i understand this is all from the Bob Drake start up, who's investment people pulled out, Bob Drake sold everything to Dennis Carpenter who is selling all the parts, panels, etc only, Dennis carpenter is suppling all the body panels to a company in Florida who is ***embling the body and selling complete bodies through them . You can only buy panels and pieces through Dennis Carpenter. The completed bodies made from all the panels are sold directly through the florida company. Since every reproduction panel is licensed through Ford ( back to Bob Drake) they are saying that its a Ford licensed body, but they are not made by Ford and they are not being sold through Ford
I am debating the 4 door to coupe conversion now. It is very tempting to start with a rust free body. Just needs paint and ***embly
I'm sure that most of these bodies or even complete kits will be sitting on modern rolling ch***is. Again, not original Ford. But if I had deep pockets or a large check book I'd also be tempted.
It probably took a sizeable chunk o' change for Carpenter to step into Drake's place in keeping this project alive. I'd guess he negotiated some sort of commitment from Ford to "purchase" some number of units that in turn gave him the ability to formulate a business plan that demonstrated sufficient potential sales to induce some investor(s) into lending him the "start up" capital. Capitalism doesn't function without capital. If that's how the back story goes, or something like that, then Carpenter is a pretty savvy business guy. I hope it works for him, there should be reward for taking such chances if they're well thought out. BTW, Ford selling rights to use of it's trade name falls under trademark law, not copyright. A small nit perhaps, but important distinction if a legal action is necessary.
I'd love to be able to buy one, stick a new french flathead/T-5 in it and use as many new, repro parts as possible with lots of insulation, making a virtually new 1940 ford coupe! In the end, it'd only cost about 100-150,000 dollars. But a rattle-free, draft-free, 12 volt, overdrive, A/c, electric wiper modern 40 coupe would be soooooooooo cool!
these bodies look well done but finding all the other pts to complete the car would be tough as many are not reproduced. I think you can still find a decent 40 coupe complete for this price with all the parts included plus a correct frame.
'39 Standard front clip will not BOLT-ONTO a '39 DeLuxe body, nor a '40. Don't forget that '39 Standard and '39 DeLuxe COWLS/Firewalls are totally different from each other. Not saying that a very talented metal man couldn't accomplish this...just that the Standard and DeLuxe cowls are different animals. DD
DD..... Glad to know that........ I do know that the 39 Delux and 40-41 pickup grills are different animals. 4TTRUK
According to fox news, a complete body would run about $15K. http://www.foxnews.com/leisure/2012/10/26/ford-unveils-new-140-coupe/?intcmp=features Seems like a decent price to me.
In a couple of years we'll be asking if the car we wanna buy is actually the real deal and not a reproduction...
This is pretty old news by now. The car they will have at SEMA sounds like the one built by Hollywood Hot Rods.
I wish them success in their adventure. I do not see a need for a complete body, but the components should be easy to sell if they are not overpriced. We can still buy decent coupes, complete with ch***is, for under $10K - $15K in our market. No DMV h***les with the original ch***is cars.
Maybe a (small) but great trend(IMHO)......British Heritage Motors UK is a new panel provider for the old British Leland/Roots/etc brands(was an arm of the original manufacturer before it to China).....Jag, MG, Triumph, etc.....They have listed shells they will build for you. MGB/MGB-GT primed and ready for interior/engine/underpinnings/wiring.....4 cyl, V8, LHD/RHD... In my senior year of HS I often saw a 40 Ford coupe in the neighborhood (a fellow HS'er...Was painted 'lime green', raked, chrome reverse, souped up flathead..Really cool!!!...The chance to build a 'new' one would be awesome........
I'm not sure where you came up with that concept, but FORD didn't buy and isn't going to buy any of these bodies, nor do they sell them. The Ford restoration Parts "business" is the part of Ford that licenses company's to make reproduction Ford parts. Ford approves the part to be built, helps with original blueprint retrieval, and even the use of original Ford Tooling and patent usage, if and when necessary. They have done this for over 8,000 parts and they get a fee for allowing, approval, and the building of the parts. The complete bodies are ordered through Dennis Carpenter and are shipped from the ***embler in Florida. The $11,900 price is the body only - with doors and deck lid it is $15,450 As for the car that they will be displaying at SEMA, Yes it is the Hollywood Hot Rods built car that is Street Rodder Magazines Road Tour car for this year - I built the headers and exhaust on it.
best application of these is for someone who has a 40 coupe that's beyond salvage but the interior bits and ch***is may be used for the most part. Whining about not being able to ***emble a complete car out of a catalog full of parts sounds like a problem for the gold-chainer psychologists. This is an amazing endeavor that these gentlemen (Bob and subsequently Dennis) have embarked on. Even at the lofty price for new sheetmetal, it will take a lot of sales to recover the R&D and tooling costs-in spite of whatever ***istance Ford was able to provide (blueprints, stamping dies, etc). I thank them for providing a source for parts to a very popular vehicle in our hobby.
The Jalopy Journal
