Projects New project- Old hot rod 1940 Ford Deluxe coupe

As a lot of the car has been rebuilt maybe the generator has been rewound and the guy doing the job has painted the inside of the housing with the red Glyptol paint which is used in large motor rewinds?

 

engine looks great Chris... gonna a be great driver...

 

Great car Chris! You are doing it justice.

 

Put a 60 ohm resistor in the feed to the battery gauge and it will work accurately on 12 volts...

 

I don't know how I missed this, but I just caught up. Very nice 40. I noticed the front inner fenders didn't have any cracks. Unbelievable. You have a great car.

 

great score, you're a lucky Dude

 

Worked on the rear of the car, I had my local spring shop reverse a main leaf, and I started with a couple leaves removed and longer shackles. That got the car way too low in the back



So, I put the spring back to stock with the reverse eyes, and 1941 shackles which are 1/2 longer than 1940’s. That got it where I want it. Mocked the front end together for a quick peek with all her clothes on

 

Man Chris! I always heard there's no such thing as too low...but I agree, your revised stance with the rear a bit higher is bang on the money!

 

I have been working on the car, but nothing super post worthy. I got all the gauges working using a voltage drop, re-jetted the carbs and put smaller power valves in them. Fuel line (new 10 years ago) was cracked and seeping gas so had a new one made. Car was not charging, so I took the generator in and confirmed it worked, the voltage regulator is faulty. So I found an old American Bosh online and am waiting for it to arrive. I did get shock mounts figured out, cleaned/painted and installed. Measured for shocks and got those on as well. Brakes are bled, not too much more and I will start bolting the front sheet metal on. None of this is super hard, just time consuming. Little 20 minute jobs, but when you seem to have 100 of them...the time adds up

 

I cleaned and painted a set of 16” wheels red, and also wanted to try some old black paint 16’s I had. So I bought new tires, and mounted two of each color, so see what either would look like- red with a full cap and black with a beanie.

I am such a stickler with tire/wheel/caps, and this car it has me kind of scratching my head. I want to run full caps, but I stood back and wasn’t sure that was is

 

The beanies weren’t doing it either, so I decided to just leave it be for a few days and I’ll think on it. Last night I fired the car up and moved it outside, and decided to set the hood on it. I grabbed a lawn chair and just sat and looked at it while the sun went down. The car is a very dirty, almost greenish white. The new whitewalls and busy caps kind of throw it off balance. However, I am going for the 50’s era AMT model kit look, and once the hood went on, it kind of looked like it belonged. Nothing about this is cutting edge, rocket science or anything that hasn’t been done before. My goal is to have a car that a kid in 1955 would have put together.
So- for now, I think this is it. Wheel color and caps are an easy change tho, regardless

 

Ok..I'll keep it quiet but tell me.. you have a magic lamp don't ya???

 

^^^I like this and I'm not even a white-wall guy^^^

 

Looks great either way. I am partial to black walls, black wheels and baby moon caps. Although my '40 Coupe (black) has black walls, red wheels and standard caps with trim rings. I think it looks good, but I am probably going to paint wheels black and use the standard caps w/o trim rings. Or maybe some plain baby moons. I am going for the Moon Shine look.
On my '50 I ran wide whites, red wheels and full covers and sometimes no covers at all.

 

I really like what you've done so far! All the wheel/tire combos look good, but the beanie set are probably my favorite.

 

You can't look at both sides at once I say leave it like it is one side with the beanie caps and one side with full hubcaps. On my 29 I've got beanie caps on one side and Mercury caps on the other side

 

My 40 Coupe I had in 1968-69 ran 16" blackwalls, 41 hubcaps and trim rings. If the one I'm building today had a Flathead I'd probably go that route again. With your 41 bumpers it would all fit together.

 

Man oh man! I love it. By the way, I've got a pair of those JC Whitney Olds Fiesta copies in 15". I've been looking for another pair for years..

Those 16's gotta be rare as hens teeth.

 

I'm doing a '32 sedan with the same '50s vibe you describe. My call is to use the wide whites with a full size cap, Packard clipper in my case. I'm prepping the wheels for paint right now, planning on black so that it will be a touch more subtle, but I like that you have a darker/warmer red than the usual bright red. You got me thinking.

As for the black and beanie look to me, since I lived through that era, that's more of an early '60s thing. It's the theme I did a few years ago on my old '36 3 window that was a light grey. Slightly different with the textures of the stock hubcap and the wide five wheels, but similar to your option.

 

I got the car pretty much buttoned up and took it on a maiden cruise outside my neighborhood. Starting hearing a clicking noise…turned out one of the lower radiator hoses wiggled loose and the fan was hitting it. Made a big mess but cleaned easily.

 

Got it home, cleaned it and luckily I had a spare lower hose.

tightened up a few things and readjusted the brakes, threw the caps on and the second maiden voyage was a success.

 

looks great, nice choice of caps too

 

That's a good looking car @Chris , I like the rear bumper too.

 

Hey @Chris, I like the full caps with red wheels, but a small suggestion because I know you're all about the details...how about painting the center of the caps so they match front and rear...and to my eye, I like adding the white trim to the caps that don't have it.

 

Stunning! That exterior color is superior.

 

The car looks good and sits nice. Enjoy.

 

Such a cool coupe, it looks great! With some careful fine tuning of wheels/tyres & stance transforms a nice car into something which stands out! This you have done very well,

 

sits good, I like the beannie caps and the Olds Feista's

 

Love the 41 bumpers!

 

I need to paint them, the one you see the center painted, I did. But it didn’t look great so I didn’t continue. The recessed “stripes” on the caps need painted, too. I need to see if a sigh painter or whatever could do them… but they were on my 34 for years like that and I never got around to it lol