Friday’s Garage Crawl

As we drove through the neighborhood, which was mostly industrial with lots of chain link fences incorporating rolled barb wire on top, I felt a little uncomfortable. My friend Chip and I were on a garage crawl to look at a 40 Ford collection and I was driving Pepe who is partial to the Country Club grounds. I am the Ford lover and Chip is a Corvette lover but also owns a nice 37 Ford Tub and knows the owner. We finally arrived at our destination in front of a non-discreet block building with no windows (common in the area). After a quick phone call, we were inside the building with a nice assortment of 1940 Fords and parts which were all neatly stored and organized. I was impressed with the operation and fell in love with every car in the place. I was attracted to a project 40 convert that was a complete basket case but all there. The doors had been removed as well as the trunk lid, seats, top and anything else that was attached to the body. The car was very solid and very likely a CA car which had been stored since 1972 and never moved. Projects like these are tempting but not being able to see how the doors and deck lid fit they can be a challenge, especially when the floor has been replaced (welded in) without any cross bracing. Anything can be fixed but the cost can be staggering. A 40 Ford convertible is a very desirable car and we have two of them in our “Office” group. Both cars are chopped as most hot rodders feel the stock top is too bulky. I doubt that I would be able to chop such as cherry body but they sure look go with a couple of inches out of the front posts. After spending a couple hours looking at the cars, we headed to lunch to discuss the wonderful Forty Ford that Henry built for us hot rodders. I can’t think of a better way to spend a day than looking into the past with the future in mind.

If you go to Goodguys in Del Mar send me some photos.

Have a wonderful weekend and take the wife to dinner as you may want to buy another old Ford one of these days.

Stay Tooned!

Lynn

Here is another 40 project that was available and was bolted together so you could see how the sheetmetal fit. Imagine just a bare body with nothing else attached sitting on a chassis and you can see what I am talking about. I know Jim assembled his from a pile of parts he obtained in the desert and made the cover on a publication. He has lots of skills putting them together.

If you like the tail dragger style then this one will light your fire. The Studebaker tail lights look like they are factory installed.

A stock top needs to be modified to decrease the top heavy look. The forward rake helps but a chop really helps the profile.

I love the look of this top and it is not chopped. Would I look good in this one? My wife thinks so.

Tim knows how to make the stock top look good by tweaking the bows just right.

I have admired this one for many years at 40 Ford Day. Simple is best on a 40 as this photo shows.

Boyd on the other hand could not leave anything alone and set out to built this much modified convertible for his wife. It was never finished and I think it is still as shown in the photo.

Dave’s is chopped 4 inches and still folds down for nice days. He now has added whitewalls and caps for a nice new look.

Dick’s is chopped 2 1/2 inches and has a Carson style lift off top. He also added whitewalls for a new look. I like it.

If you want to keep your convert looking like your high school ride then you could just copy this one. I would add some decals on that firewall. Notice the stock radiator.

Bobby just completed a fresh engine with a rare Mcculloch supercharger to give it some more go. Looks good Bobby.

Weekend Roadster!

I can’t let many days go by without looking a one of my favorite roadsters. John has them all in his collection but drives the wheels off of this one.