I have heard about the new company that is assembling the 40 Ford coupes, Real Deal Steel LLC, that Drake started but I had not seen the finished product until now. If it is a good looking in person as the photos show then I think they will have a winner. The investment to reproduce a vintage vehicle of any kind is large and the ROI is fully dependent on the sales volume projections being accurate. Brookville is the leader is capturing the market with reproduction bodies. They were the first and have the operation right in Ohio, not in a distant land. The control is all under one roof. I am sure the 40 will catch on I hope the market accepts the new product with open arms and wallets. Building a car from scratch is very time consuming and expensive in todays economic climate. How many folks are willing to start with the nice body and see the project through remains to be seen. I wish them all the success in the world in their venture.
I hope all of you are enjoying the summer in your hot rods and are planning to make as many events as possible. Here is LA we still have lots of events to attend and I have scheduled someone day trips in the coming months to various places around the LA area. I will do my best to keep you up to date on the hot rod activity in our great city.
Stay Tooned!
Lynn
Here is body # 1 from RDS. It sure looks like a nice start on a very popular car. I am not sure if they offer a stock firewall or not. I know Drake offered a stock firewall.
The deck lid on a 40 is a difficult piece to fit correctly on an original car. The large lid is hard to fit to the lower contour of the rear pan. The primo sheet metal is a candidate for RJ to do a naked feature on this coupe. Shipping may be a problem with this size skid.
The panels all look nice and ready for a skim coat. I would estimate that if would cost $15-20K in the LA area to paint one of these bodies. I may be light in my estimate if the body panels are not straight.
The roadster guys and gals sure know how to have a good time in the beautiful scenic country of the central coast.
The grassy knoll at Ragged Point, above Hearst Castle, provided a perfect venue for the roadsters. That is the Pacific  Ocean in the background. Phil’s roadster must be seen to realize all the work that went into the build.
Here are a few more of the roadsters parked on the grass. The 47 on the left must have been the beer cart. It may have been a woody and that’s O.K. by me.
Here are a few more including Jeff’s Moal built 29 and Andy’s purple high mileage roadster.
Frank is thinning out his fleet and this little 34 pickup has found a new home. Trucks are popular in the hot rod world and make good tow trucks at the Antique drags.
One of my viewers just repurchased his 40 coupe and now has his best friend in the garage where it belongs. How many of you have bought back your old hot rod? Don’t let them get away if possible as you will regret it later on.
The HRG does some really nice work. Here is the engine compartment in Jim’s personal 40 sedan. Note the clean installation of the hoses on the firewall. The black fittings tone done the usual polished ones. I am also a ram’s horn fan.
Today’s Woody!
I am still in love with the 40 woody like shown here at the San Pedro outing. Just a mild hot rod woody enjoying the sun, surf and sand.