So 6 months ago my father retired. He's now finishing the work on his house and will soon be building a new garage where he can start on his project car that he purchased 40 years ago.
He has a 1940 Ford Standard 2 Door coupe. All orginal with 99.5% of all the parts included. It dosen't run but when I checked it a couple months ago the motor is still free and will spin so I think it can be rebuilt.
Now here is where I need some feedback. He wants to take this car and cut it up and make a hot rod out of it. I think he should restore it to orginal. I mean how many other all orginal 40 Fords are still out there?
Now Just today I found that thre are all new steal 1940 entire bodies that can be purchased for around 15k. Would that not make a better hot rod?
What do you all think? Anyone know a good club on the east coast I can point him towards to get info on restoring this classic?
For a rod, I'd do a custom built frame and a 'glass body if possible, steel if not.
For what your Dad has, I'd do a restore. If ANY hotting up was done, I'd do it period accurate (no 5.0 Coyotes with 2.3L Whipples on top, for instance ... )
I say carve that baby up into any kind of hot rod he desires, it is his car after all. But before everyone starts chucking manure at me, my rule of thumb for modification is very very very simple. Do NOT do anything to your car that cannot be undone and put back to bone stock original and leave no trace of it having ever been done. No cutting holes chopping and channeling things like that. Stuff that can bolt on and bolt off with the use of factory bolt holes. And something that old, make sure all the factory original pieces get put up somewhere safe. And if you have to modify something in a way it cant be put back, keep the original piece and buy someone else hacked up pieces and modify those. Just my opinions.
Rod! As far as looks goes they look better as rods and If thats what he wants to do I say go for it . He will enjoy it more. For example my Pops '46: ( There is a couple of pictures of his Fox also ) http://s1175.photobucket.com/albums/r632/jhiland2/46 ford/
Well from what he told me the plans for the motor will most likley call for movnign the firewall. He has not decided on what power plant it will have but he did say he wanted 500hp. That in a car that only weights 2800 pounds equeals Holy Crap.
It's his car and he's had it longer than he's had me. So whatever he wants to do with it I'll do nothing but help.
It's purely up to him. He's keeping a real 40 Ford mobile one way or another and so long as its high quality that's all that matters. And Ralph, REAL steel is way cooler than the catalog+checkbook fiberglass faux rods out there. Tbuckets and Cobras are like dull filler at car shows and have done little more than make the real deals boring.
I will say this, Ford built gobs of these cars, they were as common then as Camrys are today. They're only true asset in favor of preservation is that it didn't get scrapped in the 72 years it has existed. Personally once a car has a restoration, I no longer consider it a true survivor anyway. I consider cars with a natural patina survivors more than a "numbers matching", "frame off restoration", "better than new" car you see, but this one clearly doesn't have that by the looks of it.
I will say this, Ford built gobs of these cars, they were as common then as Camrys are today. They're only true asset in favor of preservation is that it didn't get scrapped in the 72 years it has existed.
Thats the difference between these classics and a Crapry .. people are always bragging about how their Toyotas "last forever" .. but in 30 years im sure that 1940's Ford will still be around in restored or rodded condition and almost all of these Toyotas will be recycled for scrap.
I wouldn't consider hot rodding the car to be destroying it in any way. I know when I see something at a car show that has been cut up and modified and made into something truly unique, that is what grabs my attention way more than the concourse restoration cars. The one thing I will say though is don't let him put any motor other than a ford in there! It drives me up the wall when you see a cool hot rod old ford, and you look under the hood to find a small block Chevy sitting between the fenders.
Oh trust me. It will NEVER be built Ford Tough with Chevy stuff! Some of the motor ideas I've heard him throw around were a stroked 302/347. 351 and even the possiblity of a DOHC 4.6
Not sure that last one will fit cause it's pretty darn wide. But wouln't that look awesome in there with a M112 sitting on top of it.
Was going to try to talk him into Building an SC motor and putting that in for something truly unique but I know in in his heart he want's a V8.
This thread is to clutter up the misc forum with miscellaneous drivel.
Since we no longer have the feature that was added the last time they fucked up the forum, lets just try it here.
Posting this mostly at Trunk Monkey's request - but I suppose it'll be convenient for me to also catalog it someplace for myself to look upon in delight, if when I finish. :D
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