O/T My new ride

A 30 year dream just came true for me- Always wanted a '40 Ford, and brought this one home yesterday. Got it from an 82 year old man who bought it in 1956 and had it stored for the last 47 years. He and his wife were sure sad to see it go, but he knew his car building days were over, and wanted to see it run again. It has a '49 Merc flathead, but otherwise it's stock. I haven't seen one this solid for a long time- gotta look hard to find any rust. I plan on getting it running and safe, and will put some miles on it. Might paint it some day, but I kinda like it's old look. It won't get a %&$# Chevy motor! He put oil in the cylinders the last time he spun it over in the mid '70's, but it's stuck now. Hope to free it up without tearing it apart. This might put a little dent in my tractor addiction for a while!

Think the tractors'll forgive you............... Very nice.

A real nice addition. When you get her running take her back and give that old man and his wife a ride.

I agree. That would really make them happy to get a ride. Taking a few pictures of the event would add "History" to the car. I wished I had pictures of my first car... which was a 1941 Ford. Good luck & enjoy. ag

Wonder if the local auto glass shop still had the patterns to cut new safety plate glass for it.
Very nice.

I like it. I also agree with your thinking to get it running and driveable and then just enjoy it.

Beautiful!! How is the interior?

Is that considered a barn find?

Cool - I bet that old flathead will run again. Their easy to work on. Heck, all you need is a hammer and adjustable wrench lol

Sweet!!!!

Larry

Interior is original and not so good. We'll take care of that. I suppose I'd call it a barn find- it was on the second floor of an old factory for most of the 47 years it was stored- probably why it didn't rust to the ground.

Nice thing about a '40 is that you can buy just about anything for it. Complete glass set (10 pieces) can be had for $350.

That will be mt first stop- I promised him that when I picked it up. Just gotta keep motivated and get it done!

Nice find!!! Rare to find one in such great untouched condition.

Here, these should motivate you!

These belong to 2 friends of mine. Notice the windshield on the white one, no center post. He had the glass cut and bent to fit, eliminating the center post. The black one is an all original restoration the owner did himself.


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Yeah, you can get the interior repaired.
I see that it has a column shift. My 1939 Ford Standard has a floor shift.

I never was a big fan of the flatheads, for their size and weight they just don't put out that much power (the 1949 Merc is probably 90hp in stock factory form). Drop in a cheap 302 or 289 and a C4 and you'll have almost double the power.

I'd bet less than half that cut at your local shop. Hell they need the practice.

Man, I can't wait to see you get her looking good.

I hope you keep a running blog of this. You, some of us folks live vicariously through folks like yourself who restore old gems like this one.

Nice score by the way!

cool, also jealous. you could run it around for a while like it is, calling it your 'rat rod' till you restore it, if you are.....[rat rod, poor mans hot-rod]. glad to see that you are not putting in a boat anchor in it,[chev] when you do. lol. 5k or 50k, everybody likes old cars also....have a couple of 59 mercs-61 merc myself.

Nice car, for my 49 F1 pickup I made templates and or brought the original glass to the glass cutter, had a choice of clear or tint, 6 pcs came to about 175 bucks.

Hey toolz, very nice find. My wife's BIL started acquiring '40 Fords and parts way back in the 40's in his moonshine haulin' days. His wife and son begin taking parts to car shows this year in Charlotte and Carlisle, Pa. They have 20,000 mostly NOS still in the box parts. If interested I'll find out when their next show is.

Ford got everything right when they designed the "40 Ford Coupe.
They also did very well with the "34 coupe.
These are cars that will remain as icons forever.
As much of a Ford guy as I am, of the somewhat newer cars I also like the looks of the"59 Buick convertible, "57 Chevy hardtop and one of my favorites; the "57 Desoto Adventurer hardtop.
Congratulations, a "40 Ford coupe has been a dream of mine as well. I waited too long and I"m too old now. Enjoy it to the fullest. I hope you keep the Merc flathead; set up properly, it will give you all the power you will ever need in that little coupe!

You need to pick that old man up and ride him around at least once. That's pretty neat. Some day I'm gonna buy me a model T Touring Car. Always wanted one. Too many other things I always need first though. Good Luck with her.

I was expecting a floor shift, so I guess they came both ways. Thought I read somewhere that '40 was the first year a column shift was offered. Not sure about that.

60 o 85 horse. Love that car. Two things I recall. Closed driveline(not good) Dual points very hard to reach. Maybe two water pumps on V8. Was there a six or was that later? Like to be there and help you. Most of these were rare by the time I was driving(1961) Happy for you. Dave

This one was orignally 85 hp, the Merc is rated at 110, later Mercs were 125 with higher compression. No speed demon, but should get the job done. I'll convert it to electronic ignition under the stock cap. The Merc motor has the distributor up front where you can get to it. I'm not sure when the six came along- was thinking it was about '54, but could be way off.

A few more pics...

Wish I could dive into all those parts! Too far east for me (I'm in IL) but would sure like to see all that.

Great looking cars. I actually like the '39 Deluxe/'40 Standard front ends better (like the white one), but the '40 Deluxe seems to be more popular. The '40 Deluxe had two taillights instead of a left only, sealed beam headlights with parking lights in the top, and of course a different hood and grill. The standard front end looks a little cleaner.

not to far off on the sixes, early 50, 223cid

Very nice!!! A friend of mine got a 40 coupe a few years ago, and has been working on it ever since. His was nowhere as nice or complete as yours, as it had been hotrodded in the 60's with a small block Chevy. It had also been in a barn for years.

My friend turned down an offer of $10K for his 40, after he cleaned it up a little. It had no interior and the rear suspension will require a redo--it looks dangerous. The 283 or early 327 was stuck and maybe blown up, so he just removed it.

He has installed a TCI front clip IFS, and has a big block Chevy with a turbo 400 to put in it. It goes slow, as money is tight.

Your 40 looks really straight and sound. The late flathead would be wrong if you plan to restore the car to stock, but they were lots easier to work on, with the side mounted distributor and the higher water pumps. If you rebuild the engine, resist the temptation to bore it out any more than is necessary. Flatheads live lots longer if their cylinder walls are thick. I believe that 1940 was the first year for the column shift, but way back when, the 1939 transmissions were considered the hot setup, since they were synchromesh floorshifts.

My brother had a 47 Ford coupe with a late flathead that was supposed to have almost 300 cubic inches of displacement. It had 3 carbs and Edelbrock aluminum heads, headers with duals and a 39 transmission with Lincoln Zephyr gears. It was one of the quickest cars around in the early 60's and would do around 90 in the quarter. Unfortunately, with the engine bored out so much, it had overheating problems and eventually the block cracked between a couple of the cylinders. Since he was heading off to college, he ended up selling his coupe, which he considers being one of the worst decisions he ever made. We never saw it again.

I always thought the lines of the 39-40 Ford coupes were some of the best styling around, and lots better looking than the 42-48 coupes. But I have never had a chance to get one.

Enjoy your 40! It is a real find. Just out of curiosity, what did you have to pay for it? There is still some nice tin out there, you just have to look a little harder or know someone that will tell you where it is. I envy you! Good luck!

Good cars are still out there, but a lot harder to find than they used to be. This guy was real protective of the car- kinda kept it hidden and few knew he had it. I knew about the car from his best friend (one of my customers) for two years, but could never get my hands on it. Two weeks ago, my customer said he thought the car may be for sale, and he got us together. The owner asked $4000 for it, and I paid him real fast. Felt a little guilty, but that's what he wanted. I don't think he was really concerned about the value of it, he just wanted it to go to a good home, and see it run again.

The more I look at it, the more I'd like to see it in a wind tunnel. lol. ...again, that is one cool car!

(quoted from post at 09:11:57 06/07/11) Good cars are still out there, but a lot harder to find than they used to be. This guy was real protective of the car- kinda kept it hidden and few knew he had it. I knew about the car from his best friend (one of my customers) for two years, but could never get my hands on it. Two weeks ago, my customer said he thought the car may be for sale, and he got us together. The owner asked $4000 for it, and I paid him real fast. Felt a little guilty, but that's what he wanted. I don't think he was really concerned about the value of it, he just wanted it to go to a good home, and see it run again.

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would stick to original, too. Big high HP motor only leads to need to change suspension & especially BRAKES or early total.

On that note, if I did any mods I'd go with safety first. Disc brakes would be on my list regardless of what motor you put in it.

I posted a reply several pages up. Click the link to see.......
A reply from my 88 year old Dad