There it sat, after years of racing history behind it it was all but forgotten and left to rot in the woods for 30 years behind Jimmy Deason's house in Greenwood South Carolina. The car was raced here in Newberry, as well as Greenwood back in the early 1960s by Horace Kirkland, and then was sold to Jimmy to add to his collection. It was painted pink and had holes cut throughout the quarter panels. The rear window had been tourched out and the doors were welded in place. It apparently was wrecked towards the end of its career and had the frame badly twisted. The auction was in full process but no one was interested in bidding against me, so I claimed this jewel for $150.00 What a prize! Now all it was going to take was to drag it home and make a hot rod out of it.
But where do you start? What needs to be done first? As with any project its really just a series of small projects done one after another. If you look at it in that way, it keeps you focused and help prevent the feeling of being overwhelmed with the project. First thing I did was to take inventory of what I had, and what I needed. The frame was garbage, as where the doors and decklid. The tops of the quarter panels was usable, and the roof could be salvaged.
The rear window had been cut out with a torch, so another rear window section would need to be found. The front cowl was badly butchered, so another one of those would have to be located.
Looked daunting, but I did find a guy in florida that not only had a cowl section but three coupe doors, with one drive side and two passenger sides. I bought the doors and cowl for $800. along with some front end parts so I was starting to make real progress. As far as the quarter panels, I had my good friend Donnie Smart, who is an excellent metal man actually hand roll a left and right quarter panel. The quarters also included the inner fender panels, and was easily welded into the body section by cutting the belt line in the center and welding in the panels
1 comment:
Curt,
I have a 1939 Ford Standard Coupe that has F 100 front brakes from a 1948 TRUCK. Do the F 100 back brakes work also and is it advisable to use them. My existing 1939 brake w/ 1940 style hubs are in bad condition and I wondered if it would be good time to change the brakes? What truck years would fit?
Hugh Martin
Spartanburg, SC
864-573-5109
hughdm@gmail.com
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