1940 Ford Family Owned Coupe
 

Finally working to get this on the road this summer. Little history on the car.
Man who bought it new in 40’ went blind immediately after buying it. He went to church where my great great uncle was the preacher. He gave him the car in 1941 with the understanding he would drive him when necessary. My grandpa bought the car from his uncle after returning from Korea and drove it almost daily until 67’. It sat from then until 1994. My grandpa started work to get it road worthy but he passed away shortly after. Car was left to my dad.

Intentions are keep it nearly stock, maybe some 50’s era mods and lower it a bit. Initially I’m just getting it driveable then going from there. 85hp flathead V8 standard business coupe with fold down opera seats (in the trunk). I’m going to need some help and information to get it back on the road. There’s a lot I need to learn. First please school me on tire options for this car. Wheels are originals. Wouldn’t be against going wider in the rear

Me and the car 1994

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As it sits

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Engine...we have 3, my dad tells me this is not the correct engine for the car. Think grandpa scrapped the original when he swapped in a newer mercury. Something he regretted later
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Re: 1940 Ford Family Owned Coupe
 

Wonderful story and great that you ended up with the 40. The photo of you and the car is priceless. Having both tail lights in a Standard is a good start. When you say "options" do you mean options available when car was made?

1940 Ford Family Owned Coupe
 

Well I would go radial, my roads are kind of bad. I’d definitely want a white wall of some sort, the cars original color is Lyon blue.

Two tail lights an option?

Re: 1940 Ford Family Owned Coupe
 

Man, what a great story! You are very lucky to have this car--a car that a lot of us would cherish.

I would just go slow, realize this is a long term project, it's going to be a few years before you drive it, and enjoy the work along the way, thinking about and sharing with your heritage.

Personally, I would go the restoration way, keeping the car as stock as you can, rebuilding the mechanics (the brakes, of course). I would try to keep as much of the interior as can be repaired, instead of replaced, just to arrest any rust and keep the old paint after a thorough cleaning.

First thing you need is the service manual for this car.


You have a jewel, feel lucky, very lucky and enjoy...slim

Re: 1940 Ford Family Owned Coupe
 

Forgot to mention I have the original owners card for the car too

Re: 1940 Ford Family Owned Coupe
 

Regarding your question of two tail lights, they were required by some states. In today's world I would make sure it had two tail lights. First give that old Ford a good wash job. Preserve as much as you can on this car to save the originality. Real nice original cars draw a lot of attention and they are only original once. In your photos I do see a couple of extra holes in the top of the dash on the driver's side. Those are not stock. Anyway clean it up real good so you can assess the next step in the journey to bring this old Ford back to life. You have an extremely desirable car.

Re: 1940 Ford Family Owned Coupe
 

Pictures like this make me weak in the knees. Just be careful and go slowly; you have the time. And please feel free to come on here and ask about anything you want. I personally won't be able to help much, but there are some guys on here that really know their business.

Re: 1940 Ford Family Owned Coupe
 

i would just get it running and make it safe

Re: 1940 Ford Family Owned Coupe
 

Tr,
Out of sight !!! What a great privilege to have a car like this in your past present and future. The battery appears to be 12 volt and the motor a post WW II
issue. I dig upgrades too but only to the extent that the upgrades can be retroed
to original if or when your tastes change.........only my opinion. Congrats.
Charlie ny

1940 Ford Family Owned Coupe
 

Definitely plan on keeping what’s useable. All things considered the seats are not in bad shape. Door panels were replaced by something my grandma made years ago from a similar mohair fabric but it’s greenish. The holes in the dash are from a little 40s era fan....it’s in the trunk. Unfortunately the paint is not original. It was done in the early 60s I believe. It was Lyon blue..it’s black now. I think the place was called Earl Scheib in Pittsburgh? Paint while you wait place. Cars super solid. The bottom of the quarters need repaired and the one rear fender has mud in it. Dad hit the fender in the 70s with his maverick. Front middle grille is cracked. Dad thinks grandpa hit a tree that fell in his driveway

Picture of my grandpa on the right

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Re: 1940 Ford Family Owned Coupe
 

Very solid car to start with for sure!

1940 Ford Family Owned Coupe
 

This is original to the car, grandpa had it rechromed. Something I need help on figuring out the linkage and where to buy the Clevis pins/mounting hardware
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Re: 1940 Ford Family Owned Coupe
 

Yes. DeLuxes came with 2 tail lights. Standards came with one. Read about it here.
https://forums.aaca.org/topic/178073...o-tail-lights/

Pages 276-289 in this book lists the options available for the 1940 Ford.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/PARTS-MANUA...frcectupt=true
Also, get these books.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/1939-1940-F...frcectupt=true
and
https://www.ebay.com/itm/1928-1932-1...Jkoj:rk:7:pf:0
It also appears that you 40 is an early production model as the ashtrays pull out. Later ashtrays push in and up.
Does your car have a front sway bar?
One last suggestion. Take millions of photos of each part of your car including the paper work to preserve provenance and history. Before you take something apart, take photos.
Document everything you do. First thing you should do is write up a complete,detailed history of the car as best you can. Then update it as you go.

Re: 1940 Ford Family Owned Coupe
 

The Green Book and the hardware book would be helpful. I like the CD version with 13 books included.

Re: 1940 Ford Family Owned Coupe
 

Be VERY careful with the grille, They are almost impossible to find parts for.

Re: 1940 Ford Family Owned Coupe
 

Many of the V-8 parts vendors have the mounting hardware for the nose piece. I might suggest you join the Early Ford V-8 Club of America. The V-8 Times magazine is worth the price of the membership. The Times has some great articles and you have access to the numerous vendors who carry early Ford V-8 parts. You can join on the V-8 Club website at; www.earlyfordv8.org or by calling 1-866-427-7583.

Re: 1940 Ford Family Owned Coupe
 

These parts are what I need. I might be able to find some of the linkage. After my grandpa passed it’s a guess to where the parts are. I found a roof antenna assembly not belonging to the car....the trunk holds some mystery’s yet.
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Re: 1940 Ford Family Owned Coupe
 

19Fordy has some good advice but has it backwards on the ashtrays. What you have are the most common later ones, the early ones push up.

Also, as mentioned in another post some states required 2 tail lights (such as mine) and in the factory 1940 body parts book lists a separate LH fender with (Washington) clearly stated. I don't know about Pennsylvania.

The V8 (aka standard) models only came in 3 colors, Black, Lyon Blue and Cloud Mist Gray (actually a green color)

You are way ahead of the game with such a good starting point. I also have a V8 Business coupe (Cloud Mist Gray).

Member here on FB "KUBE" is an authority on 40s and is writing the new restoration book for the Early Ford V8 Club dealing with 40 Fords. He also does 1000 point restorations.

Re: 1940 Ford Family Owned Coupe
 

Welcome to the ‘Barn. Great car, great story and a great project for you. Get it running and safe for driving and have fun. Mike

Re: 1940 Ford Family Owned Coupe
 

TR, that's a great original Ford, and you are very lucky also to have a family history with it. If it were mine, I would restore mechanically, and preserve everything else.

I know you are set on whitewalls, but consider please, the V8 model (Standard), was an economical choice, almost never having whitewalls installed back in the day, and even the Deluxe models seldom sported whitewalls.

Earl Scheib did have a one day paint job available, I believe the cost was $29.95 back in the early 60's. For this price, you got very little prep work: A wash to remove wax, a very light sanding just to remove gloss, masking on the brightwork, and a quick spray of paint. What I'm saying here is that you may be able to salvage the original paint by carefully removing the Earl Schieb paint! It surely will have spots worn through, but originality counts big time here!

A car that has been carefully preserved today garners as much or more interest as a fully restored car. Spend many thousands on a restoration, only to see the preserved car next to you in a car show steal all the attention! The EFV8CA Rouge award (for original cars) is a prestigious thing to have!