[Dick Carne]

I'm not sure from your question if your car is a straight windshield or slant window fordor - the slant window would obviously represent a lower cost project (I have helped my nephew some on his slant window fordor, in return for his help on my straight windshield Briggs Town Sedan). I finished my '29 Town Sedan in 2015, having completed the restoration in a series of "on again - off again" starts and finishes for the ten year period prior to that. I did powder coat all of the running gear and all other "black" castings, and had a high-temperature coating applied to the exhaust manifold. I also sandblasted the body, primed it myself, purchased a partial wood kit for about $800, and with the exception of the wood in the doors, replaced all of the wood with the help of my nephew, and then primed and blocked the body four or five times before turning it over to a professional painter for completion. From there, I purchased all new fenders, hood, splash aprons, running boards, headlights, cowl lights, radiator shell, stainless bumpers, etc. I also wound up purchasing another cowl section and cowl band in order to conver this car from a standard fordor to a Town Sedan (good re-usable cowl bands for '29 cars are also getting extremely hard to find), and had any remaining plating one to include the dome light, door latches (I know, these were not originally plated, but...), etc. As far as mechanical parts go, I rebuilt a "B engine" so as to get the heavier crank, used all new transmission gears, rear axle ring and pinion gears, all new races, bearings, and seals, all new steering sector and worm gear, new cast iron brake drums and woven linings, and Flathead Ted's brake parts, an original re-cored radiator, all new glass, stainless muffler, etc., etc. I used PPG single stage paint, and paid the painter another $5,500 to do final blocking, and finish the paint. As for the interior, I purchased the Bedford Cord from Lebaron Bonney along with new carpets, seat springs and top materials, and used another supplier for the remaining interior headliner and door panel materials. Although I was quoted a much lower price when the upholster began, the final labor charge for installing the interior package wound up at $7500, plus another $500 to install the top (exclusive of materials costs).

I built this as a tour car that I would feel comfortable driving most anywhere that I would ever care to go, but I also appreciate having a nice car. So far, it has never failed to draw a crowd given the care and detail that went into the restoration of this car. With that said, I would estimate that doing a car along these lines would run something in the $30K+ range, exclusive of the car acquisition costs (which is perhaps another reason why it took the better part of ten years to complete).

Since completing this car, I have purchased a '31 slant window cabriolet. This car is a nice original car that I acquired from the family of the second owner, but it will still need a thorough cosmetic restoration and brake work (the engine is quiet and runs well, and engine rebuilders in the area have told me to "leave it alone" until it develops noises or starts to show other mechanical deficiencies) and I will still plan to go through the transmission and rear axle (- not necessarily all new gears and bearings this time though), as well as the front axle and steering. I also plan to use Concept on the running gear this time rather than powder coat everything underneath. I figure that if I paint the car this time myself, that I may be able to do a nice cosmetic restoration for something in the $15-20K range, inclusive of an estimated $6.5K+ for top and interior (LB top and interior for this car are something less than $3K).

I hope that this will provide some insight into my experience with my fordor. Again, I went way overboard on a number of items, but there were absolutely no short-cuts taken during this restoration. In retrospect, I am quite certain that I could have wound up with a very nice car for a good bit less.