1935 Ford V-8 D.M. Foursome Drophead Coupe

[kingcar35]

Hi!
I am looking for info and pictures on this car type I have the "remains" of. It is a rear specie of course as they were handmade coachbuilds. Does anybody know of other exemplars remaining? It would be helpful in the restauration to see pictures of interior and other details. I dont find any other pictures on the internet than what i am posting here. Picture to the left shows my car as it was in 1946 with the King of Norway in the back seat of it!
Thank You, Lars.

[NYfatboy]

Beautiful!

[Lawson Cox]

Now that's a rare one for sure.

[mercman from oz]

That is a rare one for sure. Looks very European with the Suicide Doors and very compact Folding Top that you can actually see over.

[Jembow]

is it RHD? The photo's a bit fuzzy but it looks like it. This would make sense as it's British built. Dagenham Motors were a Ford dealership who made a small numbers of coachbuilt bodies on various Ford chassis in the 30s. Someone in the British Chapter of EFV8C might have more info. I don't know of any survivors myself. Be really nice to restore it.

[rockfla]

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Interesting stuff here, Here is an original French brochure of a similar body style, sands the suicide opening doors and what appears to be a slightly different trunk layout. The second picture is what is listed as Karossiere Kellner which I believe to be wrong as the body tag in the lower quarter section is that of Karossiere Janier. The Janier body almost mirrors the Dagenham Drophead.

[kingcar35]

Thank You all!
Yes the car was originally right hand drive, but has later on been rebuilt. The chassie, engine and front to torpedo origins from Canada. I belive they allso drove on the "Wrong side" that time (?) so that would work for the British too.

[Mart]

Lars, do you have any pics of the car in it's present state? If so it would be interesting to see them.

Mart.

[Barlea]

Originally Posted by kingcar35

Thank You all!
Yes the car was originally right hand drive, but has later on been rebuilt. The chassie, engine and front to torpedo origins from Canada. I belive they allso drove on the "Wrong side" that time (?) so that would work for the British too.

No, we seldom intentionally drove on the wrong side at any time, but Ford Canada built a lot of right hand drive vehicles for export... ..B.

[weemark]

thats an unusual body style - ive never heard of it and there isn't any references to it in any of the material I have about them. if you search on google it comes up with pictures of another, in Wigan UK of all places. http://www.wiganworld.co.uk/album/ph...lice&offset=40

however I don't believe the wording in the above forum is correct because the car on the left in the pics had roadster stanchions whereas the DM foursome drop head seems to have a fixed windshield like the cabriolets not the roadsters - also in the forum someone mentions a registration which doesn't match with the car in the picture so did they have a foursome drop head and a roadster or was the poster on the forum confused by something else?

On my '35 roadster, built in Dagenham, I have the little side lights on top of the fenders and also the trafficators on the side so these would be correct for a car built in the UK.

[Jembow]

Police in Wigan had money to burn if they spent £415 on a fancy coupe when a factory bodied car was £225 retail. I checked the DVLA (driver & vehicle licensing agency), neither of those cars is currently listed. Not that I seriously hoped they had survived. We need photos of your car, kingscar35.

[Jembow]

On 2nd thoughts, I bet Dagenham Motors loaned the cars for the publicity.

[kingcar35]

Here is an upclose of the picture previously presented from 1946. And one I had from an earlier owner. Bumpers are missing presently (not sure if thy are original anyway?) So are the windows and the dashboard etc etc
A larger version you can see in the album on my profile, I don't know why they come out smaller here, I am new to this sorry.

[petehoovie]

Bigger....

[kingcar35]

It would be interesting to see some pictures of your roadster. Does it have a wooden dashboard or metal same as the US ?

[kingcar35]

Thanks petehoovie! My last post was for weemark by the way...

[weemark]

my dash is metal same as US roadsters, everything is the same as US roadsters in fact, its just RHD. here are some pics - it has a banjo steering wheel on it now but other than that its exactly the same. that's a radio under the centre of the dash, the controls bolt onto the column, there is also a two bar heater under the dash you can just see in the pics.

[weemark]

Originally Posted by kingcar35

Here is an upclose of the picture previously presented from 1946. And one I had from an earlier owner. Bumpers are missing presently (not sure if thy are original anyway?) So are the windows and the dashboard etc etc
A larger version you can see in the album on my profile, I don't know why they come out smaller here, I am new to this sorry.

thinking about it you car looks like it has bumpers from a ford pilot, the rear looks a bit like a model 62 or a pilot as well. I don't think its clear from the pics but I wonder does your car have coupe/roadster rear fenders or if it has sedan rear fenders?

[vantage]

Weemark, is your roadster body the same as the Australian version (based on the 5 window) with the longer roof or is it the same as the South African version?

[weemark]

Vantage I don't know anything about these other versions sorry. It has the same dimensions as the us version.

[kingcar35]

weemark: Great looking car you have there ! Is it mirrors you have there by the door hinges or pop out blinkers? My picture from 1946 shows something similar at the right side of the car, but originally had built in pop outs just rear of the doors. Same as you see on the Dagenham picture.
Pretty sure I have coupe fenders but they are bad shape.

[weemark]

They are trafficators/semaphores or as you say pop out indicators. They were relatively common on uk cars, I've seen the square box type, which I have on my car, on a few different ford models. There are loads of them similar to this on eBay.co.uk.

As you say a lot of cars had these built into the post just behind the front door however I think because these cars were essentially American in design there was no provision for them so were an 'add on' when they were built here, same with the side lights on top of the fenders really.

[rockfla]

Weemark

Are your trafficator's Lucas???

[weemark]

I don't know off the top of my head, i will check them later tonight.

I have went and had a look at the trafficators are Trico not Lucas like the ones in the link below.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NOS-Britis...sAAOSwzJ5Xaq5l

[mercman from oz]

Vantage, I must disagree with you when you say that the Blue 35 Roadster has an australian Body.
Take a look at these pictures comparing a USA bodied 1936 Ford Roadster (red) and an Australian bodied 1936 Roadster (tan). From the front, they look very similar, however, when you compare the width of the bodies behind the Roof, you can see that there is a vast different between the two varieties. this is especially evident in the last photo. So, the dimensions of Weemarks 1935 Ford Roadster is identical to the USA assembled 1935 Ford Roadsters.

[mercman from oz]

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This Imported 1936 Ford Cabriolet is equipped with the UK style trafficators/semaphores, identical to the ones on the 35 Roadster pictured above. It also the Parking Lights on the front fenders, which all UK Ford of these era had from the Factory.

[weemark]

mercman that last pic is really interesting, that looks like a uk built car, if it was i may mean the are more survivors from Dagenham than I thought there was.

[mercman from oz]

Yes, This UK Import is a Survivor now residing in Australia. It has recently received a new coat of paint and is now Navy Blue. Ford Australia never offered any model Cabriolets, which is a rear shame.

[Graeme / New Zealand]

mercman the last pic is interesting for another reason the mercury looks like 42-48 going by the fenders the the top is more like 41 Ford rather than 42-48 ford/Mercury.

GB

[mercman from oz]

Graeme, Here is a picture of the 1946 Mercury Convertible with earlier 1941 style Top which lacks the extra side windows in the rear quarters. It is a very nice car, but as you say, has the earlier model top for some reason. It seems that it was ahead of its time, as in the late sixties, the fashion was for small, or no windows at all in the rear quarters on the Personal Luxury Coupes. Take the 1966 Ford Thunderbird as an example.

[tony starr]

Mercman, thanks for sharing that photograph showing the difference in the Australian bodied '36 roadster. It has been explained to me by a friend who has a '36 roadster but nice to see the differences, side by side. And I agree with you, shame we never saw cabriolets - my fave body style.

-tony.

[Don Rogers]

Kingcar 35, After some searching, I finally found some photos of German Cabriolets that seem to have some of the same features as your British made open car. In both interior shots there seems to be a relatively normal 35/36 dash.

[weemark]

Don I quite like the bonnet sides on that German car.

[Don Rogers]

I agree, Its massive, but the curves make it pleasing.

Don

[JSeery]

Originally Posted by weemark

Don I quite like the bonnet on the German car.

OK, is the bonnet the trunk lid or the top? I always thought bonnet was a British term for trunk lid.

[weemark]

Originally Posted by JSeery

OK, is the bonnet the trunk lid or the top? I always thought bonnet was a British term for trunk lid.

Bonnet is the uk term for the engine cover or hood as I think you guys calls it, trunk lid is called a boot here in the uk.

[weemark]

Seems there is also a black one if you google it, Was at pebble beach at some point
here is a link to the restoration of the car, they have before and after pics of it
http://performance-restorations.com/projects.php


heres a link to the whole article about it at pebble beach

http://www.conceptcarz.com/view/phot...ial_photo.aspx

[Don Rogers]

BRITISH AMERICAN

Boot == Trunk
Bonnet == Hood
Hood == Conv Top

[JSeery]

Originally Posted by Don Rogers

BRITISH AMERICAN

Boot == Trunk
Bonnet == Hood
Hood == Conv Top

Thanks!! I messed with VWs at one time, think that confused me, Bonnet is an engine cover, correct? And that was the rear of the car on the Beetle so guess I associated it with trunk in my memory!!

[weemark]

and another - this one I think its nearest to OPs car given the shape of the trunk

[weemark]

And another, these things are getting common. The bodies must have all been made by the same people because they all have the same features e.g. The body line along the centre of the car. I can't see that all these different coach builders just happened to come up with the same design. This one though seems a mix of 1935 and 1934 parts.

http://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/2...serie-deutsch/

[OHV DeLuxe]

This is for sale here in Norway now. One of the better looking non factory designs in my opinion.
Extended wheel base.

[Brian]

And 36 style cowl!

[rockfla]

At weemark,
Yes there were "several" custom coach builders in Germany and many of them have very similar features/design BUT if you start looking at the different coach builders there are some very different (although subtle) changes by each builder. As For the car you posted, that car is very special in that it was ordered for Edsel Ford, it was originally a 1934 BUT by the time the body arrived here in the US the 35 model was already released to the public SO it was fitted with the 35 model grill to "Stay Current". Even though "they seem to be popping up everywhere" and seem to be "more common" they are not, I can account for 37 total worldwide ranging from 1930 to 1938, so when you run the numbers they are still a very "Rare" find!!!

[rockfla]

Current know Karosserie are
Deutsch
Drauz
Glasser
Buhne
Kellner
Janer

[Byron Warwick]

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No one has commented on the down curve of the body line past the front door. Also it appears that the spare is at least partially mounted into the trunk area and not on the standard gooseneck mount .

[Kahuna]

What a very attractive car

[rockfla]

For the truly knowledgeable, it has the correct "smooth" rear bumper and an American Front bumper with the rabbited dual lines in it!!!! The front "Should be" smooth too!!!