1937 Ford Coupe Build

[hooligan]

Looks amazing! Great work! Such a cool car/project. Can't wait to see more!

Thanks Jon, any new progress on the Essex?

Looking really good Dean.

I see you bought the skirts off Shopdawg.

Thanks Brian, no I didn't get the skirts from Greg yet, this one I got from the spokane swap, if I remember right it is from a Buick, the seller only had one but it is mint and cost 15 bucks. I'm hoping to grab the set from Greg soon!

Judging by your past projects and the progress on this one so far, its going to be an awesome car........

Thanks

 

[hooligan]

Now that the body is on, the next on my list is to ditch the crappy dash that's in it and section and fit a 1955 Ford dash. Then onto the metal work and chop!

 

[gumby56]

Meh, its alright i guess.......if you're into totally badass cars

 

[hooligan]

Started fitting the rep o-fiberglass rear fenders (looking for good steel ones though): The fit is really poor and a lot of finagling was needed to close the gap.

About an 1 1/2" to move around:

Still a bit more to go but getting there, tried the skirts I bought off Greg.

Got this new re-upholstered bench seat off kijiji. Never been used and a steal for a 100 bucks! Will get a color change.....in a year or so, lol.

Cut out the dash, exhausted more 4 letter words and found even more bondo stuffed in the A pillars.....for no real reason! Almost an 1" thick, broke out in chunks, lol. Just have to shake my head on this

 

[hooligan]

How to ruin a perfectly good 55 Ford dash! LOL.

Decided to start cutting up the dash I got in Spokane, it's a very nice, complete 55 dash, I bought the whole unit and a cluster for 35 dollars!

Needed to cut 13" out of it, before I committed to it, I thought I'd see how it looked with the 53 Buick steering wheel! Gotta say I'm liking it, won't be everyones cup of tea I'm sure.

Lots of filler pieces to make and need to figure out how I'm going to utilize the curved pieces I cut off the ends into the doors!

 

[JONROD]

WOW! Amazing work Dean, and super creative! Its coming along nicely, can't wait to check it out in person.

 

[dumprat]

Love the Buick wheel! Are you going to run all the bits of the dash or just the cluster and shave the rest?

 

[hooligan]

WOW! Amazing work Dean, and super creative! Its coming along nicely, can't wait to check it out in person.

Thanks Jon.

Love the Buick wheel! Are you going to run all the bits of the dash or just the cluster and shave the rest?

Thanks, I too love that Buick wheel! It flows nice with the dash.

I am planning on running most of the bits of the dash, need to think on how I'm going to utilize the curved dash ends I cut off and fab them into the doors, also gonna move the ashtray and relocate the clock and heater controls.I don't think I'll be able to use the radio even though it's cool, just don't want to clutter it too much.

Planning on making my own control knobs from stacking plexi glass and shaping and polishing on my bench grinder when the time comes.

 

[Ol Heap]

Good progress Dean. Looking great. Keep 'em coming!!
Al

 

[thumper27]

I might be a little bias, but that wheel and dash look great together. Nice vision. Might want to use a black bungee cord, though.

 

[The Big M]

Great progress! I think that dash will look right at home there.

 

[bgbdlinc]

....you've got a great eye for combining 'disparate' objects/parts that look just great together. I'm endlessly curious about the process -have you lusted about a Buick wheel to use somewhere/someday, a flea market serendipity/gamble kind of thing, do you haunt eBay/Kijiji (to the annoyance of your spouse), or do you scrounge around and steal from your buddies.....?

 

[hooligan]

Meh, its alright i guess.......if you're into totally badass cars

Good progress Dean. Looking great. Keep 'em coming!!
Al

I might be a little bias, but that wheel and dash look great together. Nice vision. Might want to use a black bungee cord, though.

Great progress! I think that dash will look right at home there.

Thanks guys.

....you've got a great eye for combining 'disparate' objects/parts that look just great together. I'm endlessly curious about the process -have you lusted about a Buick wheel to use somewhere/someday, a flea market serendipity/gamble kind of thing, do you haunt eBay/Kijiji (to the annoyance of your spouse), or do you scrounge around and steal from your buddies.....?

It would appear judging by your build you share the same eye! I appreciate the compliment.

I don't buy much, if anything from Ebay. I scour Kijiji everyday and search most provinces while I enjoy my morning coffee. Usually I find a lot of "stuff" on forums like this or the HAMB. And of course swap meets.

I've been looking for specific items for this build since I bought the car in hopes that when the time came, they would work together and somehow play true to how it was building in my head. So far, I'm quite happy with the direction of the car. A little nervous on when it comes time to chop it, it plays back and forth in my head, I've done a lot of planning for it but until i make the first cut I'll continue to stress, haha. Of course, after I look at what you guys were able to do on your build, I should have nothing to worry about, LOL

As for the spouse, she shares the same swap meet, vintage, collecting, buying and selling thing as I do.

 

[bgbdlinc]

....hahaha....glad I'm not the only one stressin'. Damn, a great eye, great cars, understanding spouse....Dude, you are truly blessed......

 

[hooligan]

Summer holidays start for me for 2 months next week so the plan is to bang on the 37. We are considering selling our house and moving to an acreage with a huge shop, so if that happens I'll be limited on hot rod time. Fingers crossed I'll juggle everthing and make some good progress on it. I would really like to take it for a spin around the block this year. It doesn't need much to be a runner, though it needs a ton yet to be finished, lol.

In the meantime I managed to score more parts for it, nice hood sides, front and rear bumper brackets, rough front aprons (still looking for a better set if anyone knows of), another hood, heater from the 20's.

My best score has to be yesterday, got a complete AccuAir Elevel VU4 air management system with their Exomount, barely used. So today I went and got all new fittings for my bags since the VU4 is 3/8" and I set my bags up for 1/4" line, no biggie.

 

[351CFalcon]

Dash and wheel look really good in there.

Don't know why anyone wouldn't like it; no different than putting in a '40 dash into a '32 Ford (just for Tinny).

Good luck on the house sale.

 

[John in Oz]

Instead of making the dash fit the doors, perhaps you could make the doors mould to the dash, looks good and different. Good on you for think outside the normal square.

 

[hooligan]

Dash and wheel look really good in there.

Don't know why anyone wouldn't like it; no different than putting in a '40 dash into a '32 Ford (just for Tinny)......

Instead of making the dash fit the doors, perhaps you could make the doors mould to the dash, looks good and different. Good on you for think outside the normal square.

Thanks guys. Hoping to have some progress to report in the next few weeks. Found more parts and think I have most everything now to get it running/driving hopefully by September. I do need to go to pick n pull and get what I need to make a driveshaft.

I'd really like to have the roof chop started in the next few weeks as well as maybe getting it running again and have the AccuAir installed/plumbed and working.

 

[hooligan]

Well not much to report on the 37, thought we were gonna sell our house so spent the last month re-painting the whole house and adding an addition to the deck etc. Decided to keep it as it's a bit too late too up and move to an acreage and we haven't found one that suits all of our needs. Anyways that has nothing to do with hotrods lol, but is a big factor in why I haven't done much on this build lately.

I've got one more month off before I go back to work and a lot of parts here for the 37, the next step is to start the chop. I swear I am going crazy with this. I thought I had it figured and then I change my mind. Slant the rear windshield? Move the whole thing forward and down and add to the trunk area? Anyways, I had a guy on the HAMB do a photochop for me, it included a mild chop; around 3" vertical, slant the b-pillars, extend the quarter window, and slant the rear. I think he got it just right as to how I was thinking if I slant the back instead of extending the trunk area.

What are your guy's opinions? It is kinda nice to get a visual on at least one idea I have before I cut the shit out of it, lol. Hoping I'll get another rendition of it with the trunk area extended but if not, I'll do it by cutting up photocopies of the car, I'm not too savvy with the image rendering thing, lol.

Before:

After:

 

[351CFalcon]

The "after" pic looks real good...well proportioned with the crown, especially at the rear area, taken out.


Of course I have to ask....why chop it? Looks good stock height.