1935 Ford Project -2Dr Sedan to 3W Coupe

They say that the road to Hell is paved with good intentions and this project may just toast my ass for all eternity.....
I've always wanted a Bonneville/dry lakes-style coupe...so I'm going for it. Not quite the Pierson Bros, the SoCal racer, the Poteet car, the Rolling Bones, or the 'Whiskey Runner', but in that sphere of influence. I recently bought a '35 Ford 2 door sedan body and frame and the idea is to make it into a 3 window coupe with a heavy chop, laidback 'A' pillars, fenderless, traditional highboy style, Olds powered, tall skinnys on wide fives, '38 Ford rear axle w/bones, bare interior, and best of all, a bare metal body (well maybe a satin clear to preserve it). Selling the fenders, running boards, spare tire carrier....

Parts are beginning to accumulate:

Body and frame -'35 Ford











Engine -1958 Olds 371


Transmission -3 or 4 speed (unknown, as yet)


Front axle -4" dropped Chassis Engineering axle


Replacement grille:


Cleaning up the replacement grille (badly pitted) and stripping the tin:




Sorry, no pics of the wide fives, as yet.
Oh my....it's getting warm in here already.....

Cool project Linc, curious as to how you are going to convert this to a coupe? Are you doing a splice with the rear half of a coupe body or are you planning some serious metal work? No mater what its a cool project, good luck with it.

Bash

Thanks Bash. I contemplated buying a 3w half to fuse onto the rear of the sedan. I know of three however, the tin is really crappy on all of them and would be even more work to restore, as far as I can see. Anything to do with mid-thirties coupes is prohibitively expensive.
The plan is to cut the top along the belt line, through the trunk slope, and over the top just behind the doors. Then the rear window area will be moved forward and the excess roof tin removed to achieve the 3w coupe proportions. The doors on a two door sedan are the same length as a 3w coupe, however, the door tops need modifying (rounding). The four door sedan front doors are the same length as those on the 5w coupe.
The 3w coupe has a wider 'B' pillar than what is on the sedan which means some fabbing work. The rear deck will mostly be fabbed from scratch although I do have a lead on a great looking trunk lid which will set the various curvatures for the deck. The deck is going to be 'bobbed' and not go as low as the stock tail pan.
After the shortened top is roughly tacked together to resemble a 3w in length, then the chop will start with the windshield laid back, door tops modified, etc.
Needless to say, this serious metal work is way, way beyond my skill level and Stony Smith at Oddball Kustoms will be doing the honours. I bought this body because it is the most solid piece I have ever seen and should make a very nice bare metal car. Sure the door bottoms and cowl lower edges need a little love but nothing too serious and it needs floors, etc. Pics will follow...

Got my eye on your build David.

Subscribed and waiting for updates.

If you need a pair of hands, let me know and if I'm free...

Thanks for the offer Frank....for sure it's going to be a challenge....

Definately have my attention. Looking forward to seeing more.

...whew, an audience already. The plans above are all subject to weird compromises, of course. Aeronautical engineers have a joke definition that a plane is just a bird with a lot of compromises. Don't know what's ahead but interesting it's going to be with all the 'to and fro'....

This will be interesting to watch Dave, keep us posted.

Dig it!

You can count on me following this one David.

....mockup begins. The body is leveled and about to be structurally reinforced before the cutting begins.






Had lots of discussion regarding brakes and made a few minor decisions. The car came with a Chassis Engineering disc brakes for the front wheels that was part of a pkg with the 4" dropped axle. I'm not a fan of disc brakes on a traditionally styled open-wheeled hot rod, so late '40's backing plates were bought to begin the adaptation. I'm also going to use mid '50's Buick finned drums. The discs/calipers, etc will head toward Kijiji.





The '35 axle is to be combined with '35 bones with the spring in front. Again, not a fan, because the wheelbase looks a little stubby between the front wheels and the cowl (to me). So the plan is to mount the bones and axle farther forward and mount the transverse spring on the bones behind the axle and chop off the current spring mounts. This will lower the car and allow the front edge of the tires to closely align with the grille, if viewed from the side.

The body has been stripped of all old mechanical brake lines, wiring, door upholstery, and a seat spring and three running boards went in the scap bin. The rear fenders were sold and now reside in Sudbury. The front fenders are for sale on the big 'K' as well, along with a battered '35 grille.....(Update: front fenders and ratty grille going to Silvan Lake, AB)

David why don't you just advertise somewhere wanted to swap Two door body for a coupe, you never know someone out there might be wanting a two door and get rid of his coupe body more than a mad dog wants a flogging.

....hahaha....keep dreaming John. Around here, pieces of scrap '33/'34/'35/'36's go for way more than the cost of a solid two door sedan.....

Great concept for your build. I've also been thinking "Bonneville style" for my project. I assume you have it, but if you don't get an SCTA rule book and confirm that your modifications fit one of their classes. Who knows, you may want to take it to B'ville and see what it'll do. From your description it looks like the Classic Altered or Competition Coupe class. Note that SCTA for example specifies roof chop dimensions and windshield lean back distances.

Good luck, I'm watching.

Cheers, John

Thanks GFaRt....good points all, but this car is going to be a driver rather than a racer. Tech and spec are too rigorous for this build...

Here's what happened today. The pictures tell the story in sequence as you will see. The overall approach had to rely on a logical progression to shorten the top, chop the top, and modify the door tops to mimic the 3-window door tops -all of which are interdependent.
The first incisions were done to the fixed side windows and removed pieces that will be used for the new tops of the doors at the 'B' pillar.....

























The chop took 5.5" out of the 'A' pillars and left the viewing height through the windshield at 8". All of a sudden the frumpy 2 door turns bitchin in three hours.
I'm the guy behind the camera, parts gatherer, and concept guy so far. Stony at Oddball Kustoms is the metal wizard and unparalleled advisor.....

Total change of attitude for the old girl.

Starting to look real good there David.

Looks pretty good so far. Keep it coming, please. They should have hired you guys when they tried to put humpty dumpty back together.

jvo said:

Looks pretty good so far. Keep it coming, please. They should have hired you guys when they tried to put humpty dumpty back together.

Click to expand...

....well, billions of brain cells have been sacrificed so far on the thinking and imagining, but we're on a roll now and the universe is unfolding as it should. So many things have simply fallen into place for this build....it's scary. A few more beers should take care of the remaining brain cells....

I too, will be following this build. I am starting to see the idea a little better now.
Waiting the back end treatment........

PG409 said:

I too, will be following this build. I am starting to see the idea a little better now.
Waiting the back end treatment........

Click to expand...

Thanks Keith. The upper deck from the rear window down to the lower edge of the trunk lid will be built from scratch. I will have a trunk lid in a couple of weeks to use for the proper contours, etc. The rear tail pan is going to be bobbed and an underside pan will be added to hide the gas tank (maybe louvered....)