Blast to the Past

My Dads '31 "A" Roadster with a 1939 flathead V8. Note the wheels and tires...."Jumbo's", if I remember right, (1940)

His "first car", (1934)

His '44 or '45 Harley Davidson Police Bike, (1946)

His "A" Roadster with a Ford 289 c.i. & 3-speed. One of the first fiberglass bodies produced. (1970) Click Newspaper Clipping For Larger View

This was my first car. 1940 Ford Convert, built in the early fifties by the Barris brothers. It had a chopped Carson top by the Gaylord brothers and was nosed, decked, door handles removed, wide whites on 15" Merc wheels and 3 bar full hub caps. When I bought it the car was painted Honduras maroon but Barris had painted it dark green. The interior was black and white roll and pleat. Note the white fender welting. The car was lowered 4" with a dropped axle in front and long shackles and C'd frame in the rear. Engine was a stock 8BA flathead with a '39 transmission.

I bought it in 1959 and had to do a lot of mechanical work on it. Paint and top were in good condition but all the chrome needed replating which, if I remember right, cost me about $100. (This included bumpers, grille and headlight doors.) I sold it in 1961 for a hefty $450. profit.  

My second car (and first build....with many more to follow over the years), a 1940 Ford Standard Opera Coupe. My dad and I built up a 59AB flathead, bored to the max. with Isky cam, 2 deuce intake with Stromberg '97's, Canadian high compression aluminum heads without fins, (I bought these heads brand new for $5. Nobody wanted them as they were not "finned") and dual exhaust with Hollywood mufflers. 

The body had a fair amount of rust which we cut out and replaced with new metal. It was nosed, decked, door handles and all body side trim removed. Tailights are from a 1948 Pontiac. Merv "Beaver" Colver then painted it a 1961 Lincoln red over flat white primer. Interior was black and white roll and pleat with a ready made headliner (white with black piping) from J.C. Whitney.

Note the filled dash and Stewart Warner gauges (two in the glove box door). I painted it with Seymour Johnson spray cans (gloss black lacquer). Took a lot of paint, color sanding and compounding but it came out great. Did the same with the stock steering wheel and the 15" Mercury wheels.

Same car repainted blue. 1940 Ford Standard Opera Coupe. While stationed at Little Rock AFB I took off the dummy spots, put the door handles back on, repainted it Cobalt blue, covered the running boards in white vinyl, and put on a new set of narrow white walls. 

I kept this '40 Coupe (painted red in 1962 and then repainted Colbalt blue in 1965) for over seven years and it was a daily driver... only car I owned. During this time we cruised the drive-ins in Northern Illinois ("Skips" and the first McDonalds in Des Plaines), several in So. California and Little Rock Arkansas (while serving in the USAF), made four trips from the midwest to So. California on old two lane Route 66 (a real "blast from the past"..... down shifting in the mountains and hearing the sweet rapping from the glass packs on that flathead) and finally a trip from Santa Ana, Ca. to Florida where I sold it in 1968.

Thank you,

 Edward (Ted) DeBusman