[Erndog]

My son and I are just starting to restore his first car, a 1940 70 series four door sedan. After removing the radiator and getting a better look at things, I noticed that there is no obvious oil filter. Am I nuts or did this car actually come without an oil filter? The shop manual makes no mention of one, either.

[rocketraider]

Oil filters were optional up until about the mid-50s on most cars, though I think the Rocket V8 always had provision for one. Not sure on the earlier sixes and eights.

Aftermarket companies such as Purolator and Fram made cartridge oil filter kits that could adapt to most early engines. Not sure where you'd find one short of a junker engine unless someone has one laying around. There should be somewhere on the engine to connect the oil filter plumbing to an oil gallery. Worth noting that these type filters will be bypass filtration, not full-flow filtration.

But any filtration is better than none, eh?

If you could find somewhere to hide it, a late-model remote spin-on oil filter might be the way to go here.