46 woodie

In New York State it is illegal to place any type of clear plastic over your license plate. The DMV claims it interferes with the red light cameras and can't give a clear picture of the numbers.

Does anyone know who sells antique license plate frames. The centerline's on the holes on 1940's New York Plate's are 8 and 7/8" by 5 and 1/4".

I had the honor of going up in the ill fated "Nine-O-Nine", B-17 bomber. It was a life time experience in just trying to imagine what these kids went thru when the enemy was shooting at them. Too many people use the word "Hero's" when talking about sports stars, race car drivers and rock stars. Those crew's that flew in WWII are the real hero's and we are losing more of them every day.

There are several on E-Bay Motors in various years.

Now a days padlocks mean nothing. Crooks are using battery powered grinder/cut off tools to simply cut the locks. At one time cyclist's were using those horseshoe shaped locks to secure their bikes, not any longer. In NYC bike thieves cut them in about 30 seconds and the bike is gone.

When I was growing up there was a picture called "The Creature From the Black Lagoon. They modeled that steering wheel from the creatures face, looks just like it.

Well, let's hope that you are pleasantly surprised at the condition of the Woodie. Post pictures so we can offer suggestions.

A lot depends on what you plan to do with the car. If you are planning to enter it into fine point judging, then the color matters. There is an old saying, "it's just as easy to paint a car the wrong color, as it is to paint it the correct color. If you just to plan on driving it and having fun with it, who cares, it's your car. I wouldn't paint it some weird color such as pink or purple though. The numbers on '40's era Fords are on the chassis and top of the transmissions, so I wouldn't worry about changing the motor. By the way, hold onto your hat when you research how much it will cost to rebuild a flathead!

There a a couple of hot rod supply companies I would try, they have close to what you are looking for. Dakota Digital and Painless Wiring are the companies.

On closer inspection of the doors on E-Bay they are '47-'48 doors, as there is no crank mechanism for the vent windows. Ford changed over from crank open windows to the hand operated friction vent window in early '47.

If you go onto the E-Bay web site and then go onto E-Bay Motors someone is selling a set of four '41-'48 Ford Woodie doors. Not the greatest shape, but they do have the window regulators, vent windows and some smaller items. I would estimate probably half the wood needs to be replaced and they are listed for $2400. I don't know if this would help you or not. The regulators and vent windows are extremely hard to find. You should just go to the site to see how much wood and work is required for the interiors of the doors alone.

There is a difference in the 1941 Ford Station Wagon body. The rear doors do not have window lift mechanisms, they have divided sliding glass like the rear quarter glass. If Gumwood was used on the exterior, it was also used in the interior. Another book I would suggest in purchasing is the 1941-1948 Ford Book available from the V-8 Ford Club, it will help you in your restoration with all the fact's and other info you need.

As Tom points out, wood takes a long, long time to dry. If you start with "green" lumber, your finished product will probably shrink and check. Ford used Maple for the structural members and any other species won't look the same as the Maple. It took me 5 years of every weekend and most nights to complete my Woodie.

Tom brings up a good point. Once you get started, save everything. Everything on the '41 thru '48 Ford station wagon is unique. All the hardware such as door handles, locks, window risers, quarter window locks and pulls are Woodie only and if you are missing anything, it will take forever to find it and be expensive. It all comes down to what shape the car is in. Can you provide pictures? I never give out phone numbers unless it's O.K.ed, but you can call Woodie body builders such as Ron Heiden in CA. If you Google Ron you can get contact info, he's famous in the Woodie community and pick his brain. Another builder you can Google is Mike Nickel's in Michigan. Unfortunately, Mike's shop burned to the ground Labor Day weekend, he is a great guy and would be willing to answer questions.

Just don't bite off more than you can chew. A lot depends on the condition of the floor pans and rockers and how much wood needs to be replaced on the Woodie. No one reproduces the pan and rockers, all must be fabricated. The estimated cost for the Maple structural wood, the Basswood roof slat's and Birch or Gumwood panels can exceed $10,000 for a complete re-wood.

N.O.W., what a project, PLEASE keep the pictures coming! I love your hoist set up. Quite frankly, I'm surprised some of the purist's haven't been jumping up and down at the mention of "small block Chevy". What kind of wood will you be using?

Oh yeah, the small block Chevrolet will go down in history as one of the greatest engines of all time. You can probably get parts for them in your local hardware store! If you need a little more horsepower there is a huge selection of speed parts available almost everywhere. Good choice.

Bloo, I don't know about other makes, but as far as I know ford did not use anything on the screws. As far as using soap, it's the glycerin in the soap that makes it hygroscopic.

Something very minor and relatively inexpensive I purchased when I restored my '46 Ford "Woodie" were tapered drill bits, sized to each size wood screw. The very first screw I put into the hard rock maple snapped, even though I drilled a pilot hole. Lucky for me I had about a quarter inch stub sticking out and was able to clamp a vise grip on and get it out. I purchased every size, #8, #10, #12 and they made the job very easy. Also, and here comes the controversy, don't use soap or wax to lubricate your screw's. Both soap and wax are hygroscopic and will absorb water and stain the wood, especially if it's a station wagon, exposed to the elements. I used a thread lubricant designed for wood screws, that I purchased from a woodworkers supply.

When you say that the boat will be re-powered with something modern, what does the owner have in mind?

Garfield Wood, (Garwood) was famous for his boat's, but he made his fortune as the inventor and patent holder of the first hydraulic lift for dump trucks. When coal was the major source of heat in America, coal trucks used a hand crank dump body. His invention was such a success that every truck in America converted to hydraulics and made him very rich.

Absolutely, I have pictures of my grand daughters when they were six or seven years old trying to weld scrap steel in my garage. I set them up, gave them all the protection they needed and gave them the basics. I stepped back and let them go at it. Of course the welds looked like garbage, but at least they tried and kept at it. Every time they come into my garage I showed them a tool and asked them what it was for. I'll bet there aren't too many kids that can identify taps, dies, broaching tools, and all sorts of tools. When my oldest, grand daughter now 16, started drivers ed the instructor asked the class what a dipstick was. The only person that knew was my grand daughter. Everything I do in my garage I have let them try, from spray painting to grinding etc.

In the early '70s I stopped off to get gas at a local gas station. I noticed two police cars and a fire department vehicle parked in front of one of the bay's. It turns out that for security measures the owner pulled as many car's as he could fit into the bay, under the lift. Somehow overnight, the lift went down and settled on top of two cars. I never found out what caused the lift to go down and I don't know how old the lift was, but it did a lot of damage to those cars.

Remember, you need a self aligning reamer. If you purchase a standard reamer and do one bushing at a time you will never get the top and bottom bushings aligned in the same orientation. They are a bit pricey so you might be better off sending your spindles to a machine shop.

Holy cow, I count 16 spark plugs!