Robert Ardoin

Thank you for the nice note, my son has joined the Zephyr's owners club and is enjoying the magazines (I am just the assistant mechanic). We hope to make it to some meets after we do a little more work. As you know it is a fun long term project which is really fun to drive. We were stopped the other day to let a 95 year old women sit in it. It makes us all young.

Gentlemen, thank you for your help and advice. I am happy to report that the 39 Zephyr is running very well and much better than when we got it. We did many of the things you mentioned and which we had done before on our 50 Ford Custom. Changed the fuel pump, cleaned the carb, changed out the ballast resistors, one for each coil (new 12 volts) The car is completely stock and will remain so with the only difference you might note is the battery and the top of the distributor. Thanks to Mr. Jerry Richmond for his advice on some of the electrical issues. The right rear brake was locked and the car was at the bottom of a steep hill. One of the graphite (carbon ) brushes in the distributor was broken and of course, it does not like running on six cylinders. We will eventually replace the wiring harness. It will not be show car but a fun member of the family. Thanks again for your help.

Hello Tom, thanks for the input. We went thru some of the same problems with fuel filter, pumps etc with the 50 ford and after that, drove it trouble free for 4 years. We will get there on the Zephyr. It is really good shape but needs a little tidying up here and there. It is stock except for a few things and we do have the manuals. i will let you know what we find. Thought you might enjoy a picture. Thanks again for the help. Robert

Thank you for your reply and help. We changed to a 12 volt system on my sons 50 ford 2dr coupe and it ran great. This conversion was a little more complicated because the previous owner had rewired things, put in an electric fuel pump etc. and it took us a little while to figure it out because we could not always use the wiring diagram from the vendor. We changed the starter solenoid, coils, condensers, battery, 12 volt ground and had to change the fuel pump to a 12 volt one. (I might go back to a rebuilt standard model). I checked the spark and it looks good (running well) but will recheck. Perhaps it might be the vacuum advance, dwell, or points? Will start checking those. The way it jerks, it either has no power or the brakes/clutch are locked. Our 50 ford was baby blue, so Iove the color of your 53. Thanks robert

We just converted our 39 zephyr to a 12 volt system. After a few missteps we got the engine running well but trying to drive it, the car will only go a few feet and then almost stall. It was running well previously. At a loss as what to do next. It is almost like the brakes are stuck (goes well in reverse) or there is a problem with clutch or transmission. It jerks badly before stopping. Any help will be appreciated. Robert and Wesley