Thread: Project '49 Shoebox.

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Dan and I went to the shop today and got in a full day for a change. Dan is still hot to get the '49 Ford project started, so that is what we worked on today.

Here are the plans as of now:

1) Convert it from a four door to a two door.

2) Chop the top 4 1/2 inches

3) Install an S10 subframe on the front end.

4) Airbag it front and rear so it can lay out flat on the ground.

5) Install a crate Chevy 350 and probably a 3 speed stick setup hooked to the existing column shift.

6) "C" the rear frame for clearance when laid out, and install a later rear axle.

7) Paint it some semi gloss color maybe with some flake accents.

8) Basically build it 50's -'60's style, wide whites, hubcaps, rolled and pleated interior, etc.

Anyway, after giving it some thought I feel this might be a good car to do a thread on because there are always a lot of questions from people about how to chop a top or subframe a car. Dan and I have never chopped a full size car before, nor have we ever subframed one, so this will be a learning experience for us too.

Converting it to a tudor is going to be somewhat of a major undertaking because we are going to do it the hard way. The easy way is to weld up the back two doors and pretend they were never there. The hard way is to actually use a pair of doors off of a two door , install them, and build an entirely new rear section complete with rear window. The reason we are doing it the hard way is because it turns the car into a true two door and is a little sleeker.

So, over the next who-knows-how-many-months I'll post updates as we go along. We are still going to keep working on his '29, but this is kind of a little diversion for a while to get some R and R from the '29.

Here is what we got done today. First of all we stripped the complete interior out of the car including the dash, seats, and all four doors. Then we cut out the spot welds and removed the door post that was between the front and rear doors. It will be moved back 5 1/2 inches to accomodate the new, longer doors from the tudor.

Once we got that done we started to install some crossbracing to keep the body from twisting out of shape when we cut off the top. Now it was rigid enough to remove the top without worrying about anything getting out of shape.

Here are some pictures up to that stage.

Don