Hot Rods Question About Buying an early 1930's Ford 4 Door Sedan

Hey guys. Let me start by saying I have no experience with old Fords, but I really like the look of the old Model A Sedan High Boys. I'm a father of 3 so l have very little time to build one from the ground up, nor do I have the money required to buy a completely done Model A hot rod & for me part of the fun is doing some stuff by yourself (all of it if I had more time Ha Ha) If I were do buy a complete/running model A what would be the simplest way to get the look I'm looking for without breaking the bank. Can I just buy a model A & pull the fenders off & put bigger tires with some sort of spacers & call it good until I can upgrade to better components. Also if I were to put a flathead in it later can the original frame & drive shaft/axles/differential be used? When looking at some of the old pictures it looks like that's all that has been done, but I'm sure there's a lot more to it than that. Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks
Josh

 

If I were in your shoes, and knowing what I know here's what I'd do.
Buy the nicest restored one you can find and drive it around for a few months. Decide if you like it or want a hot rod.

Pull the body , keep the lights and headlight bar and sell off the all the rest of the stuff back into the restores pool. With those proceeds You'll be into a really nice body for very little, maybe free or even a few bucks up. You'll have no rust repairs to do, no itty bitty impossible to track down parts. Way ahead of the game.
Get an original 33 -36 axle and have it dropped, get the spring and rest of the bits to taste bones, radius rods etc. 40 juice bakes, disks what ever. Get your engine and Trans of choice lined up, donors are great here. Get your rear end of choice lined up. Ford Exploder rears are plentiful ans can be narrowed easily, jeep rears fit nice and yanked out every day, mustang rears work, or Chevy s10 if you want the 4-3/4" bolt pattern.
Next figure out the stance you want get your wheels and tire and build a frame. Use a 32 frame if you want. There's a recent thread on here about some off shore rails that are pretty nice and dirt cheap. They aren't too expensive to buy already welded up either.

 

That sounds great!!! Thanks for the great info. I'm definitely going to consider that rout, but I honestly don't think I have the time to do something like that. Sounds like more work than I have time right now. I was hoping for something a little less involved. Any other suggestions.


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Ummm, that's about as easy as it gets, you asked, vick gave you the best possible scenario, otherwise, pony up and buy a done car, make minor changes and drive your kids around while they're still young.

 

Well then I guess I better start looking for a good car to take apart & start selling parts off of. you guys are great. Thanks.


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How about a pic of what you'd like to see in your driveway

 

I don't think there's enough room in the back seat of a Model A to safely secure three kids, especially if they're still in car seats or booster seats. A better choice is a car from the '40s or '50s, they offer much more interior room, better, more reliable drivetrain, brakes and steering. Best of luck to you.

 

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I would be completely happy with the stance & setup of this car. Can anyone tell me based off of the look what has been done to it?


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As for the booster seats & car seats. They make narrow seats now to fit in smaller cars. I've got a couple & the take up much less space. I like 50's cars & have had my share of them, but I really want a model A.


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But for tires I'd prefer plain black tires like on this one & a more original wheel. No new stuff.


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The wheels & tires on this blue one is my favorite.


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Hey Josh, I think 31 Vicki pretty much summed it up, there is no "simple way". Any and all of this is hard work.


I'm pretty much in the same boat as you are; I have a wife and two little kids, and spend as much time with them as possible. We are a two income family (I just have to earn both incomes). My spare time and spare money is VERY limited. My oldest is already 10, this is going by way too fast, in 8 years she'll be gone off to college, my son will be locking himself in his room listening to death metal and telling me to F off, and this awesome experience of being a family like the Waltons, where we are all together, will be over. So the last thing I do is disappear to work on my "hobby" for hours at a time when my time with them is already so limited.

We have an old bike with a sidecar, and an old '60 Caddy that is our daily driver to bomb around in, (when it's running), it'll cruise at 100 mph all day long, stop on a dime, like sitting on a living room couch gliding on ice. What I would really like is an old A hiboy like you are describing, to tool around town, and to work on. I would really like a Roadster or a Coupe but it's more important to me to have my whole family with me, so I would rather have an "Ford A Sedan". I prefer the 4 doors to the two doors, I've seen a lot that I really like. I'm trying to save up enough $ to buy a running A, and like 31Vicki said, tool around for awhile before I dig in.

If you buy this book:



it will give you a good idea what the shortest route to making a hot rod A is, (they concentrate on a Ford flathead V8).

There are a lot of threads here on hopping up the 4 banger, and I think that might even be more interesting than the Flathead. Removing fenders, dropped axle, tube shocks, z-ing the rear of the frame, reversing springs, juice brakes and smaller wheels would be a good start to a simple hot rod. That's what I'm thinking for myself.

Anyway, this car was at a local show this year, it was a proper rod, it really impressed me and is exactly what I would like to build:





This one came up for sale this summer too, for around $7500. Running, driving registered and insured. To me it was perfect, a flathead 8, good stance (needed different wheels), solid but F-ed up a bit (just like I like them). Original so it was a blank slate. I even love the fenders on it. I just didn't have the money.






There have been a few A's anywhere from $2-$6k that were strictly projects, the least I've seen a runner for was about $7- $8k, (around here anyway, granted I am not part of a good ol boy network), I rely on CL. There was a really mint '30 Fordor selling for $8k , ad just disappeared, I didn't grab a pic. Any finished rod seems to be $20k and up.

If I got a heap like this, know that I could drive it now, I could always start tearing down at some point when family life calms down to rod it, I know myself and it would take years to finish that project, I don't expect to be making any more money or slow down working at any time soon, so I'm leaning towards a running project in order to be realistic.

I'm not smart enough to really offer advice, but since it seems like we have similar situations I thought I would chime in with what I've been planning.

Good luck, man!

 

Hey Clunker. This is awesome. It's great to here from guys that are in similar situations & have similar tastes. Those pictures are great!!!! That's exactly what I'm looking for. If I could find something like that for 7-8k I think I'd be all in. Like I said. I want something that I can jump in & drive right now without having to do to much work to it, but something I can tinker around in when I do have a few extra min. Thanks for the reply.


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Josh, Junkman nailed it.
Why not drive and enjoy the '50 Buick you already have? It fulfills all your requirements.

 

I missed that hmmm

 

Ya, I'm with you brother. Just keep $8k in a savings account and be ready to pounce when one pops up. So Cal (I think you are in Chino Ca) is the mecca for old cardom, I lived in LA for ten years and had some groovy rides.

Pretty reliably every 6 months a killer deal pops up here in Boston on CL, and of course I'm always completely broke. So my goal is to have $8k in the bank waiting.

The last one that I watched slip away was this a couple weeks ago (not a 4 door, but had a rumble seat).



Damn! Broke again. Oh well.

Keep posting updates on your hunt, I'm interested to see what you come up with.

 

I sold my running '50 Buick about a year ago. I bought another '50 Buick, but it's not running and needs a lot of work. That's why I'm looking for a car that is running with minimal work needed. I don't have time in my life right now for a project & will be selling the project '50 Buick soon.


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Thanks again for all the support clunker & if you happen to find something that you can't get maybe send it my way.


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I'd also like to thank everyone else responding to this post. You guys have all been great & honest with your opinions & information. That's why I posed this question to you guys. I knew that this forum has a ton of knowledgable guys & that this is the place to go for great info. Also can anyone blame me for wanting a 30's hot rod. Their awesome!!!! Thanks.


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Ok so here's what you have here



4dr slant windshield Murray body.
The slant windshield is 1-1/2 shorter and has a factory chop compared to regular. Curved door tops is mostly Murray but your Mileage may vary there.

It's got a flat head V8 ( not cheap anymore) and has been lowered at least 4-5 inches on the model A frame. The frame needs modified in the center crossmember and the rear. Speculation but based on what's seen elsewhere, Most likely a traditional style mod explained clearly in the tardel book shown above or certainly could be done that way. It's running wide Five stuff for axles but the wheels you like are '35 wire spoke so you'll need different hubs for that.

The gray one clunker posted is the same body and a steal at 7500 With all the work shown already done. Could have made money on that one.

Another idea that's not for the faint of heart is to buy and flip parts and cars keeping the choice parts for your build.
You probably won't make a lot of money but you'll have access and it will be making more money than the money sitting in the bank. Way more than keeping a project going no where.

If you ain't gonna fix the Buick move it along and use the money to propagate your hobby, storing a project isn't helping you get a hot rod.

 

I would go to every car show near you and talk to anyone that has something remotely close to what you want. That is how you get into the network. CL is great but the deals are by word of mouth. Networking is how a lot of the cars on here came about for the prices they pay, so get busy talking!


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Read this one all the way through. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/my-first-30-model-ford-build.670676/

 

Josh,If you don't have time in your life now when do you expect to have this time you speak of?

Building cars,hot rods in this case can been built in a matter of months or years,It depends on how bad you really want it.

Many of us were building cars while raising a family,a spare dollar here and a dollar there,most of my work was done when the kids were in bed,I didn't watch tv,I spent many a night sitting outside staring and dreaming because I didn't have the money but there are always little,small projects you can do,

Get started while you are young and hone your skills by trial and error. HRP

 

31Vicky laid out a great plan for you, but you can go even simpler, less expensive than that.

I do like the idea of starting with a nicely restored, or even better a nicely kept original, rather than starting with just a shell and building it up. An older restoration is a nice compromise. And take off the fenders, aprons and bumpers and sell them off. A dropped axle is nice, but you can get a decent stance by working with the suspension. Do a search for fellow HAMBer Ron Brown and check out what he's done with is A Tudor sedan. He has a thread here on how to lower an A with real good information in it. Last I saw he was swapping in a flathead V8, I'm not sure where that project stands now, but you can also just play around with the original banger and have a lot of fun with that. Search out the monthly Banger threads here, lot's of great information on the engines contained there, and a lot of enthusiasts that will love to help you along with yours. Then later when you're tired of that you can then do the V8 swap.

One thing you'll have to decide on is brakes, a stock A will have mechanical brakes, you'll need to decide whether to stick with them or go hydraulic, and considering you want to haul your family around in this, upgrading to hydraulic may not be a bad idea. But heck, drive it with the mechanicals for awhile and see.

Fordoors usually command less on the market, and if hauling a family is the goal the extra doors will make it far easier to load up, so that's what I would go with.

 

Once again. You guys have been more than amazing with all of this great info. It is all very helpful & very interesting. If I were to look for & buy a decent running original 4 door model A like Blues4U suggested what would be a decent/fair price to pay?


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Less than 10k for a really nice functioning car, truly nobody(but you) wants a 4 door. There may actually be less older restorations available than survivors because few 4 doors were chosen as restoration projects. Most 4 doors will sit on CL or ebay for a longtime unless really cheap. Walk away from every car you go to see (even if you want it) and wait two weeks it will still be there (if its not another will come along shortly) and you will get it cheaper. You might even get a good one for 4k if you are patient.

Here is one you might not have thought of seats 4 easy (if your pockets are a bit deeper) Phaeton 11.5K obo Atlanta craigslist

 

Josh, have you joined your local chapter of the Model A Ford Club of America?

Not to sound morbid, but the members mostly really old guys and that's where the good deals on restored A's are, before they go on Craigslist and E-Bay.
http://www.mafca.com/#

 

LOL