08/19/06…Having decided to take in some different events this summer, Char and I had cleaned up the ’39, thrown in a cooler and cruised over to Abbotsford, about 25 miles from home. This bustling hub city in the Fraser Valley is so named after the Abbots who forded the Fraser River  before any bridges, to get to their seminary in Mission many years ago. In a valley much like Medford, the farmlands were the home of dairies, cattle ranches and berry farms. Its often referred to as the ‘Berry Capital of Canada’ where raspberries, strawberries and cranberries grow in abundance. Also like Medford, the land is becoming more valuable than the farming industry and is giving way to housing and light industrial development. The show we attended was hosted by the KMS Tool company and by 10am, over 250 cars are on show in there large lot. Its a hot, blazing, no shade day but we get parked by an old friend I hadn’t seen for over 5 years. He’s as interested in our latest machine as we are in his and after we exchange the latest news in our lives, I notice a small for sale sign on his car. The story is Tom had put this car together for his wife who didn’t like it and said she’d never drive it (grounds for divorce in my book). We went all over the car, an all steel 1946 Ford Super Deluxe convert. model that actually came out of eastern Oregon. Turns out I knew the fellow (now deceased) who had brought it to BC and assembled the rest of the parts to complete the project.

It is equipped with a strong 350 up front,  mated to a turbo 400 tranny and an 8″ diff. with 3:00 gears. The chassis rests on a Mustang II clip, Weedeater parallel springs at back, is lowered and sports a deep rumble through cherry bomb duals. The metalic maroon paint is adorned with all the original s/s trim, hood/trunk ornaments, Ford bumpers and side mirrors. The stock height, new top is cream colored and matches the ‘look-like’ leather interior. The dash has all the stock gauges in place but as only the speedometer works, temporary gauges are hung below. A GM tilt column with a Lecarra wheel is mated to the power steering. Charlotte likes the look of the car even though it was not what we had in mind for a second car. We discussed the car over the weekend, I did a few inquiries and found out it had been for sale all summer. From the price he asked of us, it had dropped a fair amount due to its unfinished condition and all previous interested persons had wanted Tom to finish it for them. As he has another project on the go, he wasn’t wanting to spend anymore time on the ’46. We called him on Monday, made an appointment to see him on Tuesday when we took the car on a 5 mile trip, on the highway, up and down hills and were both impressed with the smooth ride, the power and the comfortable seating. Back at his place we made an ‘as is’ cash offer…accepted. Tom gave us more pieces he had for the car, some left over paint and some photos of it under construction (great for Char’s scrapbook). On Thursday afternoon, Tom drove the car up to Mission, we did all the paperwork, put it in our garage and I drove him home. We ate out to celebrate our good fortune. In the next few days, I went all over the car again and made numerous notes re things needed, corrected, changed and accessories we wanted (the list is about 50 items and counting). We’ve decided this car is going to be a true resto-rod (please note, Tommy Carr) retaining the running gear as it is, making the body parts fit evenly, adding the missing pieces (some trim, rear splash pan, new bumper bolts etc.) A couple days later I had it up on a hoist and repaired leaking rear axle seals, replaced the oil soaked shoes, changed the lowering blocks to2″, fixed a broken e-brake bracket, rerouted the cables and added new brackets. Next job was to pull the rear bumper brackets closer to the body, install the rear splash pan and re-mount the bumper, much neater look. At  the same time, had a proper trailer hitch, brake controller and light connector installed to haul the Boler trailer. That weekend we went to our 1st run with it to  Wa. state and some sponsor so liked the car, we won an award. In the past month, we have enjoyed driving it almost daily and been to 2 more shows. At the end of October, we plan to take it off the road and begin work on a few  body parts, change the wheels/tires, repair the gauges, install an original Wonderbar radio, add the missing interior/ exterior trim, make the top operate using an electric/hydraulic lift, add courtesy lights, and the list goes on! Tomorrow, we will take it on a local cruise and show it off to the RVSR members. We will update the work-in-progress on the car as we improve it over the winter.  .

Our Latest Ride Update: From 09/06 to 08/07
In the fall, we head south to digs in So. Or and take the ’46 with us.
Over the next 2 months we planned the changes as laid out in the
previous report. A day bending the ear of friend, Steve Simmons of
Sunrise Color was a big help. He’s tried most aftermarket products and
freely advises customers the best way to build a good running car.
We measured up the wheel clearances and ordered custom solids with
deep offsets and BFG wide white’s to fit.
The car then went to Tommy Carr’s shop where we went over my wish list. He doesn’t waste any time starting the disassembly before you can change your mind and within a day, the body was off the frame. This was done in order to set it on right, then re-bolt to allow the fenders, doors, hood and trunk to align correctly. A little work on the hinges, then the gaps were all even and the windows worked better.
The hood was a problem, it had been in primer for some time, moisture got under it and etched through the factory seal coat. A lot of grinding, etching primer and sanding saved it, we shaved it as well. Also, as the stock mirrors were useless, removed them, filled the holes and put Swan Necks just below the no-drafts for better rear vision. Since no one
makes the ’46 trim, we cut the hood side bars back 10” and formed the pieces to match the open space. All the trim was sent to the plating shop for straightening and polishing. The trunk lid was worked to fit closer to the body, shaved the license plate holder leaving the parallel trim and
trunk handle in place. Both rear fenders needed a little straightening as
did the fronts around the headlights. While the hood was off, we pulled the mill and tranny to paint red. The rad went for a boil which was all it needed, but a larger electric fan to improve cooling when towing a trailer
required cutting the inner cowl cover back 1 ½”. This allowed the rad to be moved ahead without any other changes. The inner fender panels had to have pieces added around the upper A arms for a neater look and the firewall was also filled. The complete dash was removed, striped for painting and gauge replacement. A lot of the wiring was redone, a new fuse panel installed and the heat/defroster removed. I recalled a ‘50s trick, chroming the garnish moldings so sent them off. The plater did me a favor by telling me they needed a lot of filling to take a good chroming.
I said we’d paint them instead. This was the best decision as with all the chrome on the dash, reflections on the inner window made it very hard to see out and the chrome garnish’s would have made it worse.
The oak top bows had never been coated and water had turned parts
of them black. The top material had to be striped off by removing a 1000
staples. I was able to sand out the discolored areas, give the wood a light stain and then Tommy cleared them for a nice finish.
Into the paint booth for more priming, sanding, blocking and prepped for paint. We chose House of Color’s newest Candy Apple base/clear, they call it ‘Big Ass Red’. While this was underway, I altered the gauge cluster to hold new 2” S/W gauges so only the letters, numbers and needles
show through the glass. A clean Gm tilt column with shift lever and flasher button was checked and readied for paint along with the heater unit and striped dash. The new wheels arrived, were smoothed and off
to the powder coaters. When done to match the candy color, we had the W/W’s put on, new chrome stems and balanced.
The painting process took over 2 weeks but this included the custom
Graphics Tommy is noted for. My honey did not like flames, scallops or ghosting but told him to use his imagination…he came through for us.
He added some metal flake to the candy apple, placed 6, ½” silver speed lines from the front fenders just under the s/s trim all the way back to fade out under the trim at the rear fender curve. In the scoop relief on the front fenders, he airbrushed ‘Ford’ in maroon/silver script. After all the clear coats were added and color sanded we were astounded by the
finish in the bright sunlight.
For the next month the car was carefully put back together. When we un-wrapped the red motor, the ugly plain aluminum intake was dirty with gas and oil stains. I went searching for a chrome, probably Edelbrock re-placement. I balked at the $500 cost and went to Steve for advice. He had a ‘look-alike’ for $150, I also bought new ‘Vette’ style valve covers, air cleaner and breathers, all for less than $500!!! This order also included, new grille bars, head light rings, chrome dash pieces, chrome hose kits, ribbed dash knobs, ribbed trim rings and matching caps.
We were concerned about the nice, original looking interior upholstery, but not anxious to redo it now…we were told of a paint that would make it look like new. A local firm supplied a color exactly like the beige it had now and we went for it…looks like new, smells like new and wears well.
Over the next few weeks, it all came together, a local sewer put the top back together and we’re cruising. Our next addition was the hydro-elec
unit, cylinder lifts to raise the top and LED tail lights.
Owning a rod means you’re never finished with upgrades and more creature comforts for the fairer sex. I have to keep reminding myself, the ’46 is a ‘Driver’ not a show car, but have to admit, we have taken a good share of awards for our efforts. This is a fun car to drive, smoothes out the highway due to the weight and long wheel base, tows our 17’ Boler easily and is always commended for the custom paint.
If I find an extra $1000, I’d love to chop the top 3” but in the meantime, we are planning to replace the kit type top with a custom one resembling the Carson padded style
In our next report, I hope to tell you we have succeeded with these changes, if you have any questions about our work, our workers, items we have used, our methods of alteration etc., please don’t hesitate to give us a jing with your querries.
Thanks for your interest in reading of our custom convertible.