Janich Ford Restoration Progress

RESTORATION PROGRESS

Brothers Steve and George Mallory have been slowly working to finish the Paul “Snooky” Janich Barris-built 1941 Ford, after they debuted the car in primer at the Customs Then & Now exhibit at the 2011 GNRS show.

 
This photo taken at the Barris Atlantic Blvd shop show the beautiful lines of the chopped coupe. This photo shows the version of the car that was choosen to be restored back to, with the taillights set in the 1948 Ford bumper guards.
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Paul “Snooky” Janich 1941 Ford in the early 1950’s. This photo actually shows the car in a later version than the restoration will be. Barris added the Barris Crest and new taillights. But the rare beauty rings are still being used on this version.
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The Ford how it sat at the Customs Then & Now Exhibit at the 2011 Grand National Roadster Show. It was amazing to see this car in person. And it was a huge crowd pleaser. This photo also shows the raised stance needed to temporarily fix the too wide front end wheel clearance problem.
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One of the things that needed to be finished was to replace the 1948 Ford front dropped axle and replace it with a two inch narrower 1941 Ford dropped axle. When the guys tried to make the deadline for the Customs Then & Now show they decided to use a 1948 dropped axle they had, and which needed less work than the 1941 Unit. Not realizing the two inch width different of the 41-48 Ford front end. They found out when it was too late, and even had to raise the front to make the front wheels turn in the wheel opening.

The Ford with the new right width 1941 Ford dropped axle in place a couple of month after the GNRS show. George and Steve drove the car around and visited a few local car shows with it before they would take it apart again.
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After the GNRS show the brothers enjoyed the Ford for some time, showed it at a few local (Kansas) car shows and worked on some smaller stuff. George and Steve are very creative and skilled guys, but they knew for the final repairs and body work they needed help from a pro. After a long search trying to find the right guy for the job they finally found a shop in Leavenworth, Kansas, about 35 miles north of George and Steve. The shop run by Dan and his body man Dave had the right attitude and knowledge to tackle the job just the way George had planned it. So finally it was time to get the Paul “Snooky” Janich Barris-built Ford completely restored to its first version.

In the meantime the brothers had also located one of the most difficult to find parts for the car. Some very rare aftermarket beauty rings, which we have all been looking for for several years. In the summer of 2013, Kari Saarella from Finland offered some aftermarket hubcaps and stuff for sale on his Facebook page. Some material he had been collecting over the years, and were now only gathering dust. I recognized the rather obscure beauty rings right away. Contacted Kari, and Steve and they made a deal. The only part left to  find now are a set of moon disks with the right diameter. But those are easier to find. These Beauty ring were seen on only a very few customs. Bill Gaylord used them on his 1949 Mercury convertible and the Ayala’s used them on Al Garcia’s 1946 Ford convertible.
 

 
Two images Kari showd on his Facebook. One of an sales ad for the stainless overlay wheel discs, as they were called. And one where he mounted them with a set of Lyons hubcaps on a set of uncleaned white wall tires. The Lyons hubcaps are not going on the Snooky Ford though.
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This is how the hubcap/beauty ring set up looks now. George still needs to figure out the right way to mount the beauty ring.
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George reported that one of the “problems” he is having with the shop, who will do the finish work, is trying to convince both guys, that the ’41 is not going to be a “Ridler” contender! It is easy to over restore one of these old original Customs. But there needs to be a certain amount of roughness to restore them back to how they really were back in the late 1940’s early 1950’s. The guys in the shop are very particular and dictated to make this project perfect!
 
The Ford has been in the new show since May 2014, and the team has been spending a lot of time getting the body back in shape again.
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Now in fresh primer the body needs only very little work to get ready for paint. 
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One of the parts that needed a lot of work where the 1941 long fender skirts. When George and Steve were unable to find a pair, they used a set of shorter 1948 fender skirts and stretched them at the ends to get the 1941 dimensions.
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The lower edge of the doors on the Janich Ford are extended, to cover the removed running boards section. The extending was done in a rather crude way, which looked perfect from the outside, but caused the bottoms to get very rusty over the years.
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To prevent from that happening again on the restored Custom, which is planned to be used on the roads as much as possible. It was decided to reshape this section.
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New window garnish needed to be fabricated.
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George has been looking to find the original color on the car with no success. After talking to many people who knew the car from the early 1950’s and keeping a few things in mind he selected 1952 Cadillac,”Inverness Green” to be the color to use on the car. This color is very close to the color that was originally used by Barris on the car. The shop estimates they need about two or three weeks of fine tuning, and then they will be ready for color… we will keep you posted.
 

1952 Cadillac Inverness Green Poly. 
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We have a Post on the CCC-Forum about the latest part of the restoration with many detailed photos. Here we will update you on the final stages of the restoration up to the finished Custom.

More early restoration photo of the Barris, Paul “Snooky” Janich 1941 Ford can be found on the Custom Car Photo Archive.
 
 
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