1941 Ford Sedan Mild Custom

Dave Sheehan send me some photos of his latest project Custom he recently finished. A beautiful early ’50s styled mild custom that could have been somebodies daily driver.

This is the info Dave send about his 1941 Ford 2 door Sedan Mild Custom

Words by Dave
This is the basic story of my ’41.
Sometime around 2010 I bought a Model A coupe with the intention of building a hot rod using the Tardel book as a guide.

What I bought was a bare frame and a bare shell of a body. It would be appropriate to say it needed everything. I took the frame to a local body man/hot rodder to set up the frame. When I saw the quality of his work, I decided to continue with him doing the build and it became something that I found all the parts and paid for, but could not say I built. The car was finished and it’s a beautiful period correct late ‘50s East Coast style build, channeled, full height top, ’55 Olds Rocket mated to a three speed, torque tube and banjo rear. No hood or fenders. It checked all the boxes.

But I needed to get a project that I could do in my garage, which happens to be a two car that my wife’s Subaru sleeps in every night. So a guy on the HAMB listed a ’41 Ford two door sedan that has been in a barn in Montana since 1959. A real deal barn find. We had a couple of extensive conversations and he seemed like a stand up guy so I bought the car sight unseen (only a couple of 4×6 photos). Turns out to be in really solid condition, straight with virtually no rust and needing a total restoration (in my opinion).

The project was on and the years rolled by but there was steady progress (I must emphasize steady, not necessarily fast). So with the backstory in place I will share what was done to try and build a car reminiscent of the mild street customs ’48 to ’52, something that would have been your daily driver.

Starting at the front, the turn signals were removed and home made custom ones were fabricated using ’51 Ford lenses and rings. Super Deluxe bumpers were used front and rear with ’40 bolts and ’40 bumper guards modified to fit the contour of the bumpers.

The center strip on the hood was removed and a shallow peak matches the one in the roof above the windshield and the side spears were shortened. Stainless trim from a Super Deluxe surrounds the windshield and rear window.

Real Unity spotlights were installed and will become functional this winter. Outside door locks and the rear trunk handle were shaved.

The corners of the trunk have been rounded and a rear gravel pan from a ’46-’48 was modified at the lower edge and added, along with a Yankee license plate light. The tail lights are ’49 Lincoln.

The car was painted by Jack Podkowka using Glasurit BC/CC in 1940 Ford Mandarin Maroon.

The tires are 16” bias ply WWW and the wheel covers and 1961(?) International Harvester dressed up with badges from early ‘50s Cadillac sombreros.

The front has a 3” drop slider spring and the rear is an 8” Ford from a ’62 Fairlane with 3” drop slider springs and 2” lowering blocks and a rear sway bar. The front has a small factory sway bar. Front brakes are ’56 F250 backing plates and Buick finned drums.

The stock 8RT flathead does have a Mallory distributor originally for an SBC with a Pertronix unit installed and a Powergen 12v alternator. There is a more rowdy 276” engine with an Isky 1007B, Edelbrock slingshot and Canadien aluminum heads in the near future. The engine runs through a T5 5 speed that shifts with a ’39 swan neck shifter. The shifter boot is a mystery.

The interior is pretty stock, like something that might have been found in a decent 10 year old driver (consider that many cars saw limited use during WW II). There is a Hildebrand gauge cluster filled with reproduction SW Wings gauges. The dash cover, shifter and steering column have all been chrome plated. On top of the steering column is a ’46 Lincoln steering wheel. Door and window cranks are from a 1950 Ford and dash knobs are the ever popular drawer pulls 😁. The interior was a kit installed in the garage and a local upholstery shop did the square weave carpet.

That’s all that comes to mind right now, there’s still things to do but it’s a pretty decent driver and I can definitely say I have my sweat equity in this one.

Dave