Reader Steve P, the same Steve who’s 1973 Kawasaki G5 we featured a while back. This one has two more wheels and the numbers 7 and 3 are swapped on the manufacture date, but I will let him tell you more about it! Steve P – Back in January, I purchased a 1937 Ford 2 door sedan in southern Arkansas. This car had been sitting in a garage in NW Colorado since 1956 when found by the fellow I purchased it from. The owner died in 1956 and the car sat in the garage since then.
The fellow I purchased it from bought it in 2002 and transported it back to his, then home, in Texas. He later moved to Arkansas and took the car with him. Some time between 2002 and 2015 he sold the engine and transmission to a friend for a hot rod project. It ran perfectly.
This car only has 46,012 miles on it, no rust and is all original. It still has the 1956 plate and the firewall is still a nice glossy gray. The interior is complete and the steering column lock still works great with the original key! He also found the original radio still sitting in a Western Auto store in Colorado where the original owner took it to be repaired in 1956. He contacted Western Auto in that town on an outside chance and asked about it and they still had it in a box in 2002. I now have that piece, too.
Here are a few pictures, let me know if you have questions. The pictures on my trailer are bringing it back to Iowa from Southern Arkansas a couple months ago. The garage pictures are in Arkansas where it has been stored recently.
Wow is about all I can say, finding the radio still sitting at the store after nearly 60 years is quite a story just in itself, now if you can only locate the original engine & trans, great find & fun project, good luck & please keep us posted.
omg! what a find! my first thought, since it doesn’t have the original engine/ tranny, is to give it a mild rod look , but then, to restore it to as it rolled off the assembly line, what a beauty!! there has to be original engines out there that will mate up to this car! ( are we as particular to being #s correct with something like this, like we are about the performance cars of late? ) If only I could see the completed project!!
Excellent! I wish him luck on the restoration, especially on finding an original flathead engine and the appropriate transmission.
Hmm and here I was thinking I was the Will M the Kawasaki post credits with sharing. Did I miss something?
Sorry Will, I meant to type that it was his Kawasaki G5 that we featured. You were the one who shared it with us. Again my apologies for the confusion!
Josh
Where in Iowa is the car? How do I make contact?
BTW, don’t worry about finding the numbers matching engine. Flatheads sold in the U.S. did not have engine numbers. It was stamped on the trans.
I would like to see a picture of an “original” 1937 locking steering column.
I would love to purchase this ’37 if you decide getting it back to original is more of a restoration job than you want to take on.
Wow….I had the same type of car in 1958. I actually took the radio out of it when I sold it to a guy who hot roiddled it. (Shame) for $85.00 I would have cotacted this guy if he said it had no radio.
Reminds me of my first car, a ’36 Ford, 2-door humpback sedan. Learned to drive in the thing. Was only fourteen, and had to sell it so I could buy clothes for school. Needless to say, I loved school. Sold the thing for $40. Yep, you read it right, $40. Wish I had it now; the car, not the $40. (smile)
As a matter of fact 37 Ford cars all came with locking steering columns.
Why would you sell off the original motor and trans. What an IDIOT!!!!! He has NO respect for cars and doesn’t care about history.
Good luck with the restoration. Great car !
Great find! I’d restore it, with just a couple exceptions: get rid of the unsafe cable-actuated brakes and source a lightly hot-rodded flathead and trans from someone like H & H Flatheads. Ford went to hydraulic brakes in 1939 and retained the big bolt-pattern wheels until the 1940 model year, so a conversion to 1939 hydro brakes is a complete bolt-on (even the brake pedal and master cylinder bolt right up). I personally know of one H & H-powered car in the Los Angeles (a friend constructed the car for the owner), a 1940 Deluxe coupe. The engine has Navarro heads, dual carb intake, old-school type headers, runs and alternator in a generator case, and a one-off Vintage Air A/C system on custom-fabbed bracketry. No overheating issues, even in Southern California summers, and quite reliable and peppy (for a flathead). H & H can be reached at http://www.flatheads-forever.com or (818) 248-2371. ( I have no connection with H & H other than knowing their reputation and being familiar with and having ridden in the aforementioned ’40 Ford; the contact info is from a recent issue of Street Rodder magazine.)
Wow! Not a single comment saying to stuff a small block chevy in it.
Well then…. slam it to the ground and stuff a big block in it… No guts no glory… :)
That’s right Jon.I did exactly that.also chopped channeled and flipped the doors.1285 HP when overdriving blower. It’s awesome
so many of these were turned into dirt track race cars back in the day when they had little resale value. i think you should upgrade the car just enough to make it safe. a period correct motor/transmission, maybe an overdrive unit would be nice. have a lot of fun and thanks for sharing. i too would like to see photos of the lock. thanks
Traded my ’51 Henry J gasser project for this one. It will not be restored by me. I have a Heidts stainless/chrome/polished aluminum Mustang II style front suspension kit, composite parallel leaf rear kit, Maverick 8″ rearend, mild roller 5.0/C4 to put in it. I also plan a stock replacement interior and not doing any paint work. Steel wheels with big and littles and it will only sit about 5″ lower than stock. We then plan to drive it every chance we get. If it gets restored, it will be by somebody willing to pay a lot more than I have in it. We don’t plan on selling it anytime soon. It’s 3rd in line behind my ’62 F100 short bed big window unibody and my ’70 Maverick Pro Stock tribute car. Thanks for the comments.
This one won’t be restored. I have a Heidts Mustang II front end to put under it, a Speedway Parallel composite leaf rear suspension and Maverick 8″ rear, too. It will be getting a ’91 5.0 roller block with a C4 behind it. The interior will be put back to stock, it will sit about 5″ lower than stock on Wheels Vintique Series 14 painted wheels. Don’t plan to paint the body at this time. The firewall is the nicest I have seen I a Ford of this vintage so I refuse to cut it. We’ll get the SBF in there and not cut it.
It won’t be restored–it will be ruined! What a waste.
My first collector car was a 37 2 door that I bought from the original owner who was a mechanic at the dealership it was sold at. I sold it to a collector who restored it and it was never really enjoyed again. I am glad to see that this car will be driven and be enjoyed plus its staying all Ford. COOL !
Hey Steve P. I would love to see that unibody big window F100, a rare truck indeed :-)
Here is the build thread on the unibody. Thanks for the interest.
http://www.slick60s.com/viewtopic.php?f=32&t=29832
Update! I could not bring myself to cut the car so it went to Wisconsin in a trade for a hot rodded 1955 Chevy 2 door sedan. The new owner sold it to his elderly neighbor who was going to restore/early hot rod it with only reversible minor changes. He already had a flathead for it.