This is a true survivor! Said to be all original, it ran as recently as two years ago. For sale here on Craigslist in Bonners Ferry, Idaho with an asking price of $7,850. Even though this is a four-door, it’s still really cool. The rear doors open suicide style with a post in the middle. A lot of cars from 1940 are either turned into hot rods or resto-mods. To me, this particular car looks like a great candidate for a stock driver with only a light restoration.
The original flathead looks like it hasn’t been touched except for maintenance items. It’s good to see the carburetor and air cleaner looking clean. This lends credibility to the sellers remark that the car ran in the last few years and won’t be too much of a chore to get running again. I bet you could drop in a fresh battery and gas and this car would be up and running in no time.
Wow! Look at that interior. It looks like it hasn’t seen much use since 1940. The biggest question I have about this car is where has it been for the past 70 years? Most cars that are this original have had some sort of issue that caused the driver to park the car and then never repair it. The seller doesn’t indicate anything along these lines, so what is the real story?
Again, this interior is amazing. I wish the seller had included more details in the ad, but the pictures are decent. Hopefully the current owner will provide more information to prospective buyers. I hope this car is saved and not modified. There are very few survivors like this and it deserves to be preserved. I bet it will win a lot of trophies in the survivor/unrestored classes at car shows soon.
I think you’d be surprised how good this would look if you did a very thorough cleaning and detailing. That’s all I would do and then put some miles on it.
Nice car.
I love it, wouldn’t change a thing other than get it into pristine running condition.
Did anyone other than myself notice it looks like it’s parked in a log garage?
Glad this isn’t closer or I would have to go look at it. Have to get rid of two before I can buy anymore.
Clean it, detail it, then light it and ride it. A good car to preserve and enjoy. This would have the 239 CID (09A designation if it was the original) motor. You might be lucky enough to see that cast into the heads. I’ve seen it stamped onto the block beside the oil pressure outlet upon occasion.
This car is a nice easy day’s drive away. Time to look at something else before I give into an urge that could get me into trouble.
As a flathead owner I should know but I dont. What is that snorkel looking intake thingy sitting up on the passenger side of the block…..like a metal cobra
I believe it to be a heater from the exhaust manifold, gets cold in Idaho.??
I have to admit Ive never seen one. Were these sold in the colder areas? Why wouldnt a conventional heater box work?
Heater ?
http://cdn.barnfinds.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/f4-1-e1460777748381.jpg
This looks to be a hot air heater working off the exhaust manifold.
Southwind is a gasoline fired heater, and would certainly provide adequate heat for you. It would require a gas feed tube to be connected to your carburetor.
A second option would be a Hot Air Heater, which was a genuine Ford approved accessory. It too would provide almost instant heat, as it draws from the exterior of the exhaust manifold. Good luck in finding a complete unit.
A third option, much safer than the previous two, but not nearly as efficient, is a Hot water heater. Ford offered these in 1939 and later.
And that elbow device behind the metal cobra ?
It’s the intake for the manifold heater.
Not a heater, early exhaust powered super charger!
I would love that car, but with all the projects I have, it is necessary for me to look away. Sigh.
I hope someone saves this, drives it, and takes it around to the occasional show. Our picture of the automotive scene of the past is inaccurately colored by our preferences and by the disappearance of peripheral makes and models. So we see lots of Fords, lots of two door and convertible and special cars. I think someday we will come to regret that most of the standard-model yet interesting cars — including 4-doors — that people actually drove have been junked, used for parts, or made into hot rods. Then there are the lower-selling makes that were part of the landscape. Think Terraplane, Erskine, LaFayette, LaSalle, Hupmobile, so many others. Here is a Mercury, not the most popular car in town, and a 4-door, something you would see from time to time on the streets. And then there’s the blues song celebrating it, “Mercury Ford”, as sung by Lightnin’ Hopkins and many others. Yeah, someone rescue this thing.
Clean her up and drive her.Bruce.
Nice clean Merc! TLC, flush the radiator, new hoses, clean gas tank and fuel lines, check the brakes, change the oil, filter, lube, transmission, wash the exterior, clean the interior: GO!!!
Ok now that is a nice find and I feel like it is an excellent value for the money. Wish they were all in that honest a condition.