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Evicted After 67 Years: 1939 Ford 5 Window Coupe

39 ford coupe 3

We love seeing long term stored cars with a nice layer of dust on them. This ’39 Ford looks like a great candidate for a preservation after having been stored for 67 years!  The seller claiming this Ford has covered only 46,000 miles, with its original engine, this Ford is certainly an attention grabber. This Ford Survivor is offered at a lofty $15,000. Find it here on craigslist out of Crestline, California.

39 ford coupe 2

The interior and exterior look good, but it’s difficult to see the finer details of this Ford to really see what we are looking at. The interior looks a little tatty, but complete. We would opt to do some interior work on this Ford depending on its actual condition. The exterior looks right to us, but it’s difficult to make out any bumps, bruises, or rust. There is no mention of rust or any extraneous damage on this Ford. The seller claims the car to be complete, but that it is indeed missing a gas cap, and some trim. Not the end of the world considering it’s a 77 year old car. The seller has mentioned that there are extensive extras that go with this car, sweetening the deal even more. There is no mention as to whether the engine is locked up or not, but hopefully it could be sorted without extreme measures.

39 ford coupe 1

The craigslist ad isn’t the most transparent ad we have looked at, but it certainly draws you in with just enough information on this cool ’39 Ford.  Again we love preservations on cars that are worthy, but it’s difficult to see exactly where this Ford is. Either way, this looks to be an excellent opportunity for a low mileage, and mostly rust free 5 Window Ford Coupe! Would you drag this 5 Window Coupe home? What would you do with this classic Ford?

Comments

  1. Avatar Al8apex

    It is likely many times those miles based on how beat up the interior is

    Like 1
  2. Avatar Bob S

    Now that is a Barn Find!! None of that fake poseur dust.

    Like 1
  3. Avatar larry

    I have a 1948 Plymouth special with 81,000 actually mile’s stored inside a chicken coop for years unfortunately the interior looks similar.

    Like 0
    • Avatar robert

      Got one of them der p cars to Larry. 40,000 orginal miles Missouri born and still can figure how the floors rotted out. No rust on the outside, frame, undercarriage whatsoever. I guess like a box of cholates.

      Like 0
  4. HoA Howard A Member

    And in the 68th year,,,,it became a hotrod and that’s ok. The lure will be too much for someone.

    Like 0
  5. Avatar Rock On Member

    Yeah, I would drag it home. Then I would drag it. Straight front axle and all!!!

    Like 0
  6. Avatar RayT

    Fun project for someone! But not at $15K as far as I’m concerned. The mileage (even if genuine) really has very little relevance for a car this old. Everything will need to be disassembled, inspected, cleaned and rebuilt, with plenty of replacement gaskets/bearings/seals/hoses/fittings involved. I wouldn’t trust a single part of this car unless I had checked it over very carefully. And the photos give no clue as to the car’s real condition: is there rot? Is the paint salvageable? Can any of the interior be saved?

    If the price was right, it would be a prime candidate for a restoration. You’d have a real rare bird you could park at car shows next to all the 39-40 coupes with SBCs and automatics in them!

    Like 0
    • Avatar racer99

      Have yet to understand why some folks trying to get large $$ for barn finds put pictures in the ads that would embarrass a 3rd grader. This could be a really nice find —- or not. The pictures really limit the audience to someone local who can lay their hands on it and fully inspect it or want to spend the money to have it inspected. Can’t see it being worth $15K.

      Like 0
  7. Avatar Dairymen

    Why take pictures in the dark? What are they really hiding?

    Like 1
    • Avatar RayT

      Maybe we’re better off for not knowing….

      Like 1
  8. Avatar robert

    I bought a five window 1939 ford standard coupe in 1963 from a guy in Torrance, California. Paid $125 for it a premium price and drove it home and for years afterwards. The car was almost factory including the upholstery. Unlike most I just couldn’t leave it the way it was. Put in a Temple bilt flathead with a 3/4 race isky cam. Engine looks the same but run’s a lot better. Other than eating transmissions it was great. Still have the car and hasn’t seen the sunlight for over 30 years. It’s ugly, big, and no one wanted them. Now this car since it was the first NASCAR type pace car it can fetch a lot more than $15,000.

    Like 0
  9. Avatar RoughDiamond

    It would be interesting to know what the exterior lighting source was for the pictures. Truck with roll bar light bar? Believe I would have sourced at least a gas cap before listing it for sale. Totally agree that you can’t tell anything about it and I believe the night time pics are just a hook to peak someone’s interest enough to come look and work out a deal.

    Like 0
  10. Avatar Fred w.

    Get that thing out in the daylight and let’s see what it really looks like.

    Like 0
    • Avatar streamliner

      My sentiments exactly Fred w. So tired of CL vehicles listed with out of focus, dark and night pics. My favorites — the ones that make me howl with laughter (like this listing) are the ones where they shoot pics at night using high beam headlights for lighting. Yah, we noticed…
      Depending on the time of the year there are approx. 8-12 hrs of good daylight EVERY DAY, yet so many CL sellers choose to take pics in the dark and out of focus. Huh. Too many foolish buyers are so naïve to think this is just some folksy country seller who doesn’t know much about photography — and instead not a car shark. Much like the sharks who dress up fake “Barn finds”.
      There’s a sucker born every minute. As is in 2016 (from what I can see) this is a $3,500. car. Where the seller gets the $15,000. figure who knows? No sale. Nice try. Eh hem.

      Like 0
  11. Avatar Rick

    Technically this ’39 Ford is just a coupe, not a five-window coupe. The five-window distinction ceased to be a determining factor in terms of the coupe model in 1938; the last year for a three-window coupe was 1937 (there were both 5 window and
    3 window coupes produced in ’37, so the 5 window/3 window distinction was important) anyhow to call this ’39 Ford Coupe a 5 window is unneccessary, because beginning in ’38 the coupes were all 5 windows. That said what a neat barn find. Amazing that it survived. robert above is right, Fords of this era weren’t worth much in the early 60s, even in nice shape. $125 was a premium price back in ’63 for an old Ford (the equivalent of around $900-1000 in today’s dollars); junkyards typically only paid $15 for a car back then (if they paid at all) Of course minimum wage was only $1.25/hr, so it was a completely different world as far as the value of a dollar

    Like 0
    • Avatar Jon

      Rick,

      There were no 3w coupes in1937. 1936 would have been the last year for 3w’s. Just saying…

      Like 0
    • Avatar bob

      $1.25- was minimum, i got screwed, i only made a $1.00 hr. worked at a gas station-70 80 hrs. a week.

      Like 0
      • Avatar robert

        Yep good ole days. I was with the LAPD for a short year. During that time in the Wilshire District I was spat on, kicked, yelled at than graduated to cut, shot at and the grand finale beat up by a woman who outweighed me by 150 lbs. All this including the WATTS RIOTS for a premium wage of $78.50 week with no overtime pay. Yep good ole days.

        Like 0
  12. Avatar NotchNut

    If I was to drag that home, my wife would load up my belongings and throw them inside and tell me to live in it. Hmmmm! Now that has got me thinking. JK! She already kicks me around for my current 2 year project ( you now the one I said would take no more than 4 months). Car guys! We are all the same.

    Like 0
    • Avatar robert

      My wife said ” If you get another car get a lawyer to go along with it.”

      Like 0
      • Avatar Jon

        Opps……

        Like 0
  13. Avatar Lee

    Rick while you are trying to be so technical and correct the car world you might be interested in knowing you are dead wrong –there was no 1937 ford 3 window 36 was the last year –Bone up a little and its O.K. to be redundant on coupes with 5 windows

    Like 0
  14. Avatar David

    Yet another great find! Wonderful picture!We’re having lunch in this beautiful place thousands of miles from home and I’m looking at car porn. Wifey looks over and says it looks like something from the Temple of Doom Ride in Disneyland!

    Like 0
  15. Avatar DrinkinGasoline

    At this point in the 39’s life, odometer mileage means absolutely nothing. As to “trying to hide something with the dark pictures”, if someone is serious and goes to see the car and has half a brain, that, again, means absolutely nothing. I do agree that 15k is quite a stretch but as time goes by, so does the availability of restoration candidates. As we have all seen, the 70’s and even the 80’s vehicles are now being looked at as something to restore and preserve as well as the earlier wagons, four door hardtops and sedans.There will come a time when all of the two door hardtops, coupes and fastbacks will be in the hands of big money players and will be considered “Made of Unobtainium”. As much as we do not want to believe it, it will happen. Barn Finds my have to look to 1990 and earlier finds to entice the future generations of enthusiasts. As a Baby Boomer, I often cringe at the thought that given the current generation’s “false sense of entitlement”, may contribute to the future demise of restoring and preserving our vehicle history. In my family bubble, I have stressed the importance with my grandson and he has taken hold and loves working on the Bug, the Desoto as well as the Indian.
    For that, I breathe a little sigh of relief.

    Like 0
    • Avatar robert

      Good point. My kids of course are not to far away from drawling Social Security if it’s still around and have no interest in my collection of (my wife says junk) cars. Every one runs but needs paint. I just can’t wake up to paying $3K or more for a paint job.

      Like 1
  16. Avatar John C.

    Yeah that looks like some quick flood lighting, probably in an old barn, dirt floor, well if it got wet in there the car certainly has rust underneath. who know what went in the gas tank over the years with no cap. Any fuel left either evaporated or turned to tar. 15k seems a little high, it’s not a 40 Coupe (more desirable). But I’m pretty sure someone will go for it.

    Like 0
    • Avatar Larry

      Why is the 1940 more desirable?

      I like the crank out window and woodgrain dash on the 1939, but that is my opinion.

      Like 0
      • Avatar norman bissonnette

        I prefer the ’39 DeLuxe with it’s floor shift and the wipers located , above the windshield ( last year for both ) .

        Like 0
  17. Avatar Fast Eddie/Old Eddie: take your pick!

    From the lack of wear on the brake pedal, I’d bet the 46,000 is accurate. I wish I could be the first guy, in 67 years, to work on it!

    Like 0
  18. Avatar stillrunners

    dang flippers……and I own a 39 dlux cpe…..

    Like 0
  19. Avatar Craig

    Headlight & headlight doors look wrong for a ’39, dont even look like they came from a ’40,,,,,,,,,,,,?

    Like 0
  20. Avatar "Ft. Worth" Dan

    Headlights are either an aftermarket conversion for sealed beams, or they’re off a ’40. The ’39 is interesting in that it was the last year of the floor shift. Banjo steering wheel also. Also, I’m led to believe the 1st year of hydraulic brakes, tho the ’38 Deluxes might have been. And, ’39 sales brochures state the seats were made with more padding so as to be more comfortable. And the ’39 Deluxes were the 1st headlights moved out from the side of the grill. In the ’39 standard, they were tucked close to the grill, copying the ’38 Deluxes, which they were anyway. Came with a 60 or 85 horse flat head. The wheels are similar to ’50s and early 60s VWs in that they had a big hole in the wheel center with the “ears” sticking out for the 5 lug nuts. The ’40s look like the wheels most all of us think of when growing up. 15 big ones is a lot in my opinion. Even if it might happen to be rust free !! Would I be closer to reality in thinking about maybe $4000?

    Like 0
  21. Avatar "Ft. Worth" Dan

    Oh for one big plus….last year of the banjo steering wheel. ( I knew Iz fregittin’ sum thin”)

    Like 1
  22. Avatar geomechs Member

    I took one look at this and thought of Henry G. Felsen’s book, Street Rod. After reading that book (at least twice back then) I wanted to find a ’39 Ford coupe. But I wouldn’t paint it pink….

    Like 0
  23. Avatar Ric Parrish

    I agree with Craig, I don’t think those are even 40 Deluxe headlights.

    Like 0
    • Avatar Craig

      ’40 Deluxe.

      Like 0
      • Avatar "Ft. Worth" Dan

        Ric: I didn’t think so either. likely an aftermarket retrofit popular at the time. The original ’39’s had bolbs with reflectors I believe. Sealed beams for ford came in ’40 I’m told.

        Like 0
  24. Avatar Alexander Member

    If you want a 3 window 1939 car, look for a Willys.

    Like 0
  25. Avatar "Ft. Worth" Dan

    Well Larry, apparently the ’40 is more desirable to the person who stated it is. I actually think the lines are better on the ’39 Deluxe and Standard; the ’38 deluxe (’39 standard), and the ’37 Deluxe. I also like the ’36.
    For years the ’40 was what everybody thought they HAD to have. In more recent years people have realized the others are just as desirable.

    Like 1
  26. Avatar "Ft. Worth" Dan

    $15,000 ?? Maybe he meant to say pesos???

    Like 0

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