1958 Style Hot Rod 1936 Ford Cabriolet

By using only parts that were available in 1958 and prior, we created a hot rod from this 1936 Ford, that is Pure and correct for the 1958 Theme. The engine is an August 1957 Corvette FI 283ci. All accessories are date correct to that engine. Fittings and fasteners are also correct. Yes the generator is a Corvette generator and the voltage regulator is date/application correct too. The attention to detail on this car is unsurpassed. The top material was saved from 70 years ago. It is correct to the car. The drive train consists of a 39 trans with NOS Zephyr gears. The Columbia two speed rear end makes this car very functional at highway speeds and beyond.

The wheels are early 1950's Streemlite trailer wheels. They were originally rough cast wheels but polish up quite nicely for a refined car like this one. The bolt pattern is correct for Ford. The 1940 Ford dash sports all the original gauges, ash trays, and knobs although the knobs now control all the systems in this car. A lot of modifications in the controls and fabrication was required to attain this. You can see more pictures of this in the Rod & Custom Feature article that can be accessed by clicking on the link to My Featured Restorations on the left side of my page here.

Traditional Hot Rod Turn Signal Custom Installation

1958 Style Hot Rod with turn signals that aren't offensive or cluttering. Some use the Guide 682-C headlights on their hot rods and those are in my opinion the least offensive turn signal lights for a traditional hot rod if you don't already have separate park lights on your original vehicle. If you have, you can easily install dual filament sockets in place of the singles.

Some install an amber dual light bulb inside the headlight where the original park light is, or install lights inside the horn. I however chose a different route on this 1936 Ford that I built in the 1958 theme.
I chose to use turn signals only on the back, figuring that you can see what's going on in front of you and really don't need the lights up front, especially on a car that didn't come with turn signals in the first place.

On the back however, we improved the visibility of the lights by using vintage period correct aftermarket Night Owl lenses. They were produced for trucks and acted as side marker light,as well as the tail light, prior to actual separate lights specifically for that purpose. These are quite rare and hard to obtain, however.

If you know how turn signals operate, you are probably wondering at this point how I was able to make turn signals work on just the rear. It's another little trick I thought up in order to overcome a relativity simple obstacle in the whole picture of this fabulous car. I took the flasher apart and just did a little tweaking on the flasher until it started flashing with just one light drawing juice through it.

1940 Ford Accessory Banjo Steering Wheel

This is actually a 1936 Ford Cabriolet that I built into a 1958 style Hot Rod with 57 Corvette engine and a lot of other really cool stuff that is all absolutely period correct.

Well it goes with the dash trim quite well doesn't it? This special steering wheel was not offered by Ford in 1940 but was offered as an accessory for Chevrolet in the 1940's.

We started with a 1937 steering column because it was the first year for the roller bearing steering cluster.

There was a number of slight modifications to put this whole thing together, including the mount to the frame, the mount to the dash, the indent for the steering lock, the key way cut in the steering wheel, the ball bearing support for the upper shaft, the special one off ring to adapt the light switch knob to the wheel, and the tweaking of the 1939 horn button to make it work in the 1936 knob with the 36 ring. I painted the light switch knob to match the rest of the knobs and painted the wheel hub to match the original 1940 Ford dash color.

The whole thing works well, just as it would if it had come from the factory this way. Easy you think? Give it a try! Oh yea, and the recasting of the wheel ring to make it match the color of the original 1940 Ford knobs that required about as much tweaking to make them support the functions of this 1958 period correct hot rod.

Yes we had the knob of the turn signal switch recast as well, so it would match the knobs on the dash and window cranks.

For those of you not familiar with the early Fords of this era, the beige color part in the middle of the steering wheel, with the red stripes, is the light control knob. It controls the switch at the other end of the column by a shaft that runs down the center of the column.

Early Ford V8 Meet Lake Tahoe 2013 preview 1936 Ford Towncar Delivery

Lake Tahoe will be the location of the 50th anniversary Early Ford V8 meet in June 2013. Larry Hove and I plan to display his 1936 Ford Custom Coachwork Towncar Delivery that we have been building for six years or so.

I have been very privileged to have had the opportunity to work with Larry who has a degree in art and a natural talent and passion for automobile design.
I guess his experience in wood working in the home remodel business has proved to be very valuable in the design and execution of the rear (cargo area) of this fabulous Custom Coach.

This project started out, as I mentioned, about six years ago or so with Larry's vision of using the convertible parts from one of his convertible sedans, and the remains of the Seibert Custom Coach that he had acquired years earlier, to create this 1936 Ford Towncar Delivery.

Larry and I have done some other things together over the years as well. Larry had design input on the 1958 style hot rod 1936 Ford Cabriolet that I built for Phil Blodgett. We also built a custom bodied 34-35-36 Convertible Sedan.

Larry also has a Mullens trailer that we have done a lot of restoration work on. He plans to equip it with some eleven spoke Clev-Weld wheels to match the wheels that will be fit to this car eventually.

Here are a few preview images of the 1936 Ford Towncar Delivery.

Columbia Two Speed Rear End 1936 with 1946 Ford Electric Vacuum Controls

1936 Ford had a manual vacuum Columbia Two Speed rear end but in 1946, the Columbia Two Speed Axle was controlled by an electric solenoid vacuum switch. The Columbia Two Speed Rear End gave the Flathead Fords in the 1930's and 1940's nearly a one third taller gear ratio to the tire.

In the 1936 Ford Cabriolet that I built into a 1958 style hot rod, I used a combination of systems to accomplish my goal. I wanted to give my client a nice operating, period correct Columbia Two Speed in the rear end of the 1957 Fuel Injected Corvette 283 powered, 1936 Ford.

I equipped the hot rod with a 1940 Ford Dash and used a cigar lighter housing and an original style 1940 Ford choke knob with the flat rod. I made a round piece that fit into the lighter housing and put a slot in it and in the end of the housing so that the flat rod would slide with some sort of stability. I fastened a three position toggle switch on an L shaped bracket on the back end of the lighter housing and drilled a hole in the slide rod of the choke knob in the correct position so that the toggle switch fit into the hole. Now what looks like a choke knob is actually a three position neutral return switch. The C for choke now is C for Columbia.

By pushing the, now Columbia switch in, it completes a circuit and likewise when you pull it out. It springs back to center, or to the neutral position.

The Columbia Two Speed Rear End should not be shifted, unless the clutch is all the way in. I took a brake light switch apart and reversed the contact points so that when it is depressed, it completes a circuit instead of completing the circuit when it is released as original operation. I mounted that switch on the frame so that the 1939 Ford Clutch pedal arm would activate the switch and complete the circuit when completely depressed.

I reduced the voltage from 12 to 6 volts for the electromagnetic solenoids for the 1946 Ford Columbia Two Speed vacuum shift control.

Now I had all the components to make the system complete. One more thing I did though is route the power through period correct 12 volt Delco relays which are switched by the original NOS Hurd keyed ignition switch and again with the tweaked brake light switch and the three position toggle switch.

I almost forgot one more detail. The electromagnetic solenoid-vacuum switch that sends the vacuum to the rear to make the actual shift, also shifts a little speedometer cable, two speed transmission so that the speedometer reads correctly when you shift from low to high and back, automatically.

I added a picture of the other switches. One is to switch the 1950's electric fuel pump and the others are dash lights and cigar lighter. Notice the original 1940  heater switch on the underside of the dash and the 8 ball that controls the original NOS Yoder Wolf Whistle. All the knobs have original 36 bezels with a custom stainless ring in the middle.