1965-70 Hot Rodding, any photo's and stories to tell?

[petrolhead]

When I was a kid and I first saw those fish scales they "blew me away" I still like them even now

[petrolhead]

And at one stage it had rectangle headlamps but round ones look nicer

[spoggie]

The yellow VW/ Topolino from Perth was a lil' beauty too.

[Drewfus]

just a bump for ol time sake....



Cheers,

Drewfus

[567trishop]

Hi i have been posting up some 60s cars show pics. https://www.facebook.com/groups/51342331124/

[37coupe]

Top Heavy ? I love Top Heavy,, ,better than looking like a sqaushed pastie,,

Why do the early Aussie bodies have higher rooflines??

[7cylinderHEMI]

Aussie 34 bodies were wooden framed and all body styles slightly differed from their U.S.counterparts ,i dont know why the closed cars had a higher roof height maybe they looked better on the drawing board ,and as they had the spear panel above the running board to cope with the wooden floor frame too ,,most Aussie owners choose to chop em ,,,to make em look better apparently,,,,

[monte]

Maybe our population were taller

[HOT ROD FRED]

Maybe we had bigger hats

[7cylinderHEMI]

the tallness thing didnt work for me,,,

[Carps]

Aussie 34 bodies were wooden framed and all body styles slightly differed from their U.S.counterparts ,i dont know why the closed cars had a higher roof height maybe they looked better on the drawing board ,and as they had the spear panel above the running board to cope with the wooden floor frame too ,,most Aussie owners choose to chop em ,,,to make em look better apparently,,,,

It's pretty simple really.

The rolling chassis were shipped to Australia from Canada, easy to do with no body attached.

The US model body was Ford's first venture into 'all' steel construction and to tool up and build that body in Australia it would have made the car ridiculously expensive to build.

The large press tools for larger panels like the rear roof sections and doors were very expensive to make, so Ford Australia did their best to amortise the cost of existing tooling across the new body style.

So, the Aussie model 40 bodies were made the same way as had been the '32 bodies before tham. In fact the 1932 sedan rear roof panel was carried to the 'new' body as too were the back doors and a few other bits. On the doors, the new model's handles were relocated below the reveal line instead of on it as was the case for '32 models. Since these doors were shorter than the US doors it was easier, and cheaper to simply build the body around a flat timber panelled floor than make the doors longer like the US models. Thus, the side windows became visually taller than the US model wich has longer door glass and shorter rear quarter glass plus a rear roof section that is tilted forward instead of the vertical design on local cars. Hardware like door strikers and dovetails is half and half, rears being the same as Us 32 models and fronts being the same as for US model 40s. Aussie '32 and '33/4 sedans used a four piece wooden frame to trim the inside of the back window, my Aussie '33 has a steel "32 Ford frame I picked up at a US swap meet and it fits perfectly.

Because the front doors are unique to Aussie model 40s, the cowl and also windscreen frames are unique too. However, the firewall is the same as North American models. Ford of Canada pressed them for both right and left hand drive, but only punched the holes for whichever version of the car they would ultimately be used. Likewise the dash panels are pressed to accept RH or lLH monted steering columns. In fact the Canadian chassis is punched for either right or left side steeering box mounts.Grilles, lamps, bumpers, fenders etc, are all the same on Aussie and US models, unless you have one with the longer Aussie tailamp storks which were fitted to cars having both the rear mounted spare and a luggage rack.

Because of how these bodies were made, restoring one using reproduction parts can be a real nightmare unless you knopw which parts to arder for a '32 model and which parts to order for a model 40.

There were also a number of smaller parts like the outer door handles that are unique to the Aussie models, whilst others items interchange with some modification. You'll find that because the wooden framed local doors are thicker than the US metal versions, that repro door handles need about a quarter of an inch added to the shaft to make them work with original Aussie Ford latches.

For the 1935 model yearFord Australia adopted all steel construction, but for some reason either changed or didn't exactly copy the US tooling so many panels continued to be non interchangeable. The most obvious difference can be seen on touring sedans where the waist reveal coninues in a straight line around the back panel of our cars and on North American cars it kicks up allowing the boot to be maybe an inch deeper.

[Oldcol]

the tallness thing didnt work for me,,,

....s'why they invented roof chops.....

[7cylinderHEMI]

,,,Yeh but that dosent help me to see over the dashboard,,,,

[Raymond Loewy]

Thanks Carps....that was interesting

[Carps]

,,,Yeh but that dosent help me to see over the dashboard,,,,

You should a got yerself an early 1933 Standard Sedan.

This model had a unique front seat which included additional cusions stitched in along the front edge.

The cushion could be left on the seat for height disadvantaged folks like you and for regular sized people like me, we just flipped it forward to get the same view out the windscreen.