Looking for Long Lost Love

By Jack Nikolich

One 1939 Ford Dartmouth Green Convertible Coupe with rumble seat being driven off by sailor from Great Lakes Naval Base in Illinois—Feb. 1951.  Sailor was from California.  This Ford had these distinctive features:

·          Packard hood ornament flying lady with wheel.

·          Gun handle from F4U Corsair Fighting plane on gear shift.  Machine gun button blew blast horns.  Bomb release button blew Model “A” horn.

·          Top of dash was painted Dartmouth Green.

·          Had after market radio with left and right control knobs with small window station display in center on chrome mounting plate same position as stock radio, but with a tuning eye attachment to the left of radio and below dash.

·          Corsair aircraft compass mounted in center molding for windshield under rear view mirror.

·          Chrome plated garnish molding around windshield and on top of doors.

·          My Naval Aviator Gold Wings mounted on center top of radio speaker grill.

·          Manifold pressure gauge from Corsair mounted between steering column and emergency brake handle.

·          24 volt large aircraft toggle switch mounted above battery on firewall with toggle inside car accessible through a hole in the glove box.  Switch would disconnect the battery.

·          Combination tonneau top boot black canvas that went from the back of the top to the top of the windshield held on by button snaps.

·          Inside handle to open rumble seat mounted behind passenger seat.

·          Large overdrive chrome pull handle mounted below radio dash and to the left that was used to shift Columbia axle. (Columbia axle removed before sale of car.)

·          1941 Buick vacuum top switch mounted next to overdrive handle used to supply vacuum to Columbia rear axle.

·          Engine was 1942 Mercury engine - stock except it had triple pulleys on the two truck water pumps.  It also had triple pulleys on the crank shaft.  Car had McCulloch super charger that was removed before sale of car.

·          Custom front bumper guards with 5 inch fog lights mounted on top.

·          Stainless custom wheel trim rings that covered complete wheel and were held on by the hub caps.  Trim rings were ribbed.

·          Running boards were removed—fenders were filled and painted.

·          Custom tear drop fender skirts.

·          8 inch diameter Lorrain driving lights.  Mounted on back bumper brackets.  Lights were clear lenses and used when car behind would not dim their high beams.

·          The radio grill had my initials mounted on it.  My initials were JMN in chrome letters 3/4’s inch high.

·          Car had original seat covering that was ripped at some of the seams and was covered with cheap plaid seat covers.

·          Body had no rust with original paint and some touch up.

·          1940 head light rims with sealed beams.

·          The convertible roof irons were painted dark maroon metallic.

·          1/2 inch pipe fitting mounted to front and rear bumper braces to hold 1/2” pipe frame for my speed boat as shown in picture.

My step-father bought me the car on April 1, 1941, from our local Ford dealer, C-Zepp.  It was a 21,000 mile one owner car and was double brand new when I got it.  I had it from 1941 to 1951.  It had about 300,000 miles when it was sold.  The reason I sold it was we had our first child and there was no room in the rumble seat for a baby buggy, etc.  I always lamented the fact that I sold the car.  About 15 years ago my wife said, “Stop moaning about your old car, find another one and I will buy it for you.”  Well I looked and looked but 1939 Ford convertibles were hard to find.  Those that were out there were beyond basket cases.  I finally found one in Lemont, Illinois.  I went to look at it.  Drove it back and forth in the yard and bought it.  It was black, wrong headlight rims.  Poor upholstery, all lumpy.  Good covers on the upholstery but bad seat springs.  Brought the car home and did a complete frame off restoration.  New rockers, new floors, rebuilt engine.  Repainted car a Dartmouth green enamel. (1988 Jaguar Racing Green).   This was as close as I could get to the original color.  Rebuilt all the seats, retied all the springs and welded the frames.  Installed new upholstery, removed the back of the convertible top and installed new tack strip (1/4 inch conveyor belting - works great).  Car is now complete the way I had it back in 1951.  Gun handle gear shift, Columbia rear axle, McCulloch super charger, exhaust cutout. Aermore exhaust whistles.  All that I am missing are the wheel trim rings and they are hard to come by.  My wife suggested that I put an ad “Looking For Lost Love” in various newspapers and car publications to see if we could find our original car. 

Does anyone out there reading this article know what happened to my car? My phone number is 1-847-537-6069.