A Midlife Crisis (AKA The Other Woman):  My (Husband's) Love Affair with a ‘41 Ford Convertible

by Scott Gilday (and his better half, Nicole Plenge-Gilday)

At the end of our last episode, Scott had just finished his engine work and had overcome some challenging body issues with the ‘41.  This month, our saga continues with Scott & Nicole’s trials and tribulations to assemble the ‘41 and finally get her on the road. 

Paint  While my body guy, Jeff, continued working on the body and frame, I tackled painting all the engine, interior, and remaining chassis parts in their correct colors (per the formulas in The Early Ford V-8 Club’s 1941-48 Ford Book) using a combination of Dupont’s Centari single-stage and Chromabase two-stage paints.  When it came to painting the car, choosing the body color was easy.  Of all the colors in Ford’s ’41 palette, Mayfair Maroon was my favorite.  And based on the paint I found on the cowl (underneath where the front fenders had been), it also appeared to have been the car’s original color.  As it turns out, the hard part for me was deciding whether to go with the Centari or Chromabase paint.  I was leaning towards the two-stage basecoat/clearcoat technology of Chromabase paint and tried to find the formula for Mayfair Maroon, but I wasn’t having any luck tracking down an exact color match.  (Nicole:  Tired of hearing Scott go on about his paint dilemma, I had a crazy idea and suggested he contact the source – DuPont – to see if they could help him track down a Chromabase match.)  So I emailed DuPont via their paint website, and to my surprise, I received a response the next morning.  Unfortunately, it wasn’t good news.  They had several Chromabase colors similar to the Mayfair Maroon, but they didn’t have an exact match.  And even though I ended up going with the Centari single-stage paint, it was nice having the peace of mind that a Chromabase two-stage match wasn’t meant to be. 

Interior, Convertible Top & Trim  When it came to the restoration of my interior and convertible top, Jeff suggested I get in touch with Ralph and Ray Morey at Restorations Unlimited II in Cary.  Working with them, I chose to go with the correct brown leather interior and tan top kits from LeBaron Bonney.  While the rest of the body and chassis work was being completed, they reupholstered the front and back seats.  They also put me in touch with Streamwood Plating, who refinished my window frame pieces and body trim; and Grain-It Technologies in Florida, who restored the woodgrain finish on my dashboard, windshield trim and door sills.

Columbia Two-Speed Rear Axle  While I was in St. Louis picking up the convertible doors (to replace the infamous “Franken-doors”), the seller happened to mention he also had an old ‘46 Columbia lying in his yard.  I had always toyed with the idea of getting one for the ‘41.  Not only would it be a neat feature to have, but it would make the car a lot more comfortable for cruising; however, my concern was how difficult (and costly) it would be to get it running again.  I had taken a look at several that had come up for auction on eBay that were pricey, but in this case, the price was right.  After coming home and giving it more thought, I decided to pull the trigger.  As luck would have it, the seller had plans to drive up to a swap meet in Wisconsin.  So we made arrangements to have him drop off the Columbia on his way, and better yet, take my “Franken-doors” with him in lieu of charging me for gas.

I initially thought the ‘46 Columbia would work on my ‘41 with just minor modifications, only to discover that I needed to replace the entire Columbia-side axle housing as the ‘46 housing was substantially different.  After breaking apart the rusted hulk of my new rear end, I contacted John Connelly of Columbia Two Speed Parts in California and worked with him on the rebuild, which included: swapping in a ‘41 Columbia axle housing; replacing some broken shift forks; rebuilding the synchro clutch; resleeving the axle housings; bulletproofing the rear-end; and purchasing all the ‘41 control parts.  Of course, the job didn’t go off without a hitch.  For those of you not familiar with a Columbia conversion, the right stock axle housing is replaced by the Columbia axle housing pieces, which are then mated with the stock banjo assembly and left axle housing.  As it turns out, I had accidentally resleeved the right stock axle housing instead of the left; unfortunately, I didn’t realize my mistake until I tried to assemble it. (Ouch!)  So now I had to go back and refinish and resleeve the left axle housing like I should’ve done in the first place.

Transmission – Part I  I was excited to locate someone selling the correct three-speed transmission I needed locally on eBay, but I was disappointed to find a couple broken and chipped gears upon taking it apart.  Despite my discovery, I decided to move forward and have Opel Engineering hot-tank the transmission housing while I began my search for the replacement gears.  (Thankfully) before I purchased any expensive new gears, I learned the case had a hidden crack in it.  (If only that transmission could talk, I’m sure it would have some good stories to share.)  Luckily, I was able to find another transmission on eBay that was in great shape and at a really reasonable price.  So using my handy 1939-1948 Service Manual (which reads like VCR programming instructions), I set out on my first ever full transmission rebuild.  Little did I know, I had made a judgment call during the rebuild that would later come back to haunt me. 

Learning Curve   Being my first time restoring a car from the ground up, God knows I made my fair share of painful mistakes while learning plenty of invaluable lessons in the process.  In addition to the ones previously mentioned, some additional highlights include:

• Heater (Third Time’s a Charm):  With heater #1, I did a great restoration only to learn it was a ‘47 heater.  I chalk it up to a rookie mistake as I probably hadn’t bought my copy of The Early Ford V-8 Club’s 1941-48 Ford Book yet.  The restoration on heater #2 was even better than the first.  This time I knew it was a ‘42-48 and thought I could easily modify it (by adding a hole for the defroster knob) to match the ‘41.  Then I realized (after-the-fact) that the doors were shaped different (rounded instead of squared off).  I finally got it right the third time around.

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• Broken Window:  I purchased the correct etched “bug” glass from Mac’s Antique Auto Parts in New York and tried my hand at seating the glass into the frame, which was tedious to say the least.  I was doing fine until I got frustrated and, against my better judgment, decided to use a screwdriver to help seat the glass.  Needless to say, it was one of my more expensive lessons.

• Wrong Torque Tube:  As I was getting ready to mount the torque tube, I noticed that the front bracket for the brake lines was missing.  My first instinct was to replace what I thought was a missing bracket, until I started to notice other differences and realized I had gotten the wrong torque tube with the car.  Fortunately, I was able to use another tube I was saving for my next project (more about that later).

• Axle Shaft Snafu:  I was mounting the rear brake drums, and for the life of me, I couldn’t get them to seat properly:  there was a ¾” gap.  In my head, I started going through all things that could be suspect:  Maybe the brake shoes were binding on the drum, or something was wrong with the axle shaft taper.  However, given the ongoing issues I’d run into as a result of incorrect parts that came with the car, I thought to check the 1941-48 Ford Book to see if it referenced any difference in axle shaft lengths.  Lo and behold, it said that from 1942 on, the tread width was increased by 1½”, which would account for my ¾” gap on each side.  As luck would have it, I was able to pirate two shafts out of another project I had (again, more about that later).

Chassis, Drive Train & Body Assembly  After years of acquiring and restoring various parts (Nicole:  and tripping over them in our basement), the ‘41 was finally coming together.  Once my body guy, Jeff, finished painting my frame, we moved the body to a second frame we had on hand (more about that later) so he could finish the remaining body work, and I could start building the chassis.  I trailered the painted frame home to my garage and began installing all the mechanical components I had built and refinished, resulting in a complete rolling chassis.  Once Jeff finished painting the core section of the body, I trailered the completed chassis back to his shop where we lowered the body and bolted it onto the frame I then trailered the assembly back home and began working on the interior and installing each of the remaining body parts – fenders, deck lid, hood, cowl, vent, chin – as they were completed by Jeff.  In the end, it took me roughly 11 months to assemble the rolling chassis, and from there, another seven months to build the interior and assemble the remaining body parts – for a total of 18 months from start to finish.

Getting Started  Almost four years to the day I picked the car up in South Dakota, I finally reached the moment I had been waiting for.  Not surprisingly, my first attempts to start the ‘41 proved unsuccessful.  I could barely get her to crank and feared I had a bad battery.  I tried charging it using an old 6V trickle charger I had, but it didn’t help.  I then bought a new battery thinking it would do the trick, but it would only crank a few times before going completely dead.  At this point, I began to fear I might have a bad starter.  Before breaking down and buying a new one, I decided to take a chance on a new toy that had been on my wish list:  a wheeled battery charger/starter.  Fortunately, my gamble paid off, and the ‘41 took her first trip around the block.

During my first few trips, I noticed the car ran very rough and, after driving for a while, was very hard to restart.  Since most of my driving had been on very hot days, I initially thought I had vapor lock issues with the fuel (as I don’t have an electric fuel pump).  However, after posting questions to the Early Ford V-8 Club Forum and Ford Barn, I learned my coil might actually be the culprit.  Based on the advice I received, I decided to send my coil to Skip Haney in Florida and have him rebuild it.  In the interim, I ended up using a spare coil I had, which seemed to solve the problem.

Feeling confident with my new “interim” coil, I took Nicole and our two young daughters (Reese was 3½ and Ciena was almost 2-years-old at the time) out for a ride on a hot day.  After driving for a while, the car began to sputter a bit and eventually died.  Fortunately, we were able to get safely off the road, but we were still stuck a couple miles from home in the heat.  Assuming my coil was overheated, I made several unsuccessful attempts to cool it down and restart the car.  Nicole had asked me about our gas supply, but I was convinced we were fine.  I knew we were a bit low but thought I had at least an eighth of a tank.  Since my efforts to cool the coil weren’t yielding any results, I began to give more thought to the gas.  I was running a brand-new and (until now) untested sending unit:  Could this be the issue?  (Nicole:  We had stopped at my parents’ house earlier that morning, and Scott had mentioned something about being low on gas.  Knowing my father always has spare gas on hand, I told Scott we should ask him for a few gallons to be on the safe side for the ride home, but Scott didn’t want to impose.  Later on with us stranded and the girls melting in the heat, I called my mom and had her drive me and the girls home while Scott stayed with the ‘41 to troubleshoot.  Back at home, I quickly grabbed our gas can and drove back to help Scott, and wouldn’t you know, the ‘41 started right up.)  Yup.  I was out of gas. Should’ve listened to my wife in the first place!!!  (Nicole:  As most women know, it is a rare occurrence for any man to admit he should’ve listened to a woman, not to mention, to see him admit it in writing.  Believe me, I’ll never let him live this one down and will continue to milk it for all it’s worth!)  Ever since I installed the coil Skip rebuilt, I’ve never had another coil or heat related issue again (knock on wood).  And, as long as I’ve kept gas in the car, she’s always run great.

The Debut  (Nicole:  About the time the ‘41 hit the road this past May, I happened to read in a local magazine that the Barrington Concours d' Elegance was featuring a pre-war American class.  With the car being close to finished, I thought it would be cool for Scott to show her at a local event, not to mention, great to get some feedback since he’d considered showing her at the Early Ford V-8 meet in Auburn later in the summer.  And with two months until the Concours, I figured Scott would have plenty of time to finish up the remaining restoration work.  I did some research and learned the vehicle application deadline had already passed.  Figuring we had nothing to lose, I reached out to the Concours staff, and it turns out they still had a few slots open in their showfield.  After submitting an application and some photos of the ‘41 to their selection committee, they invited us to show the car.  Of course given Scott’s nature, he immediately started to stress out over the remaining work to be done).  While the car was road worthy, there was still work to be done on the interior and convertible top along with some detail work on the body.  As I mentioned earlier, I had lined up Restorations Unlimited II to complete the work on the interior and convertible top.  However, they were busy with other projects at the time and warned me that they may not be able to finish the job before the Concours.  I also needed to work with my body guy, Jeff, on some alignment adjustments to the body, and he had a lot of projects on his plate as well.  Needless to say, I was very nervous those next few months as I had serious doubts we’d have the ‘41 ready in time for the Concours. 

Tune in next month for the exciting finale of Scott & Nicole’s wild adventure as the ’41 hits the show circuit – topless, no less – and thanks to some pregnancy impulse purchases, picks up some siblings along the way.  You won't want to miss it!