The '49 Ford

"THE '49"

This 1949 Ford has had a rough life. As the story goes..... in 1969 it was nipped by a slow moving train. (1969 was the last PA inspection sticker on the windshield) An old man (or woman) was too close to the train tracks and a slow train hit the front of the car destroying the front end and bent the front extensions of the frame rails. "THE '49" was then totaled and taken to a junk yard. The Flathead V8 only had 29,000 miles on it. The junkyard owner ripped the engine out to put in his tow truck. I say ripped because he cut every wire & the overdrive cable at the firewall. He never put the engine in his tow truck. The engine sat outside and rusted fast. My older brother bought it from the junk yard. He had many antique cars so after many discussions with him he finally sold it to me for what he had in buying the car & parts. WHAT A DEAL ! He had bought most of the parts it needed. I had to find a hood, left door and deck lid. It soon became known as "THE 49".

I finally found all the parts and got it running. I broke 2 pistons when I took the rusted engine apart. I honed all the cylinder walls, (NO PISTON RIDGE) since it only had 29K on the engine. I put 2 pistons and new rings in it and put it back together. I had a little problem getting it started. The cork gasket on the fuel bowel would suck air and not let the gas flow. I cranked the engine too much and drained the battery. So we decided to tow it down the road to start it. I popped the clutch but nothing happened. It was in overdrive. I never had an overdrive car and knew nothing about how it free-wheeled in OD. We pushed it over the pit to pull the tranny thinking something was wrong with the clutch or pressure plate. Lucky for me, I asked my brother about the overdrive lever on the side of the tranny. I flipped the lever and we took it for another drag. I started right up. WHAT A SOUND ! (with out the exhaust system).