1938 battery

BatteryCentralMall.com

Excellent products. Expensive! Made to order, be prepared to wait months. Uses AGM type battery, should last ten years or more.
 
PS - I’ve tried several different approaches to painting the Ford oval gold, including rubber and foam rollers as well as painting by hand. The last wound up being the best, but still not completely satisfied with the results. Don’t want to hijack this thread, but this is an important aspect as third parties supply only the encased AGM battery with uncolored oval.
 
My understanding was that the colored oval was a dealer supplied battery and the plain black ones were factory supplied. I could be wrong. Just throwing this out there as it was from a reputable source.
 
He is looking for a "period correct looking Ford script battery". If that's what he really wants, he should look into an Optima in a reproduction Ford script case and save a bunch of dough.

It works for me.

Don't get me started on the horrible experiences I have had with expensive reproduction batteries.
 
Nobody makes a period correct battery for a 1938 Ford. Original was a 2LF, the closest you can get today is a 2HF, about 5/8” taller, with a slightly different case pattern. These are expensive, and still not correct, especially the height, as the hold-down bracket will no longer fit properly. I’d suggest you settle for a simple and inexpensive plain black battery from a tractor supply house.
 
ford38v8 said:
Nobody makes a period correct battery for a 1938 Ford. Original was a 2LF, the closest you can get today is a 2HF, about 5/8” taller, with a slightly different case pattern. These are expensive, and still not correct, especially the height, as the hold-down bracket will no longer fit properly. I’d suggest you settle for a simple and inexpensive plain black battery from a tractor supply house.
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Alan is 100% correct of course.
Still, if you want it to appear fairly close to authentic, the 2HF will do the trick for the most part.
I have used these by modifying the hold down components in such a way as to not be recognized.
 

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52flthed said:
My understanding was that the colored oval was a dealer supplied battery and the plain black ones were factory supplied. I could be wrong. Just throwing this out there as it was from a reputable source.
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They were painted from the factory. At least in '39 and '40. I can't speak with authority of other years.
 
ford38v8 said:
Nobody makes a period correct battery for a 1938 Ford. Original was a 2LF, the closest you can get today is a 2HF, about 5/8” taller, with a slightly different case pattern. These are expensive, and still not correct, especially the height, as the hold-down bracket will no longer fit properly. I’d suggest you settle for a simple and inexpensive plain black battery from a tractor supply house.
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The website linked above your post does list a repro 2LF 1938/39 battery. Is it not the correct one?
 
52flthed said:
The website linked above your post does list a repro 2LF 1938/39 battery. Is it not the correct one?
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I see that, and can only speculate on it's authenticity: It certainly looks correct, however, its dimensions are listed as being identical to the 2Hf also offered on that website.
 
ford38v8 said:
I see that, and can only speculate on it's authenticity: It certainly looks correct, however, its dimensions are listed as being identical to the 2Hf also offered on that website.
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Alan, I can only speak to the '39 (standard) batteries I'd received from that company. They were, as you'd correctly stated, not identical to the authentic and did require some modifications to the hold down assembly pieces.
 
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