1939 Ford Windshield Frame

Bazooka Joe

Bazooka Joe

Senior Member
With all the outstanding high quality reproduction parts made for the early V8 Fords , how come no one makes a chrome windshield frame, for the above car, the same frame looks to fit the 37-39 Ford vehicles. You can build a complete 39-40 from the body, frame, trim but no windshield frame ( 1939 ) I remember many years there where Companies that made aluminum frames ( as I bought one ) but the quality and fit was poor. It's not like the early V8 Fords are unpopular cars to restore. So I'm calling out some of the big boys to make this part
 
Not to fear.......The Donald will bring manufacturing back to America again ......"like nobody else-believe me"! Plus.........you'll get a free "GREAT AGAIN" hat with every purchase. DD
 
Tooling up to make a 37-39 frame would be very expensive. Based on the market, which is small, you probably would not like the price when they were done. I'll bet someone has already looked into this and found that there was no way to recapture their investment. You can't sell for cost and expect volume to make up the difference.
 
How much does a repop 34 Ford chrome grille cost something like $2250.00 is there a big market for those as an example. Who says it has to be made in the Good ole USA , They make the aluminum bodied Kirkham AC Cobra in Poland. The high quality Superformance A/C Cobra bodies I believe and frames and parts are made in South Africa. Poland has a high quality work force in machinist, after all some/many Pratt & Whitney jet engine parts are made there. A 37-39 Ford is a popular cars , OK maybe not so much the 38
 
Last edited:
Bazooka Joe.....I don't believe you're far off on the '34 grill price. That thing was many years in the "come to market" stages. There will probably be quite some demand for those grills for some years to come. Considering the details necessary to produce each one, that price is probably pretty reasonable, and easy-enough to justify for such a prominent piece on a car. On the other hand, that windshield frame is a pretty complicated extrusion with critical bends and components, such that properly reproducing would cost an amount that very few folks would probably be willing to justify. In addition to that, I don't think there would be anywhere near as much (at the price necessary) potential demand for the W/S frames as for the '34 grills. DD
 
They already made them some 30 years ago in all aluminum, as I bought one, so they figured out the bends, and with today's technologies in machining I don't see why they cannot make them out of a solid piece of polished aluminum, or SS as a close copy of the original or as an option the customer can get it chrome plated. If your a company that sells several thousand repop parts why would it be a bad thing to sell one part at cost, to me if your a dedicated person/company furthering the hobby what is the issue of not making a profit on one part, even if you sold that one part at cost ,your still making couple bucks in shipping/handling charges. Not everything in life is about making money, It's called Helping your fellow car enthusiast.
 
Every person who is dedicated to bettering the hobby, does so with a profit in mind. Profit is not a 4 letter word.
 
Point being, The one I bought over 30+ years ago was reasonably priced ( as I was a young man making minimal money ) and I could easily afford it, so it's not like they never made them before. Thinking I got it from either Joblot, Gaslight Auto Parts or Specialized Auto Parts
 
Bazooka Joe said:
Point being, The one I bought over 30+ years ago was reasonably priced ( as I was a young man making minimal money ) and I could easily afford it, so it's not like they never made them before. Thinking I got it from either Joblot, Gaslight Auto Parts or Specialized Auto Parts
Click to expand...

As you said in your initial post......."the quality and fit were poor." I also bought that same Argentine-hacked, non-fitting '33-'34 W/S frame garbage from Tommy Traylor at Specialized Auto in Houston back in the late '60s. Looked great, 'til I got home with it......fit my windshield opening just like the proverbial square peg in a round hole. Good fit and quality require serious dollars.....back then, and especially now! I can pretty-much assure you that ALL of the "big boys" that you've called-out to make these frames "at cost" to "help their fellow car enthusiaist", are gonna seriously disappoint you. It's ALL about the HEREAFTER......it's the money they're all HERE AFTER. DD
 
Bazooka Joe said:
Point being, The one I bought over 30+ years ago was reasonably priced ( as I was a young man making minimal money ) and I could easily afford it, so it's not like they never made them before. Thinking I got it from either Joblot, Gaslight Auto Parts or Specialized Auto Parts
Click to expand...

So it's O.K. to sell reasonably priced junk that doesn't fit? Just because you need one doesn't justify someone spending the time and money to make one for you at cost. I encourage you to take on the project if you think there is a great need. Let us know how it works out.
 
Is it the same as the '38 truck? Something tells me it might be. I have one from a 38 truck but I made the best one from 2 halves. I will look tomorrow. Maybe you only want perfect, not sure.
 
tj said:
so it's o.k. To sell reasonably priced junk that doesn't fit? Just because you need one doesn't justify someone spending the time and money to make one for you at cost. I encourage you to take on the project if you think there is a great need. Let us know how it works out.
Click to expand...

ouch !
 
V8COOPMAN said:
As you said in your initial post......."the quality and fit were poor." I also bought that same Argentine-hacked, non-fitting '33-'34 W/S frame garbage from Tommy Traylor at Specialized Auto in Houston back in the late '60s. Looked great, 'til I got home with it......fit my windshield opening just like the proverbial square peg in a round hole. Good fit and quality require serious dollars.....back then, and especially now! I can pretty-much assure you that ALL of the "big boys" that you've called-out to make these frames "at cost" to "help their fellow car enthusiaist", are gonna seriously disappoint you. It's ALL about the HEREAFTER......it's the money they're all HERE AFTER. DD
Click to expand...

Thanks for filling me in where I bought mine from ( Specialized sounds right ) and a little history of where it came from
 
You can just about bet that if there is a profit to be made then someone would be making them. My conclusion would be they can't be made profitably.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top