Early/late 47 ?

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Here are a pair of 1948 Australian Fords, a Super Deluxe Sedan and Deluxe Utility. These 1948 Fords are rare in Australia. Notice that on both cars, they have the Chrome strips on the Hood with the Smooth end. It is my observation that these were the usual Chrome strip fitted to Australian 1948 Fords. Notice that in Australia, we got carry over 46 style Bumper Guards/Over Riders? The Ute has incorrect 1941 Ford Hubcaps fitted.
 
I other item that I noticed is that the you also have a 46 hood ornament on the top of the hood and a 47/48 on the front of the hood.
 
The ignitions are different. The early 47's like mine have the switch that you flip before you start it. The later 47's and 48's had an entirely different system without the switch.
 
Rusted Junk, you are correct, in that in Australia, Ford never updated the Hood Ornament, but continued on using the 1946 Ford Style Ornament for all 3 years.
 
Just to bend the thread a little did anyone else notice in post 21 the 55 Cdn. Meteor ambulance in the background with 55 Ford Fairlane side moldings? No wonder people get confused trying to identify early Fords.. ;-) Bill
 
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Another difference with these Australian 1948 Fords is that they retained the 1946 Ford style duel chrome stips on trunk lid on all models to the end of the 1948 models. Also, the rear Bumper was not lowered, as it was in the USA, and we kept the 1946 Ford style Bumper, less the Ford Script, plus the 1946 style Bumper Guards/Over Riders. This car has a 46 Front Clip fitted to it, including the Chrome stips on the fenders, which are fitted above the crease. The Chrome Strips on the Rears are correct and sit below the crease.
 
mercman from oz said:
https://www.fordbarn.com/attachments/307190/[/IMG

[IMG]https://www.fordbarn.com/attachments/307191/

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Here are some more photos of Chrome Strips on Australian 1946, 1947 and 1948 Fords. You will notice that the Strip in the lower photo shows two Ridges. The 1948 Ford Strip that I have in my collection does not have these Creases. Australian 1948 Fords are few and far between, so I don't know what is correct on these local cars, Plain end or with Ridges? All I know is the one in my collection is off a local 1948 model and lacks these Ridges. Is one correct for a 1947 Ford and the other correct for a 1948 Ford? do USA Fords have the strip in the centre illustration, that was correct for our 1947 Fords?
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Mercman the one with the ridges on the end is an early round park light 47. It should have a flatter profile than the later 47 round park lite/48.

I have 2 of those strips on my 48 hood. It is wrong for the car year as all the rest of the stainless is a rounder profile that has a slight peak in the centre.

GB
 
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Bill, This is the car in the background that you were referring to. This particular Ambulance was built especially for the Snowy Mountains project down in southern New South Wales. If Bill is confused, so am I. The owner classes it as a 1958 model, and it does have the Hood and Grille as fitted to the local 1958 Fords which were called "Star Model" because of the Star in the Grille and Hubcaps. They got this title because as Bill correctly pointed out that the Grille was first applied to the 1955 Canadian Meteors. As Ford Australia didn't want to go the expense of tooling up for the all-new 1957 Fords, they decided to make do with the 1955/1956 models for two more years. The Side Chrome Trim on this ex Ambulance is what was fitted to Australian 1957 Ford Customlines, but was originally fitted to the 1956 Ford Fairlanes in America. The 1955 Meteor Grilles were only used for one year, being 1958. So, this particular vehicle has a mixture of both 1957 and 1958 Ford parts. Our local 1957 Ford Customlines got Chrome Plated Headlight Rims.
 
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Here is another Ambulance that was built for the Snowy Mountains Project. This time around, it is all 1957 Ford, including the Grille and Side Chrome. what is interesting is that the Hood with the small "Fairlane" Badge, Centre Hood Trim and Painted Headlight Rimes were only on the Mainline Utes. The 1957 Ford Customlines got a large Ford Badge on the Hood plus a very different Hood Emblem as well as Chrome Plated Headlight Rims. This vehicle may have started off as a Mainline Ute which does make sense, as the Mainlines had en extra X in the Chassis. like on the American Convertibles.
 
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I came across this ex New Zealand 1947 Ford last week. If you look closely, you can see that there are two different profiles for these smooth Chrome Strips. The one on the door (left) is thicker in the middle than the ones on the right. If you rub your hand over it, there is a distinct Crease down the centre that the flatter Strips don't have. I was told that this Crease was for added strength. If you compare the end profiles, you can see that the one on the left is much thicker and comes to a peak in the middle. I was told that the Strip on the Door is the revised 1948 Strip, and is less susceptible to dents?
 
One other difference between the early 47 and late 47 that I didn't see mentioned is the distance center line to center line on the wiper towers. The earlier 47 is closer together. The later 47 is farther apart. Don't recall the measurements or if the earlier cars dimension is the same as the 46's or not.
 
The tool tray went away after Ford used up the '42 bodies for '46. Only very early '46's had the tray. Later 46's did not have it.
 
In my opinion, this thread is 'muddled'. The original poster has PA as his location, and is presumably inquiring about US cars. There is a lot of info here that I find 'interesting', but it applies to non-US cars. If the poster is indeed inquiring about US cars, it will take some 'interpretation' to know what applies to his situation.
The V8 Times once published the running changes for 46-48, and I assume the same info is available in the club book. I submit there is no such thing as 'early 47' vs 'late 47'. Sure, there is the thing about the 46 trim vs the 47 trim, but there is so much more with all the running changes. There have even been examples posted here of a 47 that came with 47-style belt molding on one side of the car, and 48-style molding on the other side. Ford made it difficult to positively say that one is 'correct' and another is 'incorrect'. Just my opinion.
 
it is my understanding the 42, like mine, and the early 46 have the parking lights above the head lights in the filler panels. Late 46 the the lights were moved to below the headlights. i know nothing about the trim.
 
edhd58 said:
it is my understanding the 42, like mine, and the early 46 have the parking lights above the head lights in the filler panels. Late 46 the the lights were moved to below the headlights. i know nothing about the trim.
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Late '46 into early '47 had the parking lights in the filler panel just like the early cars.
 
Here to add the confusion. In New Zealand on the smooth grill round park light 47/48 we did not get the hood ornament with the blue plastic insert. We got the 46 "bird" style ornament but the "8" badge was deleted off it because it was on the "shield" like the US late 47/48s had.

GB
 
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