Headlight Bezel

wickcopland

wickcopland

Senior Member
I am looking for the correct headlight doors for my 39 Deluxe Tudor. I seem to have 1940 fenders based on the stop lights. I have a set of Bezels Part # 01A-13045-d. These do not fit as they leave about an inch of space between the bottom where the screw is to the fender. What came with the car is badly pitted and to rechrome them would be between $1100 - 1500. I wonder if the 1940 Standard would work?
Thanks
Wick
 
Your 1939 Deluxe Tudor should have stainless steel head light rims, not chrome plated anything. The O1A parts are 1940 Ford. Are you sure that you have 1939 Ford deluxe fenders, and not Standard fenders. What do the stop lights have to do with your head lights ? Perhaps you should ask around to find someone more knowledgeable about 1939 Fords than you seem to be. The people are out there, just ask around.
 
To switch to 39 lights, unscrew the whole 40 bucket from the fender and replace it all with the 39 assembly. They are not the same, but will interchange.
 
wickcopland said:
I am looking for the correct headlight doors for my 39 Deluxe Tudor. I seem to have 1940 fenders based on the stop lights. I have a set of Bezels Part # 01A-13045-d. These do not fit as they leave about an inch of space between the bottom where the screw is to the fender. What came with the car is badly pitted and to rechrome them would be between $1100 - 1500. I wonder if the 1940 Standard would work?
Thanks
Wick
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Wick, I'm confident I can give you good advice IF you can post a photo of what WAS on the fender(s). Did they fit?
IS the car in your avatar the one you are asking about?
The '40 "standard" (properly: Ford V8 model) and the deluxe headlamp bezels interchange.
 
Maybe his car had a sealed beam conversion to the 39 buckets. The die cast rings that came with those were usually kinda bulgy. So the original 40 ring wouldn’t fit tight.
 
Either the fender is not 1939 Deluxe or 1940, or the rims are wrong (and the number reported on the rim is a 1940 number). As Kube noted, and I will emphasize from my own experience, 1940 headlight rims are a precise match to a true 1939 Deluxe fender. Having two taillights is not a reliable indicator of standard or deluxe as some states were requiring two taillights by 1939, and many customers would ask for them when the car was purchased, or simply install them later in the cars life.
 
The 40 Std and Dlx headlight rims are the same size. If Dlx doesn't fit the Std will not.
 
Thank you all for the responses. It came to me with sealed beams and 40 tail lights not the tear drop style. The fenders that came with the car fit, so I thought they were 40 standard. Were the 39 deluxe and 40 standard fenders the same? Pics of the car when I picked it up.
 

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wickcopland said:
Thank you all for the responses. It came to me with sealed beams and 40 tail lights not the tear drop style. The fenders that came with the car fit, so I thought they were 40 standard. Were the 39 deluxe and 40 standard fenders the same? Pics of the car when I picked it up.
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581155
 
1939 Deluxe front fenders are different from 1940 Passenger, but 1940 fenders do fit (and were sold as replacement fenders by Ford in 1940). The perimeter of the fender (grille to hood, to cowl, to running board, around the tire opening and back to the grille) are the same, as is the perimeter of the headlight opening. The significant differences are in the "cutout" for the headlight and the "valley" between the center of the headlight opening horizontal to the grille (about 3/4" deep on 1939 and 1/4" deep on 1940). I have seen some conjecture that suggests the change in the valley may actually have occurred in late 1939. As long as you have a pair very few people will see any difference.


1940 Standard and 1940 Deluxe front fenders are the same.


1940-41 Pickup front fenders differ from the 1940 Passenger in the fit to the cowl and running board.


Your "as delivered" photo appears to show 1940 deluxe headlight rims. Are these the ones you are having problems with? If not, and they fit and you have others that do not there is your problem.
 
Karl Wescott said:
1939 Deluxe front fenders are different from 1940 Passenger, but 1940 fenders do fit (and were sold as replacement fenders by Ford in 1940). The perimeter of the fender (grille to hood, to cowl, to running board, around the tire opening and back to the grille) are the same, as is the perimeter of the headlight opening. The significant differences are in the "cutout" for the headlight and the "valley" between the center of the headlight opening horizontal to the grille (about 3/4" deep on 1939 and 1/4" deep on 1940). I have seen some conjecture that suggests the change in the valley may actually have occurred in late 1939. As long as you have a pair very few people will see any difference.


1940 Standard and 1940 Deluxe front fenders are the same.


1940-41 Pickup front fenders differ from the 1940 Passenger in the fit to the cowl and running board.


Your "as delivered" photo appears to show 1940 deluxe headlight rims. Are these the ones you are having problems with? If not, and they fit and you have others that do not there is your problem.
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Karl has simplified this rather well. IF those headlamp buckets fit your car, then new ones should as well.
I will say that from experience, Drake's bezels fit sometimes and other times are way off. So off as to be useless.
I'm guessing some serious quality control issues.
Believe it or not, I have had much better fortune with Vintique bezels. That nearly pains me to admit...
 
The bezels that I bought 01A-13045-d do not fit. The ones on the car are in poor shape.
I am not sure where I got the new ones but it was either carpenter or drake. Is there a difference between the 01A-13045-A, 01A-13045-B, 01A-13045-D?
Thank you for all your help.
 
wickcopland said:
The bezels that I bought 01A-13045-d do not fit. The ones on the car are in poor shape.
I am not sure where I got the new ones but it was either carpenter or drake. Is there a difference between the 01A-13045-A, 01A-13045-B, 01A-13045-D?
Thank you for all your help.
Click to expand...

The bezels with the A or B suffix should fit your car.
As I'd mentioned in a previous post, some of Drake's bezels fit terribly.
I believe the bezels have the sales company cast on the back.
 
Looks like I mixed up the pard numbers. I bought a pair from Bob Drake part #01A-13045-B and they did not fit. After a lot of back and forth I decided to get a set from (01A-13045-D) Dennis Carpenter. Strange thing....I got them this morning, When opened the Dennis Carpenter box I found another box inside the box. When I pulled it out it was a Bob Drake box. On the box was the part #01A-13045-B although the order and the invoice clearly had part #01A-13045-D. I pulled them out and they had the part #01A-13045-B stamped on the underside. For the hell of it I tried them on and they fit! Still can't understand why the 1st set did not work.

Wick
 
wickcopland said:
Looks like I mixed up the pard numbers. I bought a pair from Bob Drake part #01A-13045-B and they did not fit. After a lot of back and forth I decided to get a set from (01A-13045-D) Dennis Carpenter. Strange thing....I got them this morning, When opened the Dennis Carpenter box I found another box inside the box. When I pulled it out it was a Bob Drake box. On the box was the part #01A-13045-B although the order and the invoice clearly had part #01A-13045-D. I pulled them out and they had the part #01A-13045-B stamped on the underside. For the hell of it I tried them on and they fit! Still can't understand why the 1st set did not work.

Wick
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Go back and (carefully) read my response within post #11. THEN you will understand.
 
Drake has had inconsistencies before on his 1940 hood ornaments, and as Kube noted on the 1940 deluxe rims. This is most likely to be from overheating and warping the metal during the polishing process prior to plating. Not a common issue with hobbyists getting chrome done as most "retail" plating shops understand the consequences of overheating (by expensive experience) however low cost "industrial" operations might not.
 
Karl Wescott said:
Drake has had inconsistencies before on his 1940 hood ornaments, and as Kube noted on the 1940 deluxe rims. This is most likely to be from overheating and warping the metal during the polishing process prior to plating. Not a common issue with hobbyists getting chrome done as most "retail" plating shops understand the consequences of overheating (by expensive experience) however low cost "industrial" operations might not.
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Winner, winner...
 
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