Need some help on 1947 Ford Convertible floor pans

[dodored]

Hello Ford Barn Friends,
I need some photos of original 1946-1947-1948 Mercury or Ford convertible floor pans, especially the area behind the rear seats. Mine has been "customized" and I am not sure what is factory and what they have added on. I want to put the floor back as original as possible, so if you have and photos you can post it would be much appreciated.

 

[Ken/Alabama]

Judging by the pictures your floor looks factory unless there is something I'm not seeing .

 

[rotorwrench]

I'd say so too. A lot of cancer on the seat riser and left rear floor that is evident but not as bad as a lot of converts get.

 

[waterboychuck]

I agree with the other two. I have a 46 coupe and can take some photos for you if you like. Send me a PM with your email address if you want the photos.

 

[tracktguy]

I also agree with the others. The set riser area looks original. I have a '46 convert and it looks exactly like mine and it has not bee altered. My rear seat mount has been altered because I didn't have a original rear seat. I was too cheap to buy the new spring assemblies. I made the bottom and back and had them upholstered. If you want pics of the area, send me your e-mail address and I can take a couple of pics.

 

[FortyNiner]

FYI: http://www.hotrodssheetmetal.com/19fosh.html

 

[rotorwrench]

I think it is plain in his post that the owner wants to go original. The EMS stuff is an alternative but it's far from original. Most folks still look for donor floor from another car but it depends on how bad the cancer is. If the area that is rusted through is relatively flat with few bead shapes or other pressed in reinforcements, they are relatively simple to fabricate a patch repair. The more complicated the surface shapes the harder it is to replicate for patches but there are folks out there that do this stuff every day. I just do my own.

If the floor is thin and has rust throughs all over the place then it gets even more complicated. Full panel replacement is a time consuming operation and requires a skill set to do it plus the ability and equipment to fabricate since there is really no one making very original floor pans currently. Paul Bradley is so unreliable plus I think he only does a trunk pan anyway for the 41 through 48 Fords. This can get quite costly if no good donor parts are available. The convertible models may share the same floor with other models like the Tudor Sedan or one of the two couples like the Sedan Coupe. It's even possible that parts of a Fordor Sedan might work I just don't know.

 

[waterboychuck]

I'm not sure "how far from original" the seat riser is but I can say that I have purchased items from EMS like rocker panels that they fit like a glove. I happened to have the instructions from EMS on installing the riser and have attached it as I hope it will help.

 

[dodored]

Thanks for all the feedback. I was thinking that the floor might have been original, but the wood frame that they put in the rear seat area and the rear package tray with the speaker grill looks like an afterthought. It is so deteriorated that i wasn't sure how much wood ford used for that area.

I would like to go back as original as possible, as the car is too nice to butcher. Actually the car was on the ford barn swap meet for almost 6 months with no takers. Not sure why, as it included 2 bodies, extra frame with suspension, and tons of extra sheet metal. It got so cheap that I was forced to buy it as it is such a cool car. I need to find some dash trim pieces if you might have some, especially gauge clusters. Any rear floor pans you have some pictures of would be a great help.
Curt

 

[rotorwrench]

The Mercs are a bit harder to find trim parts for so some folks shy away from them but a convertible coupe is always worth the effort. That car looks fairly complete with trim and all the stuff that is hard to find. The cross brace that sets vertically in front of the rear seat riser was common on convertibles to add more rigidity to the body. Otherwise, the quarters can get shaky at the top of the B pillar. The wood pieces in the convertible top well area I'm not sure of but they are likely there for the rear seat back to rest against. I'm not all that familiar with the 46 though 48 Mercury cars but I think a lot of ford car sheet metal can be made to work in them. Hopefully there is a Merc lover on the barn that can help more with info on that. I'm more familiar with the later 49 through 51 models myself.

 

[dodored]

I agree that trim parts are tough to come by, but fortunately the car came with a ton of trim parts. Looks like there are some coupe trim mixed in, but I am not that familiar with Mercurys enough to say, so I will have to work to identify all of it. Main thing I am missing are dash pieces.

 

[rotorwrench]

How much of the dash do you have? That big waterfall with the speedo & clock can be a difficult item to find in really good condition but there are bound to be some good ones or at least some good repairable ones out there.

 

[dodored]

I have a very solid dash with no trim. It has surface rust but that can be cured with a good sand blasting. I am not looking for show quality pieces, just something that is drive quality.

 

[rotorwrench]

A guy out in California used to make the waterfalls or have them made from ABS plastic as replacements but he died a few years back and I haven't seen anymore adverts for repro parts. The convert likely had the white metal piece that was chrome plated. These are thin and easily broken plus they pit like hell if left to the elements. I see them come up on flea-pay but rarely. It looks like you need the engine gauge panel too. I've seen whole dashes on flea-pay too but there are a few old Merc part scavengers out there that list in Hemmings, EFV8 club, and the IMOC.


To ADD: Evidently Vintique is making the dash parts in white metal. This is a flea-pay link.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mercury-Mer...ash=item51dd3732ea:g:baoAAOSwqBJXXgvE&vxp=mtr

C&G lists them and they are bare cast aluminum so would have to be painted or plated.

 

[hook00pad]

Mac's has them too, I think.

 

[dodored]

Thanks guys for the help - Autofair is coming to Charlotte in April, so hopefully I can spot something there.

 

[lfson]

Be careful! What is referred to on eBay is not correct for your Merc. The center piece is Ford, not Merc!

 

[lfson]

Be careful! What is referred to on eBay is not correct for your Merc. The center piece is Ford, not Merc!
This is the speaker grille. The middle three bars are a separate chrome unit and the rest is plastic.

 

[al pa.]

I have one of the california pvc repro dash sets,new unused,that I recieved as a christmas gift years ago.(Son paid $600.00)Correct mercury shape speaker grille.It is one of the items that will be included in sale of the car.Also winfield tool works drum puller.47 merc coupe listed in swap meet.

 

[supereal]

Order a copy of the 1944-1952 Body Parts catalog from C&G. It is item #V44. It has very good drawings of convertible parts, including the floor pans. The convertible body parts all parts are rare and almost imposible to find. This is due to the low production numbers of the type, and that the floor pans in most survivors are badly damaged from leaking tops when they became just "old". cars. The entire body for the 46-48 convertibles is on page 428 of the parts book, along with fine pages of other Fords of the 44-52 years.