| back in the '60's i ran an a model ford for some years as an everyday-use vehicle then foolishly sold it, thinking i would find a nicer one later. well, quite a few years later i finally got one, which, with a little fixing should be a medium nice ford. the one i got is a 31 s/w 160b, which was stored away back during the war with 53k miles on it. it was preserved through the years with no rust and only minor dings.
it will need a bit of work, though, and i would like to get the advice of some of the knowledgable old timers before doing anything to a well-preserved original car.
i'm thinking about this one as a safe, reliable, gentle-use roadworthy car, not a freeway commute warrior, but not a display-only show car.
my thought is to dissect the body off the chassis, set the body aside carefully, recon the chassis, and fit hyd. brakes, 16" tires on kelsey-hayes wheel rims, and redo the engine(it runs well now) with a counter-weighted crank, maybe a higher compression head, etc. then reassemble it otherwise as it is now.
do i have any realistic chance of finding new-old-stock real ford parts for the chassis and steering, and what are fair market values for real ford parts now??
i am really paranoid about the idea of third-world metallurgy in stressed or safety-related pieces. my father had, many years ago, a machine business, and i got to listen to stories told by some of his friends and workers, some of whom had worked for old man ford and his metallurgist mr wills, so, as you might understand, i have confidence in the real ford vanadium-flavoured steels (and the ford chrome-carbon steels too, for that matter).
anyway, i would be really very grateful for any ideas, advice, leads, etc. its really wonderful to see the experts give so freely of their time and energy to share the minutae of the mechanism and its folklore
thank you
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