1946 Ford Tudor

“I just really like Fords” was Dave Martin’s response to “Why a Ford?” 

1946 ford tudor show card

Dave Martin is a retired carpenter and now has the extra time to work in his home shop in Newbury, Vermont. He is very close to finishing up a 1940 Ford Tuder that started out with a broken frame and seized engine. Maybe we will see his restoration at our next Waterbury Show in August. 

He has been involved with old vehicles since fishing his first car out of stream bed, back when he was in high school at Bradford High. His friend had a 1931 Pontiac and the friends parents were not very happy about their son driving it. When the friend rolled the Pontiac into a stream along the road, the parents said that was it. Dave then bought the car, as is, for $5.00. Dave and his Dad rolled the car back on its tires and pulled it home. He never registered the car for the highway but later made a doodlebug out of it. 

Dave Martin's 1946 ford tudor
Dave Martin ‘s 1946 Ford Tudor is something he purchased only 2 years ago

He found it for sale at a restoration shop just down the road from his home at Darlings Auto in South Ryegate. 

He added directional lights, rear shocks and did a bit of engine tuning before driving it the 45 miles to the Waterbury Show last August. As you can see, it is a beautiful car. 

The Ford Motor Company shut down its automobile production line in Detroit and at its assembly plants across the country early in February of 1942 to take on the war effort. In the three month period after the US entered WWII, due to the bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, a stockpile of cars was set aside for essential uses during the war; military staff car production continued. 

It would not be until three years later in July of 1945, and the war had ended, when the first 1946 Ford would roll off the production line ahead of its main competitor, Chevrolet. 

1940s ford motor company-factory-lot

“There’s A Ford In Your Future”, the sales promo that Ford created, when WWll came to an end.  Ford had a number of left over 1942 body parts that went into 1946 Ford models.

Henry Ford II got the first postwar car into production, and the very first one — a white Super DeLuxe Tudor sedan assembled on July 3, 1945 — went to President Harry Truman. Alas, only 34,439 more were assembled during the 1945 calendar year. However, there was no end of problems with the War Production Board, which controlled output and material supplies, and the Office of Price Administration, which put many controls on the price of parts and cars. Henry Ford II claimed that he was losing $300 per car because he couldn’t achieve volume production, and indeed the company was hemorrhaging about $10 million per month at one point. 

1946 ford tudor nose

The only notable mechanical change to the new 1946 Ford, from the 1942 model, was the adoption of the larger 239 c.i., 100 h.p. V-8 engine used in prewar Mercury and Ford trucks. The outward appearance of the revamped 1942 model, was essentially the same, except for a newly designed three-bar horizontal grille capped with a heavy tapered trim bar below the hood. In the rear, the deck lid received two added horizontal trim strips below the license plate. Roughly 450,000 of the new Fords were manufactured during the production run which ended part way through 1948. 

Some specs……. Rear-wheel drive, manual 3-speed on-the-column, V8 gasoline engine with displacement of 239.4 cui, advertised power:100 hp. Outside length: 196.2 in, width: 73.3 in, wheelbase: 114 in, 3370 lbs. estimated curb weight.  p speed:80 mph, fuel consumption average 18.7 mpg.

 

 

Ethanol Gas & Gas Mileage

Dave, 

I want to share, with you, my story on ethanol gas. As I recall you have done pieces on this topic in the past, however, I thought I would share with you my totally unscientific finding. 

I religiously try to use the non-ethanol in my old cars, lawn mowers, weed whacker, chainsaw, etc. 

Last summer, I had heard from a few folks about their using the non-ethanol gas in their regular driver and getting better gas mileage. My modern vehicle is a 2019 4WD Silverado Chevrolet. With about 10K miles on the vehicle and I was getting on average 21.9 mpg. I drove over 1,000 miles filling the truck with non-ethanol gas and my average was 24.9 mpg, an increase of 3 mpg. My cost per mile with purchasing the higher priced non-ethanol vs the regular ethanol cheaper, gas came out as a wash (depending on the price per gal purchased at the pump). So I figured if it is not costing me more, I am using 15% less fuel, and it should be better for my engine, I have stuck with buying the non-ethanol gas. I am a great environmentalist when it matches up with my cheap side! 

Obviously different drivers, different vehicles, different driving habits would change the results in either direction. Also this was not exactly an apples to apples comparison, because I was comparing regular ethanol to high test non-ethanol. I did not bother to compare how high-test with ethanol would fit in to this mix. Luckily for me I have a local station that carries the non-ethanol fuel. 

I wondered if you ever thought about the ethanol from this angle or not, regardless here is my unscientific sharing that I thought you might find interesting, if nothing else. 

-Eric 

Dear Eric, 

You are correct. Ethanal gas has less energy than conventional gasoline, and you will notice at least a 5% efficiency loss with ethanal gas. My findings have largely aligned with yours. My Subaru has the H-6 engine, which has a 10.7to1 compression ratio, and requires premium gas. When I replaced the head gaskets I had the heads planned flat again, requiring .007” to be shaved off. This obviously increased the compression ratio even higher. (Subaru does not recommend planning these heads…. I have put 100,000 miles on the engine since with no troubles). I also use premium gas in my Saab Turbos. The Subaru and the Saab’s will burn regular gas, but the timing is retarded so far, to prevent preignition that the mileage goes way down, and it actually costs me more money to use the 87 octane gas, due to the decreased mileage. I was also amazed to see how much air conditioning effects mileage. It can drop by as much as 20%. 

Unfortunately, I have only been able to find 91 octane non ethanal gas. Even the non ethanal 91 octane gives better gas mileage than the 93 octane 10% Ethanal gasoline. 

I have had a number of problems with the ethanal gas, with not only the antique cars and small engines, but my daily drivers too. On the antique cars I have had fuel sending units, fuel lines, carburetor rubber parts, fuel pumps and even gas tanks dissolve. I had an exhaust valve burn in my wife’s Chrysler minivan, and I had a plastic valve on the top of the gas tank dissolve on my Subaru Outback. 

Ethanal fuel holds moisture in suspension, which causes the fuel to rust fuel tanks away. I have had gas tanks dissolve on cars that were in extended storage , while stored inside climate controlled garages. 

The only positive thing I can say for ethanal gas is, I don’t have to buy dry gas anymore, I haven’t had a frozen fuel line in years 

I was in the car the other day…

I was in the car, the other day, running errands and having a conversation with myself (Dixie, my dog, was not with me that day). 

I was muttering about the depressing state of affairs in the nation and world, when I found myself singing a song that just popped into my little brain, “Keep On The Sunny Side”. I felt much better after a few minutes. 

Then I started to think about all the songs that were written about sun, and sunshine and in just a few minutes thought of quite a few. How about these: 

The Sunny Side of the Street, Here Comes the Sun ( Beatles), Good Day Sunshine (Beatles), Keep on the Sunny Side (Carter family), Sunshine on My Shoulder (John Denver), You Are My Sunshine. 

Years ago, when Joe Kaelin would call Gael, they would often start singing OLD songs on the telephone and that would last for hours, it seemed. Fred Cook was another one that knew all the OLD songs. Fred and Gael would, again, sing at length. I have fond memories of Fred starting to sing without any notice…..a good memory. 

One of my favorits is… Keep On The Sunny Side which played a part in the recent Ken Burns series about country music. Years ago, when we would sit around a camp fire with neighbors, we always started singing and one song that was sung was “You Are My Sunshine”. I wonder if kids these days know that song. Do people sit around camp fires and sing any more? Maybe, maybe not, but I will continue to sing these songs, especially in the months to come. Singing, and humming, is good for the soul and it makes me feel a little bit better, if only for a short time. 

Can you think of any more songs that you could add to my list? 

PS… There is a good video on You Tube about dogs at the beach with the song ”Walking in Sunshine”. I think that’s the name of it, another sunshine song.