Hands on the back of a Ford, because Fords must be pushed…
Today’s post falls in the class of “just because he can”… You know, “just because he can” – you have the skillz; the artistic “gift”. And my cousin Jim falls in that category.
In today’s featured image you see the trunk lid on the 1940 Ford that Jim is building. Jim is a bit of an “artiste” and he wanted something unusual, something unique, something “just because he can” on the 40 Ford’s trunk. How about those trunk hinges?
What we have here are “hands” made from a slab of aluminum. Carefully machined, filed, trimmed, polished and etched. No CAD mind you. Just Jim’s trusted Porterfield milling machine and plenty of filing. This, my friends, is “old school”… Add to that the trunk on this 1940 Ford: it is all aluminum made from scratch.
Helping push the Ford!
I realize this is not for everyone. Matter of fact, who would want this, right? All I can say, is “just because he can”! Jim told me about the “hands”…
- They are made from a slab of aluminum milled on the Porterfield, the “old-fashioned way”.
- Lots of hand-filing… A file! What is that??
- The “hinge” part was the most difficult part; the pin through the three-piece hing took some doing.
- The trunk lid has curvature – it is not flat. Therefore the entire “hand” has a bit of a curve to it and the pin mentioned before had to be made to fit.
- Check out the fingernails. Yes, there are fingernails on the tips of each finger!
And here you go… Each “hand”! Just because he can…
Happy Independence Day weekend, everyone.
Our finest moment; Happy Birthday America!!!
Do you still drive the TR much? You may not remember me, we emailed some on one of the MG experience words. I was interested in your brothers blue tr. I ended up buying Dan Master’s old TR- the one with the special chassis. I still play with cars, but I don’t build them, I prefer to buy them sorted and start driving them while maybe adding a few personal touches.
Someday I would like to meet yourself and your brother, both of you are very talented and, to the extent that you can get a feel for someone through blog posts, I think we would enjoy having a beer together an talking old cars. I used to drive south to Texas from California to see my dad at least a couple times a year, but lately I just work too much to travel as much as ai would like. I do like the “hands” and I hope you both have a great Fourth! Eric coyne in Visalia, CA
Eric
Thank you for following, reading and commenting. Yes, I do drive bowtie6 often. Matter of fact, it is almost time to buy new tires because the current ones are getting hard and not as grippy. My cousin Jim’s TR4 (the blue one) is alive and kicking too. Jim drives his TR4 almost every day. These TR’s are not garage queens – they are driven! I would probably be able to drive my car even more during the summer, but here in South Carolina things get really hot! Unfortunately, I don’t have AC on my TR6. If I had the type of weather you have in California, man!!! I would be in it every day.
It would be nice to meet you too. I wish you had written to me about 5 weeks ago because both my wife and I visited California. We had a great drive from San Francisco after we arrived, and spent the majority of our time in Santa Barbara. But, we did stop for a couple of nights in Paso Robles. Of course while there, we visited Solvang and Los Olivos. There are some exceptional wineries in the Central Coast so we did our fair share of visits. Speaking of which, while visiting Calcarious Winery in Paso Robles, I had a chance to see some really cool cars. The winery sits off Peachy Canyon Rd, an exceptionally windy and awesome road. At any rate, we saw three Alfa Romeos and one XKE and man, did they look good! Just the perfect conditions for those cars. Needless to say, it would be a blast to drive bowtie6 on those roads!
Happy Fourth!
That’s a unique conversation piece and definitely shows off some metalwork skill! Interested in seeing how the hands look when it’s all said and done (i.e. Will he paint them body color or flesh color?). Hope you have a great holiday weekend?
Not sure what the final look is going to be. They might get polished; not sure yet! But I will have a followup when the car gets painted.