Dad's 1941 Ford Business Coupe
This web page is dedicated to the restoration of my father’s 1941 Ford business coupe.
When I was 15 or 16 (1975-1976) my mother gave this Coupe to my father as a birthday gift. It was purchased from the original owner, Rich Wolf. It had sat in Rich’s driveway for as long as I could remember. He was the town constable in Holland NY. As a kid I remember Mr. Wolf coming to my father’s gas station every fall to get some Zero Proof antifreeze to put into the old flathead V-8. It took my mother a lot of talking to get this car from Mr. Wolf, but he knew it would be in good hands.
When I was young and learning auto repairs at my father’s station, a couple of the guy’s working there taught me how to make and install brake lines, master cylinders and wheel cylinders. Along with shoe and spring replacement and also how to bleed brakes properly.
I remember driving this car when I had my learner’s permit.
My father passed away on October 10, 1978. My mother had the car sent to a cut-rate body man and you could tell. Patches where riveted over the holes and thick layers of bondo laid over that. No real welding was done during any of these repairs.
The car then sat in my mother’s front yard under a tree sinking into the ground for at least 10 years. My brother then took it to his house and tore into it. He did the hard work of taking it apart and liquid stripping the paint and bondo from the body. All this held moisture under it and rotted the body even more.
About 2 years ago, (2006) I was finally able to get my hands on it again, and start the process of bringing it back to its original beauty.
Picture of the coupe taken around 1980
Site created on November 11, 2008
This picture shows my 2 youngest sons, Joseph, (standing) and Daniel on the ground taking the front fenders off. You need to start young to get them interested in classic cars. Also they love to get dirty. My mother had coated the whole under side with wheel bearing grease to help preserve the body. What a pain in the butt to get off. But then again what are kids for. I gave them each a putty knife and they spent 2 days scraping the underside of the front clip so it could be removed. When the clip was off they went to town scraping down the frame to get the grease and dirt off. My wife was thrilled with me when they came in for dinner.
