40 Ford Cpe - Tribute to Henry G Felsen

[Leica007]

I first read Street Rod back in the summer of 1962. Found it on our county bookmobile, I was already into model cars, my first was a 59 Ford Galaxie kit. I was almost fifteen and was a lot like Rick. The car in the book has stayed in my memory for years, so I built one but I didn't feel it was that good, especially after being on this forum. So a few months ago, after seeing the nice 40 coupes on here and the recommendations for the Revelle kit, I thought I'd give it another try. So thanks to you all for the knowledge and inspiration. I really tried to follow the description that HGF gave in the book, down to the C-M (Conner-Madison) inscription on the dash, the DTA sticker in the windshield, and the gold trophy he won. Since he mentioned "nerfing" I did replace the stock bumpers with nerf bars from an AMT kit. I used the wire wheels from the 53 Ford conv kit. I tried wood graining the dash, but didn't do so well. Brown flocking for the carpet, craft acrylic paint for interior/exterior (airbrushed), Testor sm bottle copper paint (hand brushed). Hand made exhaust from plastic tubing and mufflers from my parts bin. Even though not mentioned in the book I figured for a show car he used white walls. The paint was sanded and polished, no clearcoat. I tried to streamline the look by opening the fenders a little bit. It took about 5 weeks to complete.  I was in HL today and met another modeler from a nearby town and we started talking about what we build. He is just starting back into cars and asked me what I build. I mentioned I just finished a 40 Ford coupe street rod from a book, and he said Henry Gregor Felsen. Anyway, thanks for looking and hope this brings back a good memory.

The one above is with flash to bring out color, the below is w/o flash

[ChrisR]

Cool!!!

[Phildaupho]

Love the back story and the model

[Muncie]

I also remember reading a couple of the Henry Gregor Felson books during study hall in high school.  Your tribute is well done and way cool!

[thatz4u]

I read most of his books back in the day, your 40 seems to have jumped from the pages of the book, well done...

[karbuildr]

Great looking build.

[bob29579]

Really nice

 

[PappyD340]

Very nice build!

[bobss396]

I read that too and bought a copy at our school book fair for like 75 cents. When I was recovering from my 2016 heart attack, I bought the whole set.

Ricky's girlfriend talked him into painting it pink. The car won ? 1st prize at a show... in DesMoines, IIRC.

Spoiler alert...they were returning from the show, both were killed after something broke in the suspension. The car went off a bridge and into the drink.

[ModelcarJR]

Really cool ol' school build! Nice! ??

[Zippi]

Love the ole fat fender 40 Fords Lei.  Nice build.

[Nolan]

Nice job!  That brings back a lot of memories.  One of my high school buddies had a 40 Ford coupe and another had an early flathead V8 powered Ford Pickup.  Both had that very distinctive Flathead V8 engine smell.  None of our other beatermobiles had that engine odor or sound.

 

Nolan

Edited November 17, 2024 by Nolan

[Leica007]

Thank you all for looking and taking the time to comment. I wonder how many others on here read the books. Thanks for sharing your memories of them.

[bobss396]

8 hours ago, Leica007 said:

Thank you all for looking and taking the time to comment. I wonder how many others on here read the books. Thanks for sharing your memories of them.

I have the paperback set. Maybe 6 books in all. I have 1 or 2 loose ones around too. 

Now that I'm indoors more, I should get them out again.

[ncbuckeye67]

Beautifully done!

[Robberbaron]

On 11/17/2024 at 9:55 PM, Leica007 said:

Thank you all for looking and taking the time to comment. I wonder how many others on here read the books. Thanks for sharing your memories of them.

I'll fully admit that at first I didn't understand what you were referencing, I thought it was a magazine. (guess I was mixing the magazines Hot Rod and Street Rodder together in my head?)  I also had no recollection of the name "Henry Gregor Felsen".

However, the moment I saw your build, it instantly clicked that you were referencing the book I read in junior high.  I vividly remember picturing in my mind the pink paint combined with the copper trim.  I stumbled on "Hot Rod" in our school library, and enjoyed it so much to that I immediately checked out "Street Rod" afterwards.

This was late '80s, so I think these books were at least 35 years old at the time.  However, similar to you, I was heavily into building models at the time (and reading any car magazine I could get my hands on), so I poured over every page.  I never knew anyone else my age that read them, so I didn't realize they had been so popular in the '50s and '60s.  Also didn't know there were additional books in the series.

Very nice job on your build, matches what I remember the book describing.

 

[cifenet]

What a lovely looking model!  The coloring works very well on this!  Great work. 

[slusher]

Very nice!

[lordairgtar]

On 11/17/2024 at 6:42 AM, bobss396 said:

I read that too and bought a copy at our school book fair for like 75 cents. When I was recovering from my 2016 heart attack, I bought the whole set.

Ricky's girlfriend talked him into painting it pink. The car won ? 1st prize at a show... in DesMoines, IIRC.

Spoiler alert...they were returning from the show, both were killed after something broke in the suspension. The car went off a bridge and into the drink.

Yes, it was a tragic story. Felson's writing really brought out the picture of it sinking below the water and the glint of the copper.

 

[bobss396]

I knew a guy like Merle Connor. He was my stock car racing partner for a long time. Amazing welder, he could make anything. One of the best self-trained mechanics I have ever known. He did have some tech school under his belt.

Towards the end, he couldn't decide if he wanted to be a racer or a junkie. I had to cut him loose. 

[stavanzer]

Wonderful tribute to Mr. Felson. I read some of his books from the Library in Junior High. All were good. I never read this one. I'll need to fix that. Thanks for bringing back some great memories.  Felson and W.E. Butterworth started my interest in Rodding.

Edited November 24, 2024 by stavanzer

[bobss396]

15 hours ago, stavanzer said:

Wonderful tribute to Mr. Felson. I read some of his book from the Library in Junior High. All were good. I never read this one. I'll need to fix that. Thanks for bring back some great memories.  Felson and W.E. Butterworth started my interest in Rodding.

The school library had most of them. Others were at the public library. 

[Rattlecan Dan]

Very unique! Looks great. Nice job.