37 Ford build--IE: old Header issues thread /37 Ford/5.0/GT40P heads

[Don Shillady]

This Friday I stopped in to a local "Bring-what-you-got" car show at a local Chic-Fil-A just north of Richmond and saw a beautiful '34 Ford coupe with a perfect chop. A slight slide of the hand under a rear fender revealed a fiberglass body to explain what was an amazingly perfect chopped roof. Of interest was the way in which the owner satisfied the Virginia requirement of a front license plate by mounting it to a bumper bolt in what is probably not a legal way since half the plate was hidden by the bumper in front of it. Anyway I have the same problem on my '29 roadster. The correct place for a front license on a Model A is to hang it from the front headlight bar but that really blocks off a large area of the radiator so I did not want to do that. Often restorers who actually drive their Model A to meets swing up the front plate like a knife edge to allow more air to reach the radiator. Anyway this thread is supposed to be about mid-thirties Fords and I have been an interloper made welcome by IC2 who is not here to support me. Thus here is a little bit of '33-'36 Ford equipment adapted to the right front bumper of a 'glass '29 replica. The whole thing ended up costing me about $50 because I tipped a machinist to shear the aluminum plate and I had to pay $15 for a one-time exact fit use of a 9/16" metal bit. The actual bracket is Speedway Part No. 911-30103-SS stainless steel '33-'36 front license plate bracket. Add in postage from Lincoln Neb. and the cost of several stainless bolts and it all adds up but I needed a way to fit a front license plate for Va. Inspection. It does look a bit clunky and the bracket has a built-in angle which is not noticeable unless you take a close look. Well here it is 1/4" Al plate and all. I painted the Al plate with aluminum paint, maybe I should have used black or body color?

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder