Quote Originally Posted by HOTRODPAINT
I never heard about the model B being 4s only. I guess I'm not too old to learn!

The '40 Ford would have been one of my picks, too, but I always include the '39 in the same breath, since visually they were very similar, especially with the '40 standard model.
On the bright side, not only are you not too old to learn................it means you're also no so old that you knew this trivial stuff!!!

As for the '39, particularly the Deluxe, I agree. In some ways it's a more elegant car. The side trim was relatively thin and smooth with just a hint of a peak to it. The balance of the trim vs. painted steel on the grille is just right. The head light trim rings were equally as beautiful. The trim tear drop tail lights have become ubiquitous in (and even outside) hot rod circles. Much to like there.

In part the desire to have the "latest and greatest" distorted the market to some extent. In the immediate post WWII years two of the iconic cars we've talked about here "suffered" changes that we probably look at in puzzlement today. It was very common then for rodders to put '40 front ends on '39 deluxes (the standards had a slightly different cowl which made this swap more difficult) presumably because they wanted to be seen as having a "newer" car. Likewise with the '33-4's. Years back it was common to swap '34 grilles and hoods to '33s for much the same reasons. An unintended consequence was that as appreciation for the thinner, "scooped" (and in my opinion more stylish) '33 grille grew in the '80s the "shortage" of nice '33 grilles caused a significant spike in prices, only stemmed in the past few years by high quality reproductions.