1940 Ford Tudor Build Thread

[40FordDeluxe]

I had been searching for a while to figure out where Uncle Jerry's original license plates went. No one knew or remembered them the last 10 years. Last summer I ran into Aunt Nancy's son Mike and I drilled him about them. He claimed he didn't have them but I know they raided their house. That's how I got Uncle Jerry's gas pump.

One day I just decided to call Jerry's old friend Gene to ask him where the rear license plate was at on Sooner. Gene is the man who spear headed the "restoration" of Sooner in the late 90s. For some reason I remember it being above the tail light on the RH fender but Gene says it was always on the trunk lid. So I asked him if he knew where the original plates were and he said he couldn't remember who ended up with them. He called me back in a little while and said, "Did you mean the FSBS plates?" I said yes of course. He laughed and said he knew where 1 was but couldn't remember who had the other.

He told me back in the day Gene and 3 others started a club/group and they always cruised together etc. These 4 guys all had black sedans. One thing lead to another and they called themselves the FSBS gang. Friendly strangers in a black sedan. Not long after that my uncle joined and was always one of the main members. He was a long time member of the ISRA too. Gene said over the years the name got different meanings too. I knew of a couple of them. Full of *hit and bull *hit, Fat slob in a black sled, Fn stupid bastard in a laid out sled, and some others I don't remember. He said the group came up with the name from an old song and I can not remember the name of it or the artist.

Then he shut the door that led you into his paint booth. This door is never closed so I never knew Sooner's original plate was hiding there. He said he has a lot of sentimental value in that plate so you can have it when I kick the bucket. I'll put your name on it. Well, at least I got to see it and I know where it is at. Jerry's license plate frame is still with it too. I showed him pics of the car now and he loves it. I'm hoping that I can drive it over there next spring and maybe he'll feel bad enough to hand over the plate.

Iowa recently came out with black and white plates that are special request. I put in for FSBS so hopefully I get it. Then at least it will be one more step to how it used to be.

Here are some pics Gene has on his shop wall of Sooner after they finished it in around 01. He said he wished they would have done some stuff differently. I thanked him for just doing it but then told him he could have saved me a lot of money and head ache if he wouldn't have. I could have just got it from my aunt and carried on. He just laughed.

The next to last pic is Gene with his last project he says he's going to do. He did sell Later before Covid came about. He has a 40 standard project I'd like to buy for my daughter but I'm a little shy on the bank account for it.

The last pic is the seats back in the 40. I made some quick brackets out of some 1x2 but might change them out for something else.