In February 1965, Clyde and Gail Bangiola were taking a Sunday afternoon drive through the New Jersey countryside when Clyde spotted a 1940 Ford coupe, covered in snow, parked next to a house. He said to his wife, Gail, “I always wanted a stock ’40 Ford coupe. I used to race ’em ‘on the tracks, but I never had a stock one.”

They turned around and went back for a closer inspection. Clyde went to the house and the man who answered the door told him the car was for sale. Clyde looked the car over and checked the most common places for rust (rockers, lower quarter panel, running boards and the rear fender lips). Much to his amazement he found none. The car was complete, had just been painted and had freshly re-chromed bumpers. The interior was original with the exception of seat covers.

About the time Clyde had finished his once-over, the owner came out and asked, “Do you want to hear it run?” The temperature was 20 degrees that day, but the owner got in, turned on the ignition and pushed the starter button. The engine ground slowly for a few seconds and then came to life.

A price of $425 was agreed upon, and the Bangiolas had their 40 Ford coupe.

Clyde drove the little coupe to work every day (except when it snowed) for a year. That routine fit the initial plan to “just drive it and enjoy it.” But in 1968, Clyde noticed some early warning signs of rust, so he decided to take the car completely apart to do a frame-off restoration.

“I wanted to strip the paint off the body and I found an ad in the Yellow Pages that read, ‘We sandblast anything, anywhere,’ so I gave him a call,” Clyde said. This turned out to be a mistake. The sandblasting warped a lot of the sheetmetal. This warping is due to the localized heat created by the blasting process (when performed by an inexperienced operator) and is exacerbated by the pressure exerted against the surface by the flow of abrasive. Following the body work to fix the rust and straighten the panels, the coupe was painted with black lacquer.

The original flathead engine in the '40 coupe was worn out, so Clyde went to his local Ford dealer and ordered a replacement. In 1968, the only flathead “crate motor” available was the 59A version, which was the standard Ford engine from 1948 through 1953. Clyde wanted to show the car as a stock restoration, however, so he ground the embossed telltale 59A markings off of the cylinder heads making them very difficult to distinguish from the originals. And finally, the interior was redone to original specs. With the restoration complete in 1970, the Bangiolas began driving and showing their car. In 1982 Clyde and Gail relocated to Southern California and a year later Clyde decided to change engines in the coupe. The 59A’s head gaskets were leaking and the engine was burning a quart of oil every 400 miles. The engine he decided to install was from a ’40 Mercury. “I got the engine for free when I bought a ’39 Ford coupe,” Clyde said. “It was a complete, running engine, but the rear main leaked.” The ’40 Merc flathead was nearly identical to the ’40 Ford engine; the difference being a slightly larger bore. “I rebuilt it completely to. specs except: for. the valves,” Clyde said. “I used ’49-53 valves because the guides are a one-piece design.” The original valve guides for the 40 Merc engine were a two-piece split design. Clyde feels the one-piece design offers better oil control and longer valve life. The only other change he made to the engine was to install Hastings piston rings. These changes must be working, because the little 40 Merc flathead goes 5000 miles before it needs oil.

In 1986, Clyde was tired of not being able to keep up with the flow of traffic on the California freeways. He determined the easiest and most original remedy to his problem was to install a Columbia overdrive rear end. The Columbia overdrive was a dealer-installed option for the °40 Ford. It’s a vacuum servo-actuated planetary gear set that’s housed in the rear axle. Engaging the unit effectively changes the rear axle ratio from the standard 3.78:1, to 2.73:1. This reduction keeps the coupe’s flathead engine well within its torque curve, even at 65 mph.

By 1988, the coupe’s 18-year-old lacquer finish was starting to crack. This time a chemical stripper was used to remove the old paint. The car was stripped of its chrome and glass. The fenders weren’t removed for the paint job, however, they were just loosened and the welting was removed. More sheetmetal work was done to try to repair the damage done by the sand blaster almost two decades earlier. This time a black urethane enamel paint was used.

The old devil hot rodder in Clyde emerged when he added a set of Hedman tubular headers and dual exhaust to the coupe in 1992. The flathead’s original cast iron exhaust manifolds were inefficient and retained a lot of heat against the block. Traditionally, all flathead engines have a tendency to run on the warm side. The addition of the headers along with a full dual exhaust system reduced the engine temperature and increased performance. In 1993 Clyde was having a lot of problems with the charging system. “It was either charging too much or not enough,” Clyde said. A friend of his, who owns a ’38 Ford, had switched to a six-volt alternator and was very pleased. One change that must be made when converting to an alternator is to change the electrical ground from positive to negative. The only way these specially made six-volt alternators work is with a negative ground. “All I had to do was change the battery cables around.” Clyde said. “It was just that simple and everything — starter, radio, gauges and heater — works.” Another change Clyde made recently was the addition of a six-volt Optima battery. It’s a completely sealed unit that offers 850 cold-cranking amps, an increase of 300 amps over the 550 of the standard battery.

Clyde also wanted to switch to an electronic ignition. His feeling was that it would eliminate the annual changing of points and condenser and would provide a more consistent spark. Electronic ignition modules are available for flathead Fords in six-volt positive ground and 12-volt negative ground. His newly installed alternator posed a problem, since no units were made for six-volt negative ground. Clyde discussed this situation with a Los Angeles electronics company and they built him a one-off prototype six-volt negative ground unit.

A friend gave Clyde a Carter two-barrel carburetor and told him, “If you put this on your car it will run like a house afire!” The original carburetor on a ’40 Ford is a Ford-Holley two-barrel. The Carter carburetor Clyde installed is a universal type (model # WGD) that bolted on and added to the performance and driveability of the car. Unfortunately, the only place these carbs can be found today is at a swap meet.

Clyde recently took the advice of a friend, who also owns a ’40 Ford, and added a panhard bar to the front suspension of his coupe. A panhard bar, often called a track bar, is used on the rear suspension of modern cars with live axles and coil springs. It keeps the rear axle in alignment side to side. The simple straight bar with a pivot at each end runs parallel to the rear axle. One end mounts to the frame and the other to the axle.

The ’40 Ford front suspension is an I-beam design supported by a transverse leaf spring. The spring is solidly mounted to a front crossmember and attached to the axle by a shackle at each end. The panhard bar eliminates the side-to-side swaying of the shackles and tightens the front end. Clyde installed a panhard bar kit, manufactured for hot rodders by Pete and Jake’s. Installation took less than an hour and required no special tools. Clyde noticed an immediate improvement in the car’s handling and plans to add a panhard bar to the rear suspension.

A lot of minor, but significant, changes have been made over the years to improve the reliability and driveability of the Bangiola’s ’40 Ford. Their coupe is a driver — they’re not afraid to take it anywhere, even into the snow and cold of California’s High Sierras. And the 75,000 miles that have been put on the odometer since 1970 attest to that fact.

1940 Ford parts interchangeability guide

Ford cars from 1939 and 1940 may look almost identical to the casual observer, but there are several subtle differences between the two years. These differences make parts interchange between the models a challenge and a delight, depending on what your needs are.

In 1940, the Ford Motor Co. made several significant changes to the Ford car line. The most notable changes were: hydraullically actuated brakes, a front sway bar, columnshifted transmission, sealed-beam headlights and the addition of vent windows. These changes were bolt-ons to the basic vehicle, leaving a lot of room for interchangeability with ’39 models.

The basic frame, springs, shocks, front suspension, steering gear, rear Suspension and rear axle can be swapped between both years. The engine and its accessories are totally interchangeable between model years. The 40 Ford offered a columnshifted transmission and, while physically interchangeable, the 1939’s floor-shifted transmission cannot be converted for use with the 1940's column-shift mechanism.

Much of the sheetmetal on the ’39 and ’40 Ford can be swapped with minor adjustments. In 1939, Ford made two different front fenders for its passenger cars. The early design had a concave form between the headlight and grille. In the later design, the span between the headlight and grille was straight. The fenders with the straight form can be fitted to a 40 Ford, only necessitating a change to the headlight bucket. The rear fenders are identical except for the taillight buckets. Deck lids are interchangeable with the exception of the handle and trim. Doors and most door hardware are interchangeable, too. The 39 front-door window regulator will not work in a ’40. This regulator pulled the glass rearward before lowering it into the door. The rearward pull on the glass opened the window at its leading edge, offering the passenger a small vent opening. In 1940, Ford added vent windows and the regulator lowered the door glass straight down. Hoods on the 39 Deluxe and ’40 Standard will interchange with the exception of the mounting holes for trim moldings. The bodies of ’39 and ’40 Fords are almost identical.

Panels from a 39 donor car can be used to patch a ’'40. One section that is different is in the windshield area. The 39 was the last year Ford featured a windshield that tilted open. The hinge point was at the top of the windshield and the wipers were mounted above the windshield. In 1940, the windshield was fixed and the wipers were mounted on the cowl.

The pool of NOS 1940 Ford parts is drying up and those remaining are expensive. Luckily, more and more parts for ’40 Fords are being reproduced, making restoration easier and less costly.