Re: ‘39 Coupe realistic restoration

Posted by longjohn On 2021/2/7 15:26:32

Is this worth doing? That is a hard question without seeing what you have to start with. It looks like the firewall has been painted. It also appears that the body might be in primer. Anyway, it looks straight without obvious rust or dents.

I think that many people are too focused on the cost of projects like this. If your goal is to make money by fixing it up and selling it, then yes, it will probably cost more to do than the car is worth. If your goal is fix the car up so that you can enjoy it, then that is a different story, especially if you plan to keep it forever. This is supposed to be a hobby after all. What golfer would consider that his greens fees were a bad investment because he could never get them back.

I have owned a 1939 120 for over 40 years. It is a wonderful car. It has an overdrive and doing 75mph on the freeway is no problem. I have driven it thousands of miles, coast to coast. I drive it regularly just for fun. When I pick my grandson up from school in it, we have to leave extra time so all his friends can get a ride (teachers, too). How many cars have you ever owned that people lined up to ride in?

I have restored several cars in my life. I learned a great many skills that I wouldn't have had reason to learn otherwise. It turns out that I really enjoy painting. The thought of paying someone else to paint one of my cars is just a foreign to me as paying someone to go play 18 holes for me.

Both my sons learned to be competent mechanics from working on my projects. Neither has the old car bug but they both have life skills that can only be learned by doing. (Both drove the 1939 Packard to the senior prom, how cool is that!)

So I would encourage you to look at more than just the monetary part of this project. Whether it makes sense or not depends on what you want to get out of it.