Many people have never seen a 1941 Ford Panel Delivery. Joe’s 1941 Ford Panel Delivery powered by a 100 horse power flat-head engine is the only one he knows to exist. Joe said, “It’s 1 of 712, and 1 of 101 that were sold through dealerships in the United States and Canada. This one was sold in 1941 in Charlotte, North Carolina.”
Joe explained, “The government used them as ambulances to haul wounded solders in the second world war. So they confiscated all of them except about 101 of them that had been sold.” “They became obsolete once the government started using the Dodge for the ambulances, and after the war, the Fords were left overseas,” he continued.
“My wife’s family, my sister in-law’s husband’s father bought it new in ’41 in Charlotte and it’s come down through the family, and I just lucked up to get it after they all kind ‘a died out ya know,” Joe declared.
Joe restored this Ford twelve years ago but that wasn’t an easy chore. “It’s a very rare car, ” stated Joe. “I called Flint, Michigan, and they said If I’ve got this car, I’ve got the only one they know know of in existence.”
Joe points out, “I’ve carried it to car shows for 12 years, and all the judges said they’ve never seen one just like it. Now they made a sedan delivery, and they made 27,000 of those. So as far as I know, this is the only one around.”
Joe talked about the difficulty finding parts. “They threw the molds away, you can’t find a part, like a fender, or something you know, since they threw them molds away due to the lack of request for parts. I had to replace the right rear fender on it and spent some money on telephone calls calling around long distance for the part I needed. Someone I called out west gave me number to a place in Arizona, so I called them up. I told him what I was looking for and he said he had one.”
The man told Joe he would sell him the fender he needed, but only as a package deal that included the other three fenders, the front doors, and the floor, at $850 each. Joe replied, “That’s a lot more money than what I want to spend when all I need is the one fender.”
The man said responded, “Sir, My Daddy started this junk yard when I was a knee-high kid running’ round, and I am in my fifties now. You are the first call we’ve ever had on this truck, and your gonna’ be the last.”
So Joe bit the bullet and all the parts arrived on a truck a week later. Joe had a local body shop do the work and store the extra sheet metal. A few weeks after the work had been completed and Joe had his truck back, the body shop caught fire and was a total loss, along with the spare fenders and doors.
“I plan on selling it if, someone that might want it worse than I do.” Joe responded when asked what his plans were for the truck. “I got the original title and everything with it.”
Joe isn’t looking to sell it because he doesn’t like it; rather the respect he has for it. “It’s just to rare a car to be driving around they way I want to do,” he stated. “If something were to happen to it, I wouldn’t know where to find the parts to fix it. That rear fender is set up to hold a spare tire mounted on the side and it’s unique to this model. I’m afraid to drive it fear of something happening to it.”
“I’d like to sell it and get me an old A Model. If something were to happen that, I could find some parts pretty good to fix ‘er up. I could drive that around just fine,” Joe smiled.
If you enjoy cruising this and know someone who will too,
Please Share It. Share
