Introduction, Hello my '51 Club Coupe
 

Hello,
My name is Travis and I'm glad to be here. I look forward to learning some things and sharing what little I can help with.

Below is my new '51 Blue Coupe. I had a 1950 Custom Business Coupe 25 years ago and it sure feels good to have another Coupe. It's almost like coming home.
https://live.staticflickr.com/1934/4...2fbbcbea_z.jpgDSCN0237 by Travis Brown, on Flickr

It's a 1951 Custom Deluxe Club Coupe. It has had one respray that's a close match to the original Alpine Blue.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...b7fac4f3_z.jpgUntitled by Travis Brown, on Flickr
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...61631b17_z.jpgUntitled by Travis Brown, on Flickr
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...75532440_z.jpg by Travis Brown, on Flickr
It has the most original interior I have ever seen.
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...a25f0f7d_z.jpg by Travis Brown, on Flickr
I'm going to get some gray wool to match the seat sides to cover the seat bottom. I'm going to run the original seat back as long as I can. If and when it wears through, I'll simply cover over it with gray wool as well.
The dots on the upholstery are little stars and they match the door panels. Apparently that stuff is not reproduced. Once it's gone, it's gone. I'm going to preserve it as long as possible.
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...37ee8939_z.jpg by Travis Brown, on Flickr
It's been an adventure so far. I'm pleased with it. There has been some challenges with it correcting some shoddy work. All in all I'm very happy with it.

Re: Introduction, Hello my '51 Club Coupe
 

Congratulations on your new car; it looks great! As the owner of a '51 club coupe myself, I can really appreciate your car.

I had the same problem with my door panels as you do. The folks I have talked to say the damage behind the interior door handles is caused by the rings people wear on their fingers. My drivers door was almost as bad as yours, while the passenger side, while having some damage, was a lot better. I fixed mine by replacing the upper part with some matching wool fabric from a fabric store. You can easily remove the narrow chrome trim piece, cut a replacement, glue it on the panel, and replace the chrome trim. My biggest problem was matching in the texture and color of the original fabric. My car was originally "Seafoam Green" and the interior fabric had a green tinge that was quite hard to match. Your car, being "Alpine Blue", should be a bit easier. Like yours, the rest of my door panels were in quite good shape and I am quite satisfied with the resulting repairs. I can post some pictures tomorrow if you're interested.

I was extremely lucky that my seats had no holes in them. I left the back seat as is (nobody sits back there), but installed cheap seat cover on the front to protect the upholstery. It looks kinda funky, but it is easy to remove for car shows, etc.

Re: Introduction, Hello my '51 Club Coupe
 

welcome on board looks cool just some minor cosmetics to look after and enjoy

Re: Introduction, Hello my '51 Club Coupe
 

SUPER DUPER nice car. Enjoy it to the max.

Re: Introduction, Hello my '51 Club Coupe
 

Great car! My 51 fordor also still has original interior. Trying to get mine roadworthy after sitting for ahout ten years. Covid shutdowns have prevented me from getting much done this summer, but I can try and post some interior pics soon

Re: Introduction, Hello my '51 Club Coupe
 

Welcome to the Barn, nice car!

Re: Introduction, Hello my '51 Club Coupe
 

Please do Tubman I sure would appreciate it. Thanks for your input.

Re: Introduction, Hello my '51 Club Coupe
 

Please do when you can.

Thanks I have already had a great time with it.
Thanks. There was some crazy stuff done like screwing the fender skirts on.
I'm correcting all that stuff. Thank you so much I have already learned some stuff going through old posts.

Thank you all.

I'm going to add to this thread to show what I've done so far.
Thank you all again.

Re: Introduction, Hello my '51 Club Coupe
 

Nice car! I’m working on a ‘51 Tudor and drive a ‘50 Fordor. They’re great cars! Do you plan on keeping all the oil change stickers on the door jam?........that’s cool......Mark

Re: Introduction, Hello my '51 Club Coupe
 

I also think that's a really nice car.

Re: Introduction, Hello my '51 Club Coupe
 

You can't beat a shoebox! Nice car!

Re: Introduction, Hello my '51 Club Coupe
 

Yeh;!! My sister's boy-friends drove those coupes, drove me nuts, I was ten yrs old wanting one myself. Sure you didn't date her?? She married a Smuck, a Dentist- not the rodders, darn. Lots of '49 up fellows sometime post on the next forum - late V8 Fords, always good to check both sites. Newc

Re: Introduction, Hello my '51 Club Coupe
 

Yessir. The stickers are going to stay. It's things like that, that I really love. You can't reproduce stuff like that.
They are hard to read. Most of them just note the month and not the year. I believe one says '62. One of the last ones, possibly '81.

Re: Introduction, Hello my '51 Club Coupe
 

Your car seems to have quite a few of the official factory accessories. You might be surprised at all the stuff Ford offered back then. Take a gander at this booklet I found under the back seat of my car : https://www.fordbarn.com/forum/showthread.php?t=270067.

Re: Introduction, Hello my '51 Club Coupe
 

Thanks, that's a neat list.
A big surprise to me was realizing just how advanced the '51 is. I've had a '49 and a '50. The 1951 has to be the best of the series. It's surprising how advanced they really were over the '50.

I think the '51 gets overlooked a little because it does not have that big center grille bullet that's so iconic on the '49s and '50s. Car wise though, the '51 is just a better car in my opinion.

Re: Introduction, Hello my '51 Club Coupe
 

The '49's in particular had a lot of problems; Ford themselves even advertised "The new Fifty Ford, Better in Fifty Ways!";)

Re: Introduction, Hello my '51 Club Coupe
 

The 49's had a lot of things that just did not work out. The pull door handles, the twist down trunk bullet handle. Some of this was neat but, not really practical.

With that said, the '49 saved the company.

This may be urban legend or in other words BS, but I have heard that the Mercury design team was ahead of the Ford team. The new Mercury was going to be smaller and sporty with a revolutionary body design.

The Ford was going to be a bigger car, more conservative in styling.

The tale goes, That FoMoCo chose the Mercury design to be the Ford, thus the Ford design became the Mercury.

Re: Introduction, Hello my '51 Club Coupe
 

Her are a couple of pictures of the low-buck repair I did to my car. One more thing. After I got the old torn fabric off, I lightly sanded the disturbed part of the cardboard backing and leveled the whole thing off with some body filler. It didn't take much, just a skim coat. The way these things are made lends itself to a cheap and easy repair.

As I said, the hardest part is matching the texture and color.

Re: Introduction, Hello my '51 Club Coupe
 

That’s interesting!.....I’ve never heard/read that.....I’ve always believed the Mercury’s were supposed to be a bigger, fancier “upscale” car than the Fords.
I’ve wanted a ‘49 Coupe so I could have one from each year and one from three of the body styles but I’ve read a lot about the ‘49’s rush to production issues.I’m looking forward to reading more of your posts and seeing you enjoying your car!.....Mark

Re: Introduction, Hello my '51 Club Coupe
 

Nice shoebox! I always liked the 51 over the 49's and 50's. I liked the "wish they were dagmars" grill and the mesh across the dash.