40 Coupe Lower Deck Panel

[4dcoupe]

40 Fans,
I need some advice on replacing the lower deck panel in my 40 coupe.
Anyone have recommendations regarding who to buy this piece from?
I know several parts dealers offer them at varied prices. Are they all from the same manufacturer or some junk etc?
Thanks,
Bob

[39coupe]

I have the Drake panel on mine and it looks/fits great. More money but a better part.

[4dcoupe]

Thanks for the response.
That '39 sure looks fine!

[39coupe]

Originally Posted by 4dcoupe

Thanks for the response.
That '39 sure looks fine!

Well, thanks for the compliment. Here's a pic of the rear panel.

[TJ]

Go with the Drake panel. I used an EMS on my 37 and unfortunately it was the only one available for my car. Had there been a better panel out there I would have passed on the EMS. They take a ton of work to make them fit.

[George G]

Sponsored Links (Register now to hide all advertisements)

I have an 39 / 40 EMS tool tray if anyone needs one

[ems customer service]

Originally Posted by TJ

Go with the Drake panel. I used an EMS on my 37 and unfortunately it was the only one available for my car. Had there been a better panel out there I would have passed on the EMS. They take a ton of work to make them fit.

if you had trouble installing our panel a phone call to us would have gotten you back on track as the all of our 37 ford panels fit correctly.

as for the 39/40 ford coupe panel, we have them in both versions with or without bumper slots. our quality and fit is not surpassed by anyone.

made in the usa and available for fast delivery, ems customer service 216-541-4585

[Gumpy]

39 coupe love the way you covered your running boards!!

[barryfromvictoria]

40d coupe---go with the drake 40 panel . i`ve tried them both. i`ve never seen an ems panel that fits even close or looks right. i`ve heard time and time again that the 37 panels don`t fit either.

[TJ]

EMS customer service, I did in fact call your company.They were very little help and did tell me that their panels should fit "correctly". Your panel is obviously not tall enough at the corners to join at the factory seam and the lower curve is not the same as the original ( we had to pie cut the side lip where the fender joins the panel to get the correct curve). The upper lip for the the weather strip groove was way too wide. We had to trim off 1/4 inch to match the original. The groove itself is also too wide as it gets towards the bottom of the panel. It's wider than stock. I also know of two other occasions where the 37 panel did not fit without a lot of work. I always try to support USA made products, but if I had found another panel that fit better I would have passed on yours. Just for info I used both your panel and tool tray. I realize that most repo stuff does need some fitting, but yours needed a LOT of fitting. I appreciate your service to the hobby, but I would be willing to pay more for your product if it fit correctly. You need to follow up with all the restoration shops/customers who have used your panels and get feedback on how your panels fit. Just for info we installed your panel on a 37 coupe that had absolutely no evidence of ever having prior damage from an accident. We used the panel to strictly repair some rust damage.

[39coupe]

Originally Posted by Gumpy

39 coupe love the way you covered your running boards!!

Thanks Gumpy. I'm really happy with the way it turned out. Appreciate the comment.

[4dcoupe]

Looks great!
Outsanding coupe.
Thanks for sharing it with me.

[ems customer service]

Originally Posted by TJ

EMS customer service, I did in fact call your company.They were very little help and did tell me that their panels should fit "correctly". Your panel is obviously not tall enough at the corners to join at the factory seam and the lower curve is not the same as the original ( we had to pie cut the side lip where the fender joins the panel to get the correct curve). The upper lip for the the weather strip groove was way too wide. We had to trim off 1/4 inch to match the original. The groove itself is also too wide as it gets towards the bottom of the panel. It's wider than stock. I also know of two other occasions where the 37 panel did not fit without a lot of work. I always try to support USA made products, but if I had found another panel that fit better I would have passed on yours. Just for info I used both your panel and tool tray. I realize that most repo stuff does need some fitting, but yours needed a LOT of fitting. I appreciate your service to the hobby, but I would be willing to pay more for your product if it fit correctly. You need to follow up with all the restoration shops/customers who have used your panels and get feedback on how your panels fit. Just for info we installed your panel on a 37 coupe that had absolutely no evidence of ever having prior damage from an accident. We used the panel to strictly repair some rust damage.

referencing a 37 ford coupe panel the factory seam for panels is considered
when designing tooling sometimes when go past the factory seam sometimes we do not it would depend on the application and manufacturing issues. this is why we advise guys not to cut off any part of the car until they get the replacement panel. if the repair panel has a different seam then oem it does not mean the panel is not shaped properly. only that a another set of design criteria was used.

fenders fitting on fords is a whole topic to it self with lots of opinions

for the weatherstrip channel issue you are trying to say that the top edge of the channel is to wide. this again is done for a very direct reason. not all cars are the same. most cars do have trunk lids that are slightly out of shape. grinding the top edge to fit the trunk lid is best. this takes 5 min with a 4" grinder. also the topic of fiberglass trunk lid, depending on mfg the bottom edge of the fiberglass trunk lid is usally thicker than the steel and some slight grinding to fit is needed both of these issues were designed into the product.

do we make mistakes sure and we correct them as soon as we can. do we allow exchanges and upgrades with full money credit yes, the importers do not, do we label every part with our name yes, and does that mean we get to be the target more often yes. do we take responabilty for damage by ups and get you a new panel with out cost, yes, see the return damage policy of your chinese importer.
it puts everything on the customer.

yes we do listen to the customers and the feedback is that they fit. sorry that customer service did not repsond as they should, it does take a little more pressure on them to transfer you to a tech guy (me) and i am harder to get these days. but will return calls. and we do accept emailed photos to help resolve issues and sometimes we need them to understand.

we do hope you will try use again and visit us at one of the shows we do.

the ems guy

[ems customer service]

Originally Posted by barryfromvictoria

40d coupe---go with the drake 40 panel . i`ve tried them both. i`ve never seen an ems panel that fits even close or looks right. i`ve heard time and time again that the 37 panels don`t fit either.

barry i missed you, its nice to see you back on the ford barn, but as per our long chats of the years you never really have identified your self or showed any evidence of ever purchasing a ems panel.

but we know your life is centered around negative comments about ems so feel free to continue your discussion, i will try to participate so other ford barn'ers can be entertained

again glad to have you back

the ems guy

[TJ]

EMS guy, I do appreciate your response and I understand some of your points. I think most of us would prefer to buy USA made parts. I think what you should do is be more specific with your instructions for installation. Let people know that each car is a little different and that the installer/customer may have to make some adjustments to the panel for it to fit correctly. I received no instructions with your panel. If instructions had told me that I might have to trim the upper lip and also make the pie cuts to reshape the panel to fit the fenders it would have made the job easier. We all know that not all Fords are created equal, so those instructions would benefit the customer in the installation. It all come down to communication with the customer when they receive the item. I'm not here to "beat up" on you but some instructions on installation along with potential problems that the custome,r may encounter would be helpful. If the customer gets the panel on Friday and wants to install on Saturday/Sunday you may not be there to answer the phone. Some good instructions will help get the installation done over the weekend before the customer has to go to work on Monday. I give you these thoughts as constructive criticism and hope you can see my point.

[barryfromvictoria]

ems customer service-- i see you haven`t learned anything in the last few years except how to b.s. more. maybe if you tried fitting one of your panels and then correcting the problem you just might learn something about metal stamping it took 20 years for your company to change your improper fitting 40 panel which hundreds of people complained to ems over the years. only because a few years ago ems saw that drake`s chinaman started making better copys did ems try to improve by changing some of their panels. but unfortuneatly you still have a long way to go. i mean finally after 20 years putting the pregnent lady curve in your panel because you read it in drakes catalogue doesn`t gain much respect from anyone especially if the new panel still doesn`t fit. constantly denying you have a problem with ridiculous feedback is not fooling anybody with any intelligence. i guess you have no laymans experience and have had your 3 days training in how to answer complaints to the best of your ability. my life is not centered around ems and i`m not here to entertain you but i do offer constructive criticism on products for barners in my fields of expertise. evidence of purchase is that all you can say? just look at any 40 coupe that has an ems panel installed. thats the evidence i told you 2yrs ago exactly what was wrong with your panel in detail and you couldn`t give one constructive rebuttle.--- barry

[Roger/Sacramento]

I bought an EMS panel for my 40 Coupe....it was a big project for my body guy to make it fit. Am glad I did not try to install it myself.

[Straightpipes]

Wow, You guys are sure beating him up.... If you don't like the product just don't buy it.

I almost thought I was on the HAMB for a minute.

I wonder who makes one for my 41?

[ems customer service]

Originally Posted by barryfromvictoria

ems customer service-- i see you haven`t learned anything in the last few years except how to b.s. more. maybe if you tried fitting one of your panels and then correcting the problem you just might learn something about metal stamping it took 20 years for your company to change your improper fitting 40 panel which hundreds of people complained to ems over the years. only because a few years ago ems saw that drake`s chinaman started making better copys did ems try to improve by changing some of their panels. but unfortuneatly you still have a long way to go. i mean finally after 20 years putting the pregnent lady curve in your panel because you read it in drakes catalogue doesn`t gain much respect from anyone especially if the new panel still doesn`t fit. constantly denying you have a problem with ridiculous feedback is not fooling anybody with any intelligence. i guess you have no laymans experience and have had your 3 days training in how to answer complaints to the best of your ability. my life is not centered around ems and i`m not here to entertain you but i do offer constructive criticism on products for barners in my fields of expertise. evidence of purchase is that all you can say? just look at any 40 coupe that has an ems panel installed. thats the evidence i told you 2yrs ago exactly what was wrong with your panel in detail and you couldn`t give one constructive rebuttle.--- barry

=====================================
barry, you have told me anything about my panels except constant whinning i dare you to take my panel and a bob drake to a independent inspection shop to do a dimensional check, you will find them to be the same. you complain about a street rod style panel that is made to be a different style than oem, but you do not understand that and how dare someone thinks differ than you or build a car different,

again you claim that we have been making 40 ford coupe panel incorrect for over 20 years, you forgot that 2 years ago you put your foot in your mouth then too on the same topic. we have not been making that product for 20 years or anywhere close to that time period, again your imagination takes over, so we wonder whose panel you used 20+ years ago it could not be ours, but go ahead and blame us anyways, we here to make you happy.

but the real question is who you really are and why you got pissed at ems i think it has nothing to do with panel fit up, but another interaction between us.

[ford38v8]

So I wonder who this EMS guy really is... He says his panels fit fiberglass Fords (who cares?), he complains that Barry won't identify himself, (but never identifies himself either), he says all you need do is pick up the phone, but, so sad, he's actually pretty hard to get in touch with. Oh, and he likes to entertain folks with his banter.

I for one am glad to see that Drake is getting the benefit of this exchange, as the Duck has taken his share of our abuse over the years without getting all huffy like EMS Guy. Does arguing about it make a part fit better? I think not, and I don't feel particularly entertained , either.

So... Who the hell is EMS Guy, and does anyone really care?