The Story of Elsa: Our 1936 Ford V8

by Trish Jefferies

The year 1997 turned out to be quite significant for us with the advent of 2 new members of our family. The first, a little black cat named Smudge came to live with us, and a week later a little black Ford V8 car. With friends Dave & Pam Locke ( Early Ford V8 club number one restorer), we went to Forward Motors, Marton; to look at a 1939 Ford V8 sedan. This was the Ford dealership Bruce had dealt with

for years for his Falcons; and Stan Tattle, the owner, reportedly had this car with the lowest known mileage in the world. As far as I was concerned, it was a very ugly car, I had never liked that model, and admittedly Stan had a ridiculous price on it. While the men closely inspected this vehicle, I spotted another car over in the corner of the showroom. Not For Sale, said the sign on a 1936 Fordoor sedan. She had been on display in his showroom for 33 years, and had only done 2000 miles in that time. It had been on a few Ford promotions and taken Stan to golf. Walking around her, I was drawn by her beautiful shape, had a really nice “rear” and front grill. When the men approached her, I began my sales pitch; nicer car, not so expensive, etc, etc. Genuine 91,000 miles. Great condition!! Finally, when Stan came over, we were able to convince him that we would be suitable owners for this car. It worked for him as he was ready to sell up and retire, so a price was agreed on. “I would drive that car anywhere, it’s that good” he said as Bruce drove away to take her home. She had been over-sprayed black; body, wheels (the only thing we didn’t really like). But she had a fantastic provenance, had first been owned by Jesse Selwyn from Selwyn Motors, Palmerston North Ford dealership, then had been to two other owners before Stan got her. An original straight car in really good order.

Once home at Bruce’s farm at Stanway, she got the Bruce treatment, a real spruce up, and we started to use her for any Palmerston North VCC runs. Everything was cruisy for a month or two; then we noticed that she was overheating, and we were having to carry water with us. Also, she was throwing dirty-looking water out from the side fins of the bonnet. Mmm, maybe not as good as you thought, Stan!! Oh well, she hadn’t done this sort of work for a long time, so the cooling system got a complete overhaul, including the radiator. Bruce then decided to check the heads; the first one came off no trouble, but the second wasn’t so easy and came off in 2 bits. Bugga!! Dave knew of a good pair of cast iron truck heads, so we ordered them. While waiting for these, it was decided to take the motor out, and Dave would check it over; all good, though while it was apart, he did install new rings. What to do next? A car of that age; 61 yrs old; okay, best to replace the wiring loom for a start, which funnily enough led to other things (if we are going to do this, then we might as well do that..!! ) and before long it morphed into doing

a complete body-off restoration. Our good friend from VCC, Murry Martin, volunteered to come out to the farm every Wednesday and help.

A retired panel beater/mechanic, he was invaluable. He replaced the only small rust spot, then took on all other specialized jobs. She was stripped down to body, panels, and chassis. The paint was stripped to bare metal, and she was primed, sanded, under-coated, and sanded again. While this was going on, a complete interior upholstery kit was chosen and ordered from LeBaron Bonney, in Massachusetts, USA. Available as a complete kit of the identical period materials, it was pre-cut and sown, ready to be fitted.

Murray Martin working on Elsa’s chassis.

Fully stripped & ready for under-coating.

In pieces and under-coated, drying in the sun.

Loaded and ready for the trip to the painters. Of course, this all didn’t just happen overnight, worth doing, do it properly, and meantime, there was still a farm to be run. Car stuff fitted in when time allowed. I did extra time with lambing beats, mustering etc., which left Bruce free for car jobs. Discussion on what colour to paint the car; Washington blue was her original hue,

but it is quite dark with a lot of black in it. I suggested the same colour blue from the inside of the Ford insignia. This was agreed, and Bruce and Murry did all the inside painting, door frames, motor compartment, etc.

Once this was done, she was loaded up and taken to the paint shop in Feilding. She came home a few weeks later, totally transformed. Then it was like a giant jigsaw. Each week saw her being put slowly back together. The best day was when with the motor installed again and running, Murry drove her over to the house from the workshop for morning tea; sitting on a green apple box. Just body on, no doors or interior, etc. This amid great hilarity and pride; a celebratory moment. Then back to the workshop for more additions. But she was slowly coming together, and we could see what a special car she was. The upholstery kit arrived from the States amid more excitement. Friends in the V8 club from Wellington knew of someone there who did woodgrain painting, so all dashboard and inside window frame pieces were duly delivered to be done. Total “wow!!” when they were collected. Chrome polished and shiny; from the outside, she was looking sweet. Once again, she was loaded on the trailer, and we delivered her to our chosen upholsterer, Rod Kendall, over in Woodville. Sometime mid to late 2002; (and remember, we started

Murray and Bruce on first trip from the workshop to house.

this journey in early 1998.), we collected her from Rod. He did an outstanding job fitting everything, and she looked stunning. About this time, things were happening for the farm to be sold, and we were organizing our shift to Taupo, so things slowed where she was concerned. When we did shift in March 2003, she came north to the property in Tukairangi Rd by trailer, as all the legal side of things had yet to be finalized. But this was soon taken care of, and it wasn’t long before she was taking us around to VCC events here and V8 meetings. But just one last thing was to be taken care of to finish her off. She looked great, but Bruce wanted a pinstripe added around her. He duly found a young man from Ngongataha, Darren Caulfield, who was talented enough to do this job freehand. So we took her to have this done. But, part of having the pinstripe added was that we wanted the name we had chosen for her to be written by the driver’s door. New vehicles become members of the family, and she was no exception, so she needed a name.

But agreeing on that name was hard; we tried Clara, as we had a Henry (1946 Mercury coupe) and thought that might be appropriate. But it sounded wrong and didn’t just fall off our tongues easily. Quite a few names were tried until finally, my cousin asked what month we had bought the car. The answer, July/August. “Okay, that’s Leo” said Linda. “And that’s male”, I replied. “She’s female.” “Then who’s the most famous lioness,” she said.

We all said at the same time, “ELSA!” It just sounded right, so she became Elsa, which she was duly branded and which she’s been called by everyone since. Elsa took us down to Invercargill in 2006 for the Vero rally; a breeze, she just purred her way around, and we came home having covered close to 3500 miles. Then in 2016, we lent her to good mates Sue & Dave Reid, from Perth, Oz; and they did the Dunedin rally in her trouble-free except for a broken taillight. In the past 19 years she has travelled close to 20,000 miles and only recently needed her Dizzy tickled up. Thanks Noel. She still looks smart as a new pin, and Bruce loves

to drive her. For now, she’s still a treasured family member; if that has to change in the future, we hope to find someone to treat her with the respect due. Cheers Elsa. Yes, we did show her to Stan. He was delighted with her transformation. And the wee black cat I got the week before Elsa; she was 3 yrs old then, and she was with me for another 16 yrs. Both stayers. Elsa was a team effort by a lot of people. Thanks to all.

Trish Jefferies. Footnote! Elsa somehow didn’t want to do the Brass Monkey, and as a result, she was seen being towed back home on the end of a tow rope. How ignominious!!

Rob Sinclair

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