A Fender Story

I had ordered a set of rear fenders (for an 850)I'm restoring about 5 weeks ago. After a long waited delivery, a forgotten order, and other things they arrived last night. I have been trying to find a decent set for a while now. The seller said they were "an 8 or 9 out of 10" and said "best set he has seen in come in the door." So a purchase agreement was reached. After several calls they showed up last night...(I don't want to say how much this set cost...they aren't cheap.)

Opened them up and boy, at first glance they looked great. Then the details: Fender 1: 4 inch splits and cracks at the top rivets, broken bead and bent corner. Fender two: now this one had promise. They primed it, and all-in-all it was workable. I could smototh out the dents, blast it, etch, and prime it. And, so I dove in and that's what I did today...all day. Oh man, the whole day was spent sandblasting sanding, etching, washing, sanding, filling and finally priming it.

Then it hit me: wrong type. The fender is a NAA fender with brackets around the perimeter and not the semi-vertical brackets of the larger fender type of the 100 Series. In retrospect, the fender seemed smaller, but I thought it was my eye.

So now, I spent from 8:00AM to 5:00 PM restoring a fender I can't use.

ANyone interested in a mint condition NAA fender? -9N'er

The fenders on it have the wrap around bracket, like the NAA type. So I scan the books now. Pripps book Vintage Ford Tractors page 142 has what is captioned a 1955 600 with same type fender. But a closer look at the hood emblem shows a 1955 800. Same type of fender. Other book by Pripps and Morland: 1956 600 with the vertical braces. Lefingwell 1955 660 with vertical braces, and 1955 740 with vertical braces. Etc. etc. Two Other books show primarily the vertically braced and larger size fenders on 55, 56, 57 100 Series. The original fenders on my early 55/late 54 800 had vertical type brackets.

Jim, I'm reaching the conclusion that both types appeared but eventually the vertical bracket type fender replaced the perimeter type, then a style change started to show and occured with the 01 and - 1 Series in 57 with the indented type of fender.

So, maybe my effort isn't a waste after-all, and I will keep the darn thing (as nice at it is now) and begin the search for another fender to match. Goes to show again, there is no hard and fast rule when it comes to parts...and I have a long way to go to reach Nirvana and the enlightened level of Ford tractor knowledge. I think I'll just continue to blunder along and hope for reincarnation....and hopefully not as a Ford scripted Fender in my next life. -9N'er