Handsome mostly original car. Columbia 2-speed rear end, freshly built flathead V8 with 4-inch Mercury crank. Great to drive and excellent for preservation classes.
This 1940 Ford Deluxe 4-door sedan looks good from any angle. But even better, it’s a largely original car still wearing mostly vintage black lacquer and a beautifully preserved original interior. Basic black is always right on a Ford and the 1940s seem to wear it better than most, letting the bright trim stand out against that background so that all the wonderful details are shown in bas relief. As a mostly original car, you know there’s no botched bodywork or hidden rust waiting for you, and thanks to a professional buff, it has a fantastic shine with a bit of a soft gloss that looks exactly right. Yes, of course there are chips and scratches throughout, but there’s really not much to steal from the classic look and old-school charm of a car that hasn’t been disassembled. We also cleaned up the chrome and stainless trim, all of which is in good to excellent condition with minimal pitting on the cast grille and hood ornament. The rubber running boards are in good shape as well, and the chevron-shaped taillights are as attractive here as they are on all the hot rods. There’s some very minor pitting on the headlight rings, but if you want perfect, replacements are inexpensive. My advice? Leave them alone.
The tan broadcloth interior is beautifully preserved and mostly original. The seats use familiar Ford pleats but there are no split seams or thin spots, leading us to believe that perhaps the front seat cover has been replaced—hard to say, because it is quite old. Ford used rubber mats for the front seat area and carpets in back, both of which are in good condition, and the door panels, which are most certainly original, are all quite nicely preserved. The big steering wheel isn’t cracked or broken and has an interesting design that makes the humble Ford seem a lot more upscale. There is no radio in this car, but it does have an accessory heater under the dash, which makes this sedan ideal for touring under almost any conditions. The back seat is quite spacious and there’s plenty of room for passengers, which is why you buy a 4-door in the first place. And despite the fastback profile, the sizeable trunk will carry your gear and contains a full-sized spare tire assembly.
The engine is the original flathead block now stuffed with a 4-inch Mercury crank, making 255 cubic inches’ worth of displacement. They were careful not to restore too much under the hood, but everything that needed to be rebuilt or restored was addressed and the engine runs superbly. It starts quickly and easily without any fussing and runs cool and smooth under almost any conditions. It’s one of the best-running flatheads we’ve ever experienced. There’s plenty of torque thanks to that long-arm crank and it has a healthy but unobtrusive V8 burble complements of a dual exhaust system and glasspack-style mufflers. The industrial green paint on the block has about the right patina for the car’s age, although you can see that the water pumps are new and a slightly different color. There’s also some new wiring just to make things reliable, although much of it is related to the Columbia 2-speed rear end, which uses a post-war style actuation system (that’s what that big canister on the firewall is for).
That Columbia 2-speed is why this car is such a joy to drive. With a standard 3-speed manual transmission, low range is punchy and energetic around town, and high range gives it genuine 65 MPH cruising speeds that never feel harried. The undercarriage is a bit crusty and grimy, as you’d expect for a 77-year-old original car, but there’s no evidence of structural rust and it has a consistent look that suggests it’s always been well maintained. By 1940, Ford was using hydraulic brakes, so stopping is drama-free, and as far as I’m concerned, Fords of this era had the best steering, so it feels agile around town but tracks straight on the highway. Correct 6.00-16 Firestone wide whites complete the look and give it a suitable 1940s feel out on the road.
This is not a perfect car, but then it’s not priced like one. However, it’s a wonderful driver with bulletproof reliability, a long-term ownership history (nearly 40 years!), and a fantastic vintage look. The new engine cost a significant fraction of the car’s current sticker price, with the Columbia rear end taking up another big chunk, so it represents a real value on a car that is welcome at almost any old car event. Get in, fire it up, and just go—thanks to bulletproof reliability, this Ford will always treat you right. Call today!
For more details and photos, please visit www.HarwoodMotors.com
