Edsel Ford's recruitment of Eugene T. "Bob" Gregorie, a former
yacht draftsman, gave Dearborn a designer whose sense of line would
reshape the company's entire range. Gregorie's 1936 Lincoln-Zephyr
demonstrated that streamlining could be genuinely handsome rather
than merely slippery, and its prow-shaped nose, faired-in
headlamps, and iconic waterfall grille established a vocabulary
that filtered steadily downward through Ford's price classes.
By 1940 that influence had reached the Ford line in full, most
obviously on the De Luxe models, which received an entirely new
front end with a low, wide grille and sealed-beam headlamps
recessed into the fenders. Vent windows improved ventilation, a
column-mounted gearshift freed floor space, and the redesigned Art
Deco instrument panel gave the interior an air well beyond its
price. Offered from $850 and exclusive to the De Luxe range, the
Convertible Club Coupe was the second-most expensive style Ford
built that year, with 23,704 produced.
This De Luxe Convertible Club Coupe is finished in Cordoba Gray
over brown leather upholstery and a black soft top, with wide
whitewall tires mounted on body-color-painted wheels beneath chrome
hubcaps and trim rings. Inside, its burgundy and body-color Art
Deco dashboard houses a Roto-Matic radio and a glovebox-mounted
clock. Its restoration was carried out to a high standard and
recognized as such, the grille carrying AACA Senior National First
Prize and Grand National First Prize badges awarded in 1985 and
1986. Having been exceptionally well cared for and maintained in
the years since, its restoration remains fresh, and it runs and
drives like new. Handsome in the manner only a 1940 Ford can be,
this open De Luxe would make a rewarding addition to any collection
of American classics.
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