Vehicle Description
Vehicle to be offered for Auction sale January 19th - 22nd, 2017 at Russo and Steele's 17th Annual Scottsdale Arizona Auction at the Salt River Fields at Talking Stick. Please contact us for more information.
Ford Motor Co. introduced the V8 in 1932, offering the power and smoothness of a V8 at the price of a Six. The venerable flathead V8 would power Ford and Mercury cars from 1932 through 1953. The 1935 Ford Model 48 was restyled and a bit smaller than the 1932-34 models, about three and a half inches lower for a more streamlined look. Ford promoted its 1935 line with the slogan: "Greater Beauty, Greater Comfort and Greater Safety."
For 1935, Ford's passenger-car model lines received attractive new styling penned by Phil Wright, a Briggs designer whose previous credits included the monumental Pierce-Arrow Silver Arrow. While long overshadowed by the 1932 and 1934 Ford models, the 1935 cars have aged particularly well and continue to carry a most sophisticated presence with softer and less angular body lines that have only grown more attractive with the passage of time. Buyers certainly agreed, with Ford's sales for 1935 surpassing those of archrival by a wide margin that year.
Among their winning design cues, the 1935 Ford models featured a streamlined overall design theme with gently flowing fenders and radiator grille that was repositioned forward, yielding a more prominent and modernistic look. New horizontal hood louvers conveyed a vision of speed and aviation-inspired gracefulness. As always, a wide variety of body styles were offered, including the Tudor and Fordor sedans, five-window coupe, three-window coupe, convertible sedan, "woody" station wagon, roadster, and even the new Model 51 truck with exceptionally handsome car-like styling. The sedans were available in either flat-back or trunk-back versions, while jaunty rumble seats were optional on the coupes and roadster.
This 1935 Ford 5-Window Coupe is a very nice example, with its flowing bodylines complemented by red wire wheels, bright "V8" hub caps, and period style whitewall tires. The interior compartment features correct-appearing cloth upholstery and Ford's stylish "Banjo" steering wheel, and both the Flathead V-8 engine and its surrounding engine compartment are similarly correct and attractive in their overall presentation. While Ford's 1935 models were massive sellers during a very successful year, any example - let alone one this nice - is very rare and desirable today indeed. THE CAR SPENT ITS WHOLE LIFE IN NEW MEXICO BEFORE COMING TO ARIZONA.
