For Sale: 1940 Chevrolet Coupe in Ft Worth, Texas

There's a growing segment of the rodding community that is starting to appreciate fat-fendered rods. No longer just modifying for the sake of being different, cars like this 1940 Chevrolet Special Deluxe coupe embrace their heritage, updating things only enough to make them faster, more reliable, and more practical while keeping the fantastic good looks that make them so timeless. This is a great-looking rod, but that's only because it started out as a great-looking car.

OK, unless you were a fire chief in 1940, it's unlikely that you were driving around in a high-profile Chevy coupe like this. However, that doesn't mean the tri-tone color combination doesn't look fantastic on the fat-fendered bowtie. Everything but the rear fenders is made of steel and someone obviously spent a ton of time getting it to fit together just right. They didn't skimp on the paint, either, liberally drenching the entire car in bright orange, blue, or silver urethane with a forever shine that looks great and really makes the car stand out, and the flame-like graphics along the doors and quarters are just beautifully done. Almost all the factory trim was deleted, but if you look closely at it, you'll see that it's really artfully designed, from the wonderfully complex grille to the vents on the hood to the beautiful trunk hinges. The bumpers were deleted, so it has a clean, smooth look, but details like the grille surround and hood ornament still attract a lot of attention. A Vee'd windshield updates the look just a bit and the shaved door handles are part of the reason why the graphics look so clean.

That cool interior is finished with power bucket seats from a late-model wrapped in custom blue and silver upholstery. The original back seat is gone, but that area and the door panels were treated to the same kind of makeover, and the dash was painted silver with orange highlights for a bit of contrast. There's a custom center console that's low profile and stays out of the way, and the original dash was filled and smoothed so it could hold those white-faced Auto Meter dials. A tilt column carries a custom billet wheel with a carbon fiber rim, and with blue carpets on the floor, it has a very sophisticated look. There's an AM/FM/CD stereo radio with big thumping speakers in the area behind the seats and the trunk is upholstered to match with a bright orange Chevy bowtie on the bulkhead, just in case you forgot what kind of car this is.

You're probably not surprised to see Chevy small block power under the hood, but the 350 cubic inch V8 looks right under the long pointed hood. A few polished aluminum bits are the usual dress-up and an afternoon spent polishing and detailing the engine itself would really bring the engine bay up a notch. An Edelbrock 4-barrel carburetor builds horsepower, but it's built for comfort and reliability above all else. A 700R4 4-speed automatic overdrive transmission makes this a wonderful highway car and with a Mustang II independent suspension and power disc brakes up front, it rides and handles like a much younger machine. The exhaust burbles in a suitably hot rod manner and the stance is just about ideal. Attractive Eagle alloy wheels match the steering wheel and carry 215/45/17 front and 235/45/17 rear performance radials.

This is a really clean rod, but it's also a fitting tribute to some of the best designs of the pre-war era. Sometimes, you really can't improve on the factory, you can only polish it up. Call today!