Vehicle Description
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!
