In the same owner’s hands for 66 years! Two restorations, the most recent of which was about 10 years ago. 283 Chevy power, automatic transmission, beautiful interior. Still feels like a ’40 Ford, just a bit more performance!

You read that correctly, this car has been with the same owner for 66 years. He bought it as daily transportation in 1955 when it was just a 15-year-old used car. Eventually he realized that the Arizona Ford was special and retired it to fair weather duty. Sometime in the 1960s, he freshened it with new paint and a Chevrolet V8, and continued to enjoy it as a fair-weather cruiser. Sometime in the mid-2000s, he had the means and desire to give the old girl another makeover, resulting in the beautiful red coupe you see today. The paint is just the right shade of fire engine red, bright but deep and rich and obviously the desert-bred bodywork is in exceptional shape never having seen a single winter. Fit and finish are excellent because the car has 100% of its original steel and has never needed any tweaking, so the doors swing shut with authority and the big clamshell hood fits nicely. There are no modifications to the stock bodywork or trim—everything Henry Ford wanted on the car remains in place, from the distinctive V-shaped grille to the bright stainless side trim to the “Ford Deluxe” script on the side of the hood. Even the rubber running boards remain. All the glass was replaced and there’s a modern antenna on the driver’s fender, but that’s about it for alterations—it still unquestionably looks like a 1940 Ford.

The interior was remade to reflect the car’s western Arizona heritage with two-tone cloth upholstery on the original split bench seat. The dash is outfitted with modern VDO gauges but the factory steering wheel and horn ring remain. 1940 Fords were all column shifted, but with the swap to an automatic gearbox, there’s a tall Lokar shifter that looks right in the vintage cockpit and the original clock is still in the glove box lid (inoperable, sadly). You’ll note there are no clumsy under-dash A/C units, no hacked-up dash for a modern radio, and even the original opera seats in back are still in place with original hardware so you can carry a few passengers in a pinch. They worked hard to update the car without removing its essential personality, and I think they succeeded. Even the trunk is outfitted with fresh upholstery, which was very nicely done.

The engine is a mid-60s Chevrolet 283 which is about the same weight as the original flathead but makes about twice the horsepower. Not intended to be a tire-burner, it’s merely competent, smooth, and reliable without changing the way the car feels going down the road. Of course, it can cruise at 75 MPH without any issues and the Chevy V8 is as reliable as anything else you’d find. Topped with a 4-barrel carburetor and an Edelbrock intake manifold, it’s a combination that was perfected years ago so it should be easy to service and tune in the future. Today it fires up easily, idles properly, and pulls the coupe around with enthusiasm. And again, there are no extras that the car wouldn’t have had in 1940, which means the original steering and brakes are intact for an authentic feel.

The TH350 3-speed automatic transmission offers crisp shifts and feeds a 10-bolt rear end with tall highway gears inside, so this Ford is an easy highway cruiser. The front suspension is stock while the rear lost its single transverse leaf spring in favor of traditional leaf springs and tube shocks. The dual exhaust system uses glasspack-style mufflers that dump out just ahead of the rear wheels, so it has a suitable hot rod soundtrack and you’ll note that the undercarriage and floors are in excellent shape, again thanks to spending most of its life out west. There’s also a fresh battery, some new wiring, and appropriate 15-inch blackwall radials on flashy aluminum wheels.

Extras include a pair of original factory Ford wheels, a custom spare tire cover for the trunk, and a bunch of spare parts from the car’s various iterations over the years.

Long-term ownership is a good indicator of a great car. It was loved for decades and any bugs it might have had were worked out years ago. That means you get a car that has been treated gently and which runs properly. And there still aren’t many better-looking pre-war cars than a 1940 Ford coupe. If that’s your thing, this is your car. Call today!

Harwood Motors always recommends and welcomes personal or professional inspections of any vehicle in our inventory prior to purchase.