Description
Kelham Hall | Newark, Nottinghamshire
Viewing: Tuesday 9th September from 12pm
Auction: Wednesday 10th September from 9am
Location: Main Street, Newark, Nottinghamshire NG23 5QX
1940 Ford Deluxe Coupe
Estimate
£26, 000 - £30, 000
Registration No: WXS 713
Chassis No: the details below
MOT: Exempt
Professionally restored and upgraded in its native land circa 1980
Understood to have been a resident of Texas for almost its entire life, before being imported two years ago
Fitted with a Chevy small-block 5. 7-litre V8 engine
3, 500 miles covered since arriving in Britain
Offered with a large history file, including restoration documentation
Ford offered four coupe models for 1940 (excluding the Convertible Coupe), each using the same body. There was the comfort-oriented Five-Window (Opera) Coupe with its well-padded bench seat which could accommodate three side by side, and the Business Coupe, intended for travelling salesmen, which had a thinner seat back but a capacious luggage space behind the seat, in addition to the already-cavernous boot. Both were available in Standard or Deluxe guises, the Standard having a 136ci 60bhp V8 or, at extra cost, the 221ci 85bhp engine of the Deluxe. The Deluxe used a different, dressier grille and hubcaps and featured numerous luxury items such as a two-tone dash, twin sunvisors, a cigar lighter, a clock, wheel embellishers, a locking glovebox and twin tail lights. It was also produced in a wider range of colours, with colour-matched wheels. Column gear-change and sealed-beam headlights were entirely new features for the 1940 models. Production of 1940 Deluxe Coupes ran to 20, 183 Business Coupes and 27, 919 Opera Five-Windows.
Finished in a factory-correct paint job of Black with Black wheels, this beautiful shark-nosed 1940 Ford conjures up romantic images of moonshine running in the American south, and police chases as immortalised in films such as 1958’s Thunder Road, starring Robert Mitchum. Ford’s 85bhp Flathead V8 was much-loved by everyone from hot-rodders to ’shine runners to stock-car racers, because it was durable, easy to tune, and gave performance far in excess of all the six-cylinder cars in the same price bracket, but while this car looks outwardly like an original survivor from the period, it is concealing a titillating secret – a 350ci (5. 7-litre) Chevrolet small-block V8. Launched in 1967 and surviving into the 21st century, the famous ‘350 Chevy’ was essentially the Flathead of its generation, having all the same qualities as the Ford, but obviously with overhead valves and a far greater power output.
Believed to have been a Texas car for most of its life, a newspaper clipping from 1980 reveals that this Ford was restored and subtly upgraded – some might say hot-rodded – around that time by Cowan Automotive, a repair and restoration shop in Richmond Hills. They repainted it and it is thought they were responsible for installing the Chevy motor, as well as upholstering the interior in black vinyl. The original material would have been broadcloth or mohair, but the vinyl does not look out of place.
Evidently well cared-for since leaving Cowan’s, the Ford has had just one British owner, who imported it during 2023 and put it on the road in May, 2024, since when he has covered around 3, 500 miles. The appeal really requires no explanation – here is a car that looks like it just rolled out of the 1940s, but has a far more powerful and sophisticated engine which should cope well with modern traffic and motorway travel. It is offered with the current V5C and a large history file including restoration documents.
** Bidding will take place live at the venue, online via our H&H website, by telephone and commission - T&Cs apply**
Parking and entry into the auction is free for auction attendees with a catalogue, available at the door.
Catalogues can be purchased for £20 (admits 2 people).
