It may not look it, but this custom creation started life as a 1937 Ford! It was built by Reno and Roy Peretto during the late forties. The body was hand rolled and the engine came from a ’46 Mercury. A Chevy donated a few trim parts and the end result looked more like a production car than something hodge-podged together from junkyard bits. After paint and upholstery, the car was entered in the 1951 Oakland Roadster Show where it apparently won its class! It was entered in a few other shows, but then was lost for a while until it showed up at an estate sale. Supposedly the current owner purchased it from the guy who found it and they claim to have paid $25k. They are now trying to sell it here on craigslist for $29,000.
As with any car listed for sale online, interested parties will want to do your own due diligence before sending any cash. The previous owner had attempted to sell the car a few times in the past, but their eBay listings always suffered from a lack of decent photos. The current owner has attempted to sell it a few times on the auction site too with no success. A detailed story was written here on Custom Car Chronicle that does fill in some of the gaps. At some point a different grill was molded in, but the original is with the car. The history here does make the car interesting and I could see an old hot rodder wanting it for their collection. A large gallery of photos can be viewed here. If you’re really interested though, your best bet would be to head over to Ocala, Florida and inspect the car in-person.
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Looks like an Edsel, was better looking before the revamp.
Kool Car. The original front end is way better than the imitation Kaiser they put on it. It would look good at a cruise-in or show and shine or an area show, especially if articles and history were shown as well.
I have difficulty believing this started live as a 37 Ford. It has way too much in common with the 49-51 Ford body. Just sayin’
I agree. 30’s cars were completely different body designs than 40’s.
There is money to be made in this car, but not in it’s current state. Whomever buys this car needs to take it back to the Oakland winner it was.
I think the front of this car was influenced by the 1948 Alfa Romeo 6c 2500 with body by Farina and other coachmakers. There were different versions but they all had a narrow vertical central air intake and narrow horizontal air intakes on each side. Probably due to the Italian heritage of the guys who designed the bodywork on this car.
https://www.classicdriver.com/en/car/alfa-romeo/6c/1948/135069
https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/18216/lot/346/
The car would sell at B-J with no reserve, but it would appeal to a pretty small group of vintage Cal car fans, and that population is getting smaller each year. If two Ebay sales have fallen through so far that’s no surprise. Probably sober second thought raising its head the next morning. This kind of car has pretty thin appeal and would be hard to sell.
The seller says the car needs the brakes bled, so what else does it need that’s dead simple to do? Just do it, shine it up, ship it to California and put it in the hands of the right dealer and be done with it. He will place it in roadster shows and maybe even B-J and get a sale. But the proceeds might not cover all the costs to date. That’s just the nature of the market for this kind of oddball these days.
Lovin’ this ! The rear quarter on the main header picture really reminds me of
the Ford Zephyr Mk I that was sold here in the UK from ’51-56 though
I agree with Jim–this car didn’t start life as a ’37 unless there was a hell of a lot of metal work done. More likely some Ford product of 49-51.
It looks more like it started as a shoebox Ford convertible
Hi Guys: George Albright here,the current owner. Please look at the original scrapbook photos,of the Peretto Brothers actually channeling the car down. Yes it was a 1937 Ford ! I spoke to Roy Perettos widow just last night! Roy died in 2012,at the same residence,where he and his brother Reno built the car. She is mailing me a silver platter awarded to the car at the 1952 International Sports Car Show in Oakland,that is inscribed to the car. It was still sitting on Roys workbench! She provided the original Oakland Roadster Show 1951 trophy to the man I bought the car from. Nice lady! Yes the car show should be sold in a California market. It is rock solid,and needs a days worth of tinkering. I am not a mechanic,and merely drove it off of the trailer into my garage in May of 2014. Yes it has a few warts,but it is a real unmolested rock solid multiple 1951 and 52 show winner! George Albght,Ocala,Fla. gnalbright@gmail.com
PS the original grill comes are with the car. The convertible top mechanism is there also,without fabric. George Albright gnalbright@gmail.com
I like it, can’t afford it, but I like it. The original grill should definitely be repaired and replaced on the car.
If there is so much history to this car…
WHY was there a new title issued in CA and what’s with these cheesy license plates ?
With all the big stories the current owner has, WHY does he not sell it @ B.J himself ?
Doesn’t make a lick of sense.
I looks amazingly like a big 1950’s Alfa Romeo!
To me, the front fenders the hood and the grille are not the same as the original. The front splash pan, the frenched headlights, the completely different hood configuration and the entirely different hood to fender transitions–are so very different from the original. The original grille means little without the rest of the sheet metal. For better or worse, the current sheetmetal is likely to need to stay. Too costly to go back in time….