Coming out of the Great Depression years of the 1930s, Chevrolet continued to be one of the best-selling automobiles you could buy. And from 1933 to 1942, buyers chose between the Master and Master Deluxe models, depending on the level of trim they wanted. The seller has a pair of these stalwart vehicles, likely both a Master Deluxe, one from 1939 and the other from 1940. They’ve been buried in a barn for at least 35 years, so their exact condition is hard to determine. Located in Louisville, Ohio, they’re available here on Facebook Marketplace and you can take your pick for $6,250 or $11,000 for the pair.
Auto manufacturers weren’t creative with their naming conventions in the 1930s, so Master and Master Deluxe were all the Chevy marketing types could come up with. In 1940, one more model was added, the Special Deluxe. These vehicles would carry the GM division into 1942 when all automotive production came to a halt for the war effort. Regardless of which Chevy you bought from this era, they all had the 216 cubic inch incline-6 (85 hp), paired with a “3-on-the-tree: manual transmission.
We don’t know much about this duo other than that they’ve been held captive since around 1990. Since both are 2-door sedans, I can’t tell you which one is the ’39 and which one is the ’40. Both came out of South Dakota at some point, though I don’t know if that’s important in 2024. Both of these vehicles may be complete, and their condition could be okay for the length of time, but there’s a lot of stuff piled up around and on top of the pair. If you only wanted one of them and didn’t care about the model year, I’m not sure which one to pick (i.e. which one is better). They both have clear titles.
First set of pictures is the ’39 with the neat tear drop taillights. The ’40 has the look of the following series and has the parking lights on top of the front fenders. Grew up from nothing in a ’40 and bought a ’39 while I was in college to make a restomod out of. The sedans were good looking cars. Didn’t much care for the following cars after the war and always felt they should have gone on with the ’40 version.
I wasn’t surprised that the first guy to respond knew the difference between a 39 and a 40. I love this forum.
A guy from work showed up in 1978 driving a 37 Chevy street rod, parked it next to my 57 Bel Air in the parking lot. When we were introduced I decided I liked him and we’re still friends.
The truth is, you can buy one restored for way less than it would cost to buy these and restore them. 40 years ago that wasn’t the case, but today it is.
If you want to hot rod one, these would be a great starting point. But the fact is you can buy a completely done 39 Chevy for less than you can build one of these for. Of course you won’t get exactly the car you wanted, so you spend the money to get what you want if you have to have exactly that car.
Thanks for the article. These chevy’s are older then some of us readers. I’m perplexed why Ford cars from that Era seem far more prevalent than Chevy cars. These 2 need someone to care for them.
Also 39 was the last year for verticle grills. That is a good price. If they were coupes I would be more interested, but the price wouldbe higher.
Mathew Dwyer,
I’d bet that these cars are older than 95% of the B-A-T people reading this. Fortunately there are people still young enough to remember them. I’m still there, but age is catching up with me.
These cars would be ridiculously easy and inexpensive to street rod. My choice would be the 3-9er.