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Barn Fresh: 1940 Ford Tudor

1940 Ford front

We’ve posted cars that had really short uninformative ads before. Here’s another one with what what could be the shortest description ever, accompanied by only five pictures of the car. This is the entire description of this quite attractive and desirable 1940 Ford Tudor for sale on here on craigslist in Scranton, Pennsylvania: “original, barn find.” Three words. That’s it!

1940 Ford rear

The pictures are great, as far as they go, which is also not very far. This car looks to have been someone’s early street rod, based on the dual exhausts peaking out from under the rear bumper. It also looks to have a lot of surface rust accumulated during storage, and doubtless a fairly ratty interior. There is no picture of the engine. It could be a flathead of some vintage, or the original engine, or maybe even a Chevy small block from the 50s or 60s – a common swap in homemade rods from that era. Who knows the full extent of what is wrong with this car, but it’s got a great look nonetheless.

1940 Ford rear 3

1940 and 1941 Fords have been popular hot rods and street rods for many years, and they are equally loved by restorers. They’re comfortable drivers and they look really cool. This one appears to a standard, not a deluxe model. These cars were very plentiful when new – there were 150,933 standard tudor sedans manufactured in 1940 alone. The coolest kid in my high school had one of these with a 327 Corvette engine in it and that car would fly!

1940 Ford hood open

I’d love to know the history of this beautiful Ford, and am tempted to call the number in the ad just to find out more about it. But I am guessing it would be necessary to go see the car in person to really know what’s going on with it.

1940ford2drsd050412

As far as price goes, the $9,500 asking price seems steep to me, especially knowing so little about this car’s condition and the amount of work and cost that will be needed to get it back on the road. One can assume it will need just about everything mechanically redone, and the interior too. Will this car be preserved as an authentic early hot rod, or updated to a more modern style driver like the car pictured above?

Ebay 1940 ford

On the other hand, if you are an ambitious builder, you could start with a far less expensive and much more incomplete car like this one in South Dakota. It has great patina and is listed for sale on here on eBay where bidding starts at $1,650. What do you think?

Comments

  1. Avatar Fred

    This is a Deluxe, the Standard has a different grille and trim.

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    • Avatar David Wilk Member

      Thanks for pointing this out. I thought the Deluxe had more trim but looks like I was wrong about that.

      Like 0
  2. Avatar Fred

    The Standard:

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  3. Avatar Rick

    Amazing car, don’t think $9,500 is too much as long as its not a total rust bucket. Would sell fast for that price on the e west esp S. California. And I’d leave it as is cosmetically and drive it proudly as is (after making such brakes and other mechanicals were up to snuff)

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  4. Avatar randy

    The seller is sure the car will “sell itself”, and I tend to agree. Come look at it, and you’ll buy it.

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    • Avatar Jason Houston

      If it were such a great deal, how come he still has it after TWO MONTHS? My nose tells me something’s wrong… not with the car as much as with the lazy seller.

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  5. Avatar Mike D

    the owner of the red car is hoping that the pics alone will sell the car, it does look decent and 9500 is a bit pricey.. the one at the bottom, yes, better price, but the seller states “parts only” because of no title, with that tacked on to the car, it would be nearly impossible to get it on the road… bill of sale, VIN, his signature and we’re done.. all u need to do there is get it road worthy ( which most would do more) and of the two, I would say the red car has the most promise

    Like 0
  6. Avatar Rick

    Again, IMHO $9500 is not even remotely pricey for a complete original 40 Ford, and this car would be snapped up at this price point if it was in S. California

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  7. bobhess Bob Hess Member

    Dual water hoses and top mounted generator indicate a flathead. Bob

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    • Avatar Mark S

      You beat me to it Bob, I noticed that to and you are right.

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  8. Avatar 64 bonneville

    39 Deluxe had same grill as the standard 40 model. no info, I would offer no more than $7500.. just bringing the hydraulic brakes, a first for Ford in 1940, 39 had mechanical brakes, and getting the “flattie” running is going to run you upwards to 3 grand, on the assumption both need everything and you do your own labor.

    Like 0
    • Avatar geomechs Member

      Actually the ’39 Deluxe was similar to the ’40 Std but the ’39 grill itself was more coarse. Ford brought out hydraulic brakes in ’39. Henry dug in as long as he could; he was against paying a royalty for juice brakes. With the introduction of the Mercury in ’39 it seemed appropriate to have juice brakes because ALL the competition used them.

      Like 0
  9. Avatar Vince Habel

    There is one of these that has been sitting in a yard for years near Columbia PA.

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  10. Avatar charlie Member

    And at least until ’39, and I don’t know about ’40, the standard had only one taillight. The cheapest Chevy had only one taillight until ’36 or ’37. There is a cheapest ’35 Chevy in my neighborhood, sheet metal is pretty good, but the wooden framing under it has obviously rotten away. A pretty simple car to take apart, not a lot to it, been trying to talk to the owner on a weekend and see if I can post it here as barn find that is not, as yet, for sale.

    Like 0
  11. Avatar Paul B

    Dad had one of these but dark blue. I loved it and was very sad when he junked it in ’57 or so. Someone buy this, fix it up and use it. Too many are customized. This is a sweetie.

    Like 0
  12. Avatar Woodie Man

    Well it does have the optional bumper wing tips front and back……………

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  13. Avatar OldCarGuy

    An easy way to tell the 39 from the 40 is that the 39’s windshield wipers are mounted on the top of the windshield so it could crank out. The 40’s had fixed glass and wipers mounted on the bottom of the windshield.

    Like 0

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