There are few American cars more beautiful than a 1940 Ford. Favorites of both originality buffs and street rod lovers, these fabulous Fords have an incredible fan base. With that popularity comes high asking prices. A good 1940 Ford convertible can sell for well north of $50,000, with good coupes approaching that number. What is a ’40 Ford lover to do? Well, you can buy a lower priced but rougher car and make payments by fixing a little at a time. Take a look at this rather rough 1940 Ford tudor sedan for sale on eBay out of Oak Hill, West Virginia. Described as complete, but needing a total restoration, this black beauty is currently sitting at a $1,745 bid just four days to go in the auction. If this ’40 needs everything, what will it ultimately sell for?
Earlier this week we featured a running and driving 1939 Nash Lafayette tudor. As of this writing, that car has only been bid to $3,950. This is for a presentable car you can drive to the local cruise in. This ’40 Ford is going to need a lot of work before it can accomplish that feat. The seller tells us that the engine is stuck, and that the floor and trunk pans will need repair or replacement. While the car has a pretty solid body, you could fill a yellow legal pad listing the parts necessary to restore it. Break out your credit card. You are about to become close friends with the FedEx driver.
However, the effort would be worth it for most die hard ’40 Ford fans. This is not too terrible a car to start with, and the aftermarket will happily sell you almost every part you need to complete either a restoration or a street rod project. At first glance, we can see that the car will need running boards, tires and tubes, a lot of body work, floor and trunk pans, dozens of pieces of trim rubber, and a full interior. The bumpers are straight enough to re-chrome, but you would probably be money ahead buying reproductions. Oh, and a lots and lots of labor.
The completeness of the car will make any restoration bearable. Thankfully it has not been disassembled and scattered about a dingy garage. The picture above shows that the car is equipped with a spot light, deluxe trim, a clock in the glove box door, and most of the radio looks to be still in the dash despite the missing plastic face plate. The window surround is also missing from the passenger side door. Hopefully it is somewhere in the car, as it would be one of the few parts that would be hard to replace.
Unfortunately, there are no pictures of the engine compartment to determine the completeness of the engine. Even though the engine is seized up, there are a number of machine shops in the country that can perform wonders with a Flathead Ford mill. If it is completely shot, then there are still many rebuildable Flatheads out there to shove under that long, beautiful hood. Or, a vintage Chevy small block would fit in there nicely. Transmission adaptors are still available.
It will be interesting to see what this car sells for. It is restorable, but the costs will probably exceed the purchase price of an already restored ’40 tudor. For lovers of these cars who are a bit light in the wallet, buying a car like this might be their only option. As long as such a restorer is determined and committed to finishing the car, that is just fine. Saving a ’40 Ford should surely help you earn a place in heaven. Even if it takes you a while.
My parents had an identical car except it was red. It was their first car that they bought. I remember standing on the hump in the back seat and holding onto the robe cord so i could see over the front seat back.
Looks like and old boot legger, the rear looks slightly jacked. Nice project, need an engine shot to be sure.
I thought the same thing. Look for a switch on the dash to cut off the taillights.
Spotlight makes it worthwhile :) Always wanted a ’40 Ford Woodie…ended up with a ’47….oh welll……..grateful…………grateful…grateful
SBC??? Sigh,,, is nothing sacred anymore? Not much is cooler than a ’40 Ford 2 door, with a Ford flathead V8, with whatever you want feeding it.( 3 deuces for me) It’s iconic, man. Rum runners usually used business coupes, but I’m sure more than one of these were used. They were used for a reason, the hottest stick out there at the time. Some of these guys were getting 300 horse out of these, when the cops had 100 horse 6 cylinders. Like the Willys a while back, the fact this car never got hot-rodded all these years, is amazing in it’s own right. Great find.
The very nerve of suggesting installing an SBC. May all the neighbors’ dogs pee on your tires and dump on your lawn! A Flathead is the best way to go, with a small Ford coming in 2nd. I’d do a full body-off restoration with a tweaked flathead. Howard and I think the same on this one: 3 deuces–I’d try for some Stromberg 97s (the new version because the old ones tend to seep) or even a trio of Holley B’s. Of course you’d have to improve the breathing, but what a beast!
You mentioned the 39’ Nash in this ad…..well I was/am the lucky auction winner. I’m keeping it just as it is, just doing what’s necessary to make it a safe driver. It’s in Minnesota, and Imin Florida, so I’ll have s bit of a wait to get my hands on it!
Yes, it will be interesting to see where this lands, but I’d doubt more that $3kish. Plenty of drivable, mostly presentable tudor sedans have been getting bid up to somewhere around $10k. Rare is the “nice” coupe offered that pulls more than $30k, most less. Converts? Not much more than coupes in today’s market. Last week a very presentable ’40 woody struggled to sell near $40k. I’m not happy to see these trends in my slice of the hobby, but it is reality.
Nice 40 Tudors can bring 25K, and I think that’s fair. I sold mine for that. Probably 15 K to make this a 25K car, so the buy needs to be under 10K.
My uncle has a ‘40 business coupe that he restored about 10 years ago. It was the first old car I rode in (I’m 18) and it hooked me on both old cars and FoMoCo. One thing I’ve always wondered was why they thought it was a good idea to put the ashtrays in direct path of the window wings. If you tried to have ventilation and smoke at the same time wouldn’t there be ash blowing all over the interior?
Does anybody remember how that worked out?