With its nearly unmolested body and stock underpinnings, but with no interior or fuel system and a later-model overhead valve Ford V8, this coupe started down the Hot Rod Highway, but not so far that it can’t be brought back to Stock Street. The destiny of this 1935 Ford Five-Window Coupe lies in the hands of the buyer and, as soon as someone gets the party started with an opening bid of $7,900, it *will* sell. Listed here on eBay with No Reserve, it awaits the fall of the gavel in Mount Solon, Virginia.
Some ’30s coupes look amazing from the front and awkward from the side, and some look fabulous from the rear quarter but have grilles that only a Mother could love. These little Fords are handsome from any angle. Good looks and plentiful production cemented Ford coupes as a cornerstone of American car culture. Hot Rodding history wouldn’t be the same without V8 coupes like this ’35.
This car’s interior is long gone, and the firewall has been modified to accommodate a 302 cid Ford which replaced the 80 HP 221 cid “flathead” V8 that powered every 1935 Ford car. The new-for ’35 Model 48 outsold the 1934 Fords two-to-one, and this five-window coupe sold for about $620.
Judging by the stock cast iron exhaust manifolds and stamped steel valve covers, this is probably a stock motor. The motor’s donor car is unknown and, while it runs if fuel is poured down the carb, its condition is unknown. Add that up and the buyer may be wise to consider it a large paperweight until proven otherwise. Given this car’s condition and the number of restored 1935 Fords on the planet, purists should forgive anyone who finishes this car as a hot rod or custom. On the other hand a buyer with a nice flathead and other ’35 parts lying around might take it back to original. Either way this specimen seems like a good starting point. The days when a ’35 Ford custom built to the hilt brought $60,000 may be gone, but you can’t go wrong with a 1930s Ford coupe. What is your vision of this car’s fate?
Can’t think if a better car to build into a mild street rod. Stock late model V8, a transmission that will take the extra power (the stock one in it won’t), dropped front axle, good tires on those spokes, good original bumpers and you’ve got tons of fun.
It’s only going to appreciate in value, so buy it if you can.
I can’t believe how much anything from the 30’s is increasing in value.
Thank goodness I had the prescience to hoard, er, I mean collect 30’s iron!
Thank you for saving all those cars and thank your spouse for their indulgence!! It’s interesting to hear 1930s cars are appreciating. Perhaps it’s the Fords after the “A”? I see many nice 1930s cars that are still selling for very little money, especially older restorations.
With the originality except for the engine here, if you are going to rod it, it’s the perfect starting point to spend the extra money to create a period style hotrod.
My guess is that is a ’65 289. It has an aluminum water pump and a plug in the timing cover for where the earlier models had the oil filler tube.
Nice project car for both resto enthusiast or purist. If it came my way I’d be inclined to press on with a full restoration; maybe put in a more modern flathead with some go-faster goodies on it. However, since someone already began a resto-mod, the SBF is still in the family and would take this car anywhere you wanted to go. The door is open whichever way you decide to go, but please, do NOT chop it, or decide to make a belly-button car out of it and drop in an SBC….
I told myself do not make another comment , and then I read “facts” you so called experts say about the history of Hot Rods. Not all 30’s Ford Coupe’s were created equal, and the demand for certain cars and body styles , have a fixed order, and if you don’t believe that, just look at the price’s, now and in the past. I can say with-out a doubt the 35 Ford was not the corner stone of early Hot Rods. The 32 Ford is the top of the pile followed by 33’s and 34’s, most people can’t tell the difference. Forty Fords are also high on the list, 36’s , especially 3-windows. !935, 37 and 38 near the bottom, and then the fat fenders 1941 to 1948, and that’s about it for the early cars. Certainly body style is the wild card on all years, open cars and woodies can change the math. I know people will comment that I am wrong, but it is easy to look at sales and the prices. I just get up-set with blanket statements, all 30’s cars, are way up in value( are you living under a rock) we at a point with the supply exceeding the demand.. Restored cars are worth more than Hot Rods, all Rat Rods are unsafe, and no one should be allowed to build one (Really), oh and the worst thing that can happen is if its chopped (OMG). If you don’t like Hot Rods or if your just not knowledgeable, don’t make broad statements that just aren’t true! I will now say I am sorry for these comment, because even though they are true, I would expected to get blasted by everybody that thinks there is an exception to the rule. Like 4-door sedans are just as valuable as all other body styles. OK !
Joe, I’ve followed anything automotive from the age of 10 and I’m now 56 years old. I learned at an early age that original vehicles always earn the respect regardless of body style. I agree with Geo…there has been enough chopped roofs. Appreciate the build. If you don’t agree, I can appreciate that. Kinda like if you don’t like the program you are watching on TV..
Change the channel…simple as that.
What some fail to realize is that vehicles such as this are becoming scarce. Are we to let these cars just be relegated to “whatever” ? I think not.
Agree, Joe. Notice I didn’t say anything about modifying the body. The ’30s Fords all had some of the best body lines ever and this is one of them. With a good engine in them, flathead or newer, they are fun to drive. Just hope whoever buys this car doesn’t do anything more to it than I mentioned in my above comment. By the way, I really loved the body on my ’39 Chevy 2 door sedan… and I really loved those tail lights!
A good example of why so few Fords have modern Ford V8 power. The firewall has been modified to fit the 289. A SBC would fit without any butchering. (Including motor mounts, an adapter bolts it into the flathead mounts.) If you are a purist SBC hater you can remove it, put back a flathead, no harm no foul.
Drinking Gasoline and Bob, like I said, I have to stop posting these comments, about Hot Rodding. I just get up-set with the generalized statements, myths and urban legend, and a complete des-regard of facts.
I am 74, got my first car at 14, a 32 Coupe. Have a 34 Ford Coupe (Hot Rod) for 54 years. It and my (Hot Rod-ed) 53 Ford pick up is all I drive. I do ride in my wife’s SUV. I am knowledgeable about cars in general, but have lived breathed Hot Rods, since I was in Jr. High School. I have also worked in the Hot Rod industry as a Show Car producer for over 25 years. I am not an expert on all things automotive, but I do know Hot Rods and have met a majority of the icons in the industry.
I just need to learn to shut up, and try not to educate people on real Hot Rods, and what it was, and is like now ,if you have been entrenched in that atmosphere all your life, as I have, you tend to want to set the record straight. All your statements have some semblance of truth and facts, but not exactly historically or factually correct. Enough said I am going to let it go, I am way to passionate , about the subject, and it just doesn’t deserve that much attention. Sorry!
Hot rodding and or modifying cars is as much a part of history as the cars that have remained original. Granted, finding a 100% original car is a rare thing but so is finding a car with period correct speed parts. Cars are utilitarian items, plain and simple. A popular model in which hundreds of thousands or perhaps even millions where built is a testament to that. What we now see as being art or carrying some level of historical significance is very much subjective, in fifty years someone will look at a Yugo and call it art! Many of us get pretty passionate about our cars, we wouldn’t be here unless we where. It often reminds us of the way things used to be but let’s keep in mind that those memories are all too often a romanticised version of what really happened. In 1969 a 396 Camaro was bad ass, that is of course until a 1964 Chevy II that someone dropped a 427 into beat it in a street race. The important thing that was remembered from that night was who the cute girl went home with, not whether the color of the heater hoses was correct.
Joe… If it will make you feel better, my second car was a ’32 5 window full fender coupe with a 48 Merc flat head, dropped front axle and ’39 gearbox. I did put hydraulic brakes on it (’48 Ford) because it was my basic transportation and I really didn’t want to die in it. 3rd car was a ’33 Ford pickup that had been found 7 feet under the tidal flats on the Oregon coast. Being totally submerged for 12 years it didn’t deteriorate because of no oxygen. Totally stock except for the 4″ dropped axle. It was my college car that I traded the ’32 coupe for just because of the history and because it’s one of the neatest rides ever made.