1935 Ford 48 Series

1935 Ford 48 Series 5 Window Coupe

Our Ford 1936 5 window coupe consignment we see here in the North mallway has a sellout crowd looking at it and I\'m sure the internet is blowing up its hot rod section with folks looking for a rodder that has great lines and nice retina searing red paint. Couple that with a 468ci V8 with power to spare, a tubbed rear end with steamroller size tires, icy cold AC, and a steel body with glass fenders all will have you saying \"Thank you ladies and gentlemen! I\'m going to have to build an addition on my house for all my trophies!\"

Exterior
Leading the way are a pair of body complimenting chrome headlight housings flanking a vertical ribbed grille that curves under the front of this car and we are in 1930\'s heaven. A thin chrome bumper curves its way around the outward pointed grille and then wraps around the wonderfully sculpted fiberglass fenders that take their shape from the front of the car and run rearward and meet up with a running board in the middle. All bathed in retina searing red, a round roofline with a canvas/vinyl insert as machine stamping of the day could not create a one piece roof created the perfect Art Deco look. Crystal clear glass is now in, and on the back, a rounded over trunk line is the same curvaceousness as the rear fenders which are like a first hill of a roller coaster. Louvered chrome trimmed tail lights are perched atop red stalks at the bottoms of these fenders, and another shiny bumper is gracing the rear roll pan. The bottom curve of the rear of this car, aft of the trunk lid links much like a classy shoe tip, and polished as such! Throw in some 205/70R15\'s on front and much larger 31x18.50-15\'s on back wrapping Weld ProStar wheels and I\'m almost smelling smoking rubber and the car has not even started.

Interior
The door panels lead us inside but first we need to pay attention to their makeup. This includes gray uppers in a lightly stitched broadcloth that transfer to a puffy tuck and roll stitched lower complete with shiny levers and a modern billet arm rest with a gray padded topper. Inside we see more of the same materials and colors, and this time the buckets have body hugging contours and bolsters along with more tuck and roll stitching. A custom center \'hump covering\" console is on and houses a small storage area and twin cup holders. Just ahead is the long armed Lokar shifter growing from the sea of clean calm gray carpeting. A tilt steering wheel is topped by a leather wrapped rim rally steering wheel. The dash presents in full metal jacket, mostly battleship gray save for the instruments where the antique white faced and chrome bezelvintage look Classic Instruments gauges in front of the driver and a foursome of gauges decorate dash central. For the passengers is a glovebox to throw their belongings within, and just below is the controller for the heater and AC. A tight headliner has stitched gray panels as it covers the entire passenger compartment. This appears to be a suede, but is actually broadcloth. The trunk has been carpeted and uses some gray hobnail pattern on the sides for accenting.

Drivetrain
Lifting either half of the cowled hood reveals a nice clean orange painted 468ci V8 engine. On back is a TH350 3-speed automatic tranny, and way back a 3.50 TracLoc geared Ford 9-inch rear spins those rear biggies. Lest I forget the single 4-barrel Holley carb working in conjunction with an Edelbrock intake manifold. Silver coated headers are there for the exhale, and a stainless steel exhaust is seen making its way from the mill to the rear roll pan.

Undercarriage
The body has been tubbed and rear axle shortened to accommodate those large 31-inches on the back. Nicely painted red floor pans are accentuated by the solid black X frame within which float on and the transverse leaf spring front suspension and ladder bar and coilover suspension in the rear. Disc braking is seen on the 4\'s to bring thisbig tire rod to a safe and stealthy halt.

Drive-Ability
Nearly every car that arrives in Classic Auto Mall I personally try to drive. It takes only a few minutes to see if it is what it says it is, and it is an interesting aspect of my job. Very few cars I\'m so impressed with I drive twice. Chalk this up to one of the very few, as I\'m enamored with this car..in many ways. It has a very smooth ride, responsive turning, smooth transmission, nice power, and it comes to a halt quickly.

The builder/consignor did a great job, and someone will have the pleasure to drive it many many times, and they will enjoy every minute of it in its current hot rodded coupe iteration. Round of applause please, I vote this the 1st place winner!

Classic Auto Mall is a 336,000-square foot classic and special interest automobile showroom, featuring over 850 vehicles for sale with showroom space for up to 1,000 vehicles. Also, a 400 vehicle barn find collection is on dis

Read More

Read Less