Rebirth of the Hot Rod: Lost for a Half-Century, Edsel Ford’s Baby is Restored

Rebirth of the Hot Rod: Lost for a Half-Century, Edsel Ford’s Baby is Restored:

Finding an old, forgotten car in a barn is central to collector-car lore. In this case, the barn was an old garage near DeLand, Florida. Inside, under a thick layer of dust, hid a one-of-a-kind car that had been created in 1934 for Edsel Ford, then president of Ford Motor Company. After decades of neglect, it has been returned home and to its former glory.

The design came from head stylist E.T. “Bob” Gregorie, and his creation is regarded by many as the first hot rod—more than a decade before the term was coined.

It had all of the characteristics that would come to define the species—cycle fenders, no top, a hand-crafted body on customized ’34 Ford frame rails, a modified Ford leaf-spring suspension, and a Ford flathead V-8.

Mr. Ford called it the Model 40 Special Speedster.

The roadster was personalized again in 1939, with a new nose and a Mercury version of the flathead V-8. After Edsel’s death in 1943 (age 49), the car passed through several owners and more than one paint job before it was parked in that Florida garage in 1960.

And there it slept for nearly 40 years, before it was rediscovered by Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance founder Bill Warner.

Warner recalls being aware for “about 20 years” that the car was “somewhere around DeLand,” until he finally learned the Florida owner’s name—John Pallasch—and tracked him down. Would Pallasch show the car at Amelia? No. Would he sell? Yes.

Restored to its 1939 glory, Edsel Ford's proto hot rod is far more attractive car than his namesake.

The car was intact, but the engine hadn’t run since 1959. Warner installed a rebuilt flathead V-8, replaced the wiring, flushed out the fuel tank, reupholstered the bucket seats, and polished the red paint job.

Unrestored, Edsel’s car made its debut at Amelia Island in 1999. In the years that followed, Warner displayed and drove the car to a number of shows. He finally sold the roadster at Amelia’s 2008 RM auction for a tidy $1.76 million to Texas collector John O’Quinn. A year later, the car was acquired by the Edsel and Eleanor Ford House for an undisclosed price.

Now restored to its 1939 glory, the roadster wears understated gray paint as it did then. The frame-off work consumed a year, and the completely renewed car made its debut at last summer’s Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance.

Now the roadster is back home in Grosse Pointe Shores, Michigan: Edsel’s 87-acre estate is a museum, where the car will be on display.

Ferrari photography by Conceptcarz.com

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