Chassis No. 5738660

Edsel Ford's recruitment of Eugene T. "Bob" Gregorie, a former yacht draftsman, gave Dearborn a designer whose sense of line would reshape the company's entire range. Gregorie's 1936 Lincoln-Zephyr demonstrated that streamlining could be genuinely handsome rather than merely slippery, and its prow-shaped nose, faired-in headlamps, and iconic waterfall grille established a vocabulary that filtered steadily downward through Ford's price classes.

By 1940 that influence had reached the Ford line in full, most obviously on the De Luxe models, which received an entirely new front end with a low, wide grille and sealed-beam headlamps recessed into the fenders. Vent windows improved ventilation, a column-mounted gearshift freed floor space, and the redesigned Art Deco instrument panel gave the interior an air well beyond its price. Offered from $850 and exclusive to the De Luxe range, the Convertible Club Coupe was the second-most expensive style Ford built that year, with 23,704 produced.

This De Luxe Convertible Club Coupe is finished in Cordoba Gray over brown leather upholstery and a black soft top, with wide whitewall tires mounted on body-color-painted wheels beneath chrome hubcaps and trim rings. Inside, its burgundy and body-color Art Deco dashboard houses a Roto-Matic radio and a glovebox-mounted clock. Its restoration was carried out to a high standard and recognized as such, the grille carrying AACA Senior National First Prize and Grand National First Prize badges awarded in 1985 and 1986. Having been exceptionally well cared for and maintained in the years since, its restoration remains fresh, and it runs and drives like new. Handsome in the manner only a 1940 Ford can be, this open De Luxe would make a rewarding addition to any collection of American classics.