1936 was a transitional year for Ford as the Fords of the early Thirties began to give way to the more modern, comfortable and secure Fords of the late Thirties and early Forties.

One had only to look at the front of a 1936 Ford to see the evolution taking place. Only four years after the bluff and barely-streamlined 1932 Model 18, the sharply v-ed vertical element Ford grille now was placed firmly front and center. The horns had disappeared behind discrete round grilles on the catwalks that joined the hood and grille with the deeply crowned skirted front fenders that surrounded half of the front wheels' circumference. The headlights were placed in body-color nacelles on catwalk-mounted pylons, as it turned out for the last year in a Ford, a styling element which was foreshadowed in the 1936 Lincoln-Zephyr.

Indicative of Ford's rapid evolution in 1936 were the number of body styles offered. There were sixteen different styles (not counting Deluxe and Standard