Filed under: New York Auto Show, Classics, Convertible, Ford, Lincoln, Design/Style
If you've attended major international auto show in the U.S. this season, you've likely seen this car: Edsel Ford's 1934 Model 40 Special Speedster. We first saw it at the Monterey Concours d'Elegance last August, then again in January at the Detroit Auto Show. It is, frankly, a most beautiful specimen, and since we hadn't yet taken the opportunity to capture it with our own lenses, New York seemed like the perfect place to hold an impromptu shoot.
The Speedster has a very long history going back to 1932 when Edsel Ford, then president of Ford Motor Company, returned from Europe and asked design director E.T. Gregorie to pen a sports car similar to the ones he saw running around Europe. It started out as a 1934 Ford, but was radically altered to make a low slung, two-seat sports car with technology that wouldn't appear on production Fords for many years. It originally weighed 2,100 pounds and was powered by a 75-bhp Model 40 flathead V8 that was later replaced by a 100-bhp Mercury V8.
Edsel Ford enjoyed the car until his death in 1943, at which point the car began a journey of many ownerships, ultimately vanished and then resurfaced in 1999 when it was sold to a collector for $1.76 million. When the collector died, the Speedster was given to the Edsel and Eleanor Ford House who oversaw a complete restoration of the car. It now travels the auto show circuit, on display in a place of honor within the Lincoln display.
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Edsel Ford's 1934 Model 40 Special Speedster originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 06 Apr 2012 13:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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