Features Coachbuilt early Fords

Darren Ford

 

@Rikster posted this on Facebook today:

"I came across this really interesting photo of a 1934 Ford custom made two door convertible with chopped windshield, and lowered top, removed running boards and bobbed rear fenders.

"The photo was inside an 1936 Dutch FORD magazine (Ford Wereld Jan 1936) in a feature article on the 1935 Rally De Monte Carlo.

"There was no info on the car, but it looks to have been made from a 2 door sedan. Pretty neat!"

 

Made from a 1934 ford Tudor sedan

 

Cool, but not coachbuilt.

 

Coachbuilt means custom making a body for a production chassis that is brand new. Right? Not customizing a car a decade after it rolled out of the showroom.

 

There is a bit of a grey area. The history of a lot of high-end cars of the '20s includes a new body fitted in 1937, often by a bigger name in coachbuilding than the original coachbuilder. Sometimes parts of the old body were reused.

Provenance is more important than originality with cars of this kind. A car with a flamboyant later body with detailed history is more highly regarded than the same chassis with period-correct but unremarkable coachwork.

 

I'm surprised no one mentioned the pre-war Allard Specials which were more or less Fords (although one had a Lincoln Zephyr V12, see pic below). No idea who built the body but there were enough small coachbuilders in the UK back then who could have knock out a body quickly and cheaply.

 

But I would never call a twenty year old Ford that was customized by the owner, no matter how talented he was, a “coachbuilt”. The fella just built himself a custom car.

I’m half asking, and half giving my opinion. What do all the rest of you think?

 

Agreed! ^

 

Marcel in California is the first guy that comes to my mind that could have build a custom body to your design, or a replica of an original custom body. Not sure where the original poster was heading with the discussion but things like this get cough up in semantics and people misunderstanding what others are trying to say. If a car turns out looking great compliment the craftsman that built it.

 

A '35 cabriolet by Paul Née that is for sale not far from where I live.

 

The Brewster is a great example.
Each one was custom ordered.
This one is in Visalia, California.



Jim

 

1931 Ford 68-C

 

We've had Brewster a few times on this thread: take a look.

 

REALLY LIKE THAT CAR! Have you been able to trace its history back to the original owner? Bob

 

Not really coachbuild but Chausson in France was making a V shapped radiator and shell for the Model T

 

WOW! That's a nice piece! ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

 

Indeed.
Chausson was in activity from 1907 to 2000, they were first car part manufacturer, notably radiators then coachbuilding commercial vehicles, trucks and mostly busses then campers. But from 1935 to I believe '47 they were stamping all the 2 and 4 door French Ford and Matford bodies amongst other car brands. Their Ford bodies are easy to recognize because the bodyline follows the shape of the rear fenders unlike the US bodies.

 

Not sure if we've already had this; it came up in the course of identifying a fhc on a Wolseley Hornet chassis:

 

A 1935 Matford V8-48 coupé de ville

Again a 1935 Matford this time a coachbuild 4 door sedan in the original The Wages of Fear movie.

Ford had wire wheels, Matford had artillery wheels in 1935 to differentiate them at a glance.