Ford's Special Speedster

The 1934 Model 40 Special Speedster was a one-of-a-kind roadster custom-built for Edsel B. Ford

by Ken Gross

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As president of Ford Motor Company from 1925 until his untimely death in 1943, from cancer and undulant fever, Edsel Bryant Ford had a considerable influence on Ford styling, first with Lincoln, then with the 1928 Model A, the 1932 Ford, and models that followed. He oversaw the design of the first Mercury cars and initiated the Lincoln Continental. A true enthusiast, Edsel's personal automobiles ranged from Model T speedsters to a Stutz, a Bugatti, and a Hispano-Suiza.

An accomplished artist who took art lessons all his life, Edsel Ford studied design and styling—issues that didn't interest his Puritanical father. Henry Ford's no-frills styling emanated from Ford's ultra-conservative engineering department, but Edsel established Ford's first design group and chose E.T. "Bob" Gregorie to run it. Gregorie, who'd worked briefly at Harley Earl's General Motors Art and Colour studio, was an accomplished "sketch artist" and adept at translating his boss's visions into reality.

Edsel Ford and Bob Gregorie began their collaboration in 1932. Gregorie had been a draftsman at Lincoln and could quickly transform Edsel's ideas from two dimensions to three. After Edsel returned from a 1932 European trip, he asked Gregorie to design and supervise the construction of a "sports car" like those he'd seen on the Continent.

The result was a boattail speedster on a '32 Ford chassis. It was a smart-looking runabout with styling cues that foretold the 1933 Fords, but Edsel wanted a more streamlined creation. In 1934, Gregorie sketched several alternatives, built a 1:25-scale model, and tested it in a wind tunnel in Ford Aviation's Air Frame Building.

To achieve the dramatically low silhouette Edsel wanted, Gregorie reversed the stock '34 Ford frame's rear kick-up and welded it back upside down so the frame rails passed under the rear axle. He also moved the front axle forward ten inches.

The Ford Air Frame team fabricated a topless, two-passenger, boattailed aluminum body with a sharp V-grille and cut-down doors, mounted on tubular framework. Ford Tri-motor aircraft "wheel pants" were made into cycle fenders. The speedster's stock wire wheels were covered by custom wheel discs. Painted Pearl Essence Gunmetal Dark (which Edsel favored), with a gray leather interior and an engine-turned instrument panel, the 2,400-lb Speedster was powered by a stock 75-hp Ford Model 40 V8, with straight exhausts that ran through a section of the frame. Custom bucket seats and a three-spoke steering wheel rounded out a remarkably integrated design. Canted louvers matched the angle of the grille and the rakish windscreens. The frame was hidden under a tapered valance that was attached to the alloy body with rivets, a vestige of this car's aircraft construction.

More custom touches included twin Brooklands screens, a louvered alligator hood, low-mounted, faired-in headlights, a fully enclosed radiator with no radiator cap or ornamentation, no brightwork, and no running boards—styling features that would not appear on production Fords for years.

According to author Jim Farrell, "Mr. Ford took title to the car personally, liked the way it handled, and was generally pleased with its design." As he had done with his first Speedster, Edsel stored the trim two-seater in an unheated shed on his Fair Lane estate. Unfortunately, a sudden freeze in the winter of 1939-1940 cracked the engine block, so a new 1940 Mercury V8 was installed.