Classic Auto Insurance set up a booth at the 2020 Autorama for the 3rd time. And if you ever attended an Autorama Car Show, then you know one of the best places to experience the true culture of the event is to head down into the basement of the Cabo Center. The people in the basement truly live the rockabilly lifestyle and have wonderful stories about their vehicles.
The Autorama Basement has so many different types of cars, and we met car owner and builder Ed. Ed is the proud owner of a 1941 Ford Sedan Delivery. This beauty just stood out from the rest and Ed was kind enough to talk about his classic vehicle.
Interview Transcription:
Rick: This is Rick Drewry. I’m with Classic Auto Insurance and we’re at Detroit Autorama 2020. I’m here with Ed, and his beautiful 1941 Ford. And I got to ask you, I know you said it’s been a long time in the making, how long have you had the car?
Ed: I’ve had this car probably 25 years.
Rick: What shape was it in when you started?
Ed: It was a basket case, but you know what, all the sheet metal was in fairly good condition, so I had plenty to work with. Came with the original flathead. All the sheet metal was there. It actually came out of Kansas, an old farm truck in Kansas. It was pretty beat up. Back in the day, they didn’t have real good roads, so underneath the car was a quarter inch skid plate and that was pretty beat up. But you know what, I could see the possibility.
Ed: I purchased it in the ’90s from a local hot rod shop, Butch’s Hot Rod Shop, got a little spot in the back where he sold coupes and this one caught my eye here. So I bought it for 2,500 bucks.
Rick: Can’t beat that.
Ed: My wife thought I was nuts. She still thinks I’m nuts.
Rick: I was going to say. Did that change at all?
Ed: Yeah. But that’s us. I’m having fun with it.
Rick: That’s cool. And then tell me what all have you done to it?
Ed: Basically we did a frame off restoration on it and the top half, actually the body half has its own frame, on a frame. So the first thing I did was I separated the chassis from the frame, and I got big strong kids, they helped lift it right up. They’re young. This went to what they call a stripper. They have this place where they dip the whole body, leave it set for a week, and it takes all the paint, takes everything off of it so you can see what you got to work with. And from then I just went on and little at a time, it only took me three years to get it from basket case to relatively like this condition.
Rick: That’s really not terrible.
Ed: No. Of course, I was excited and I had a little pocket money. So the combination of those two things, time and money, does pretty good.
Rick: Usually you got one or the other.
Ed: Right. I was fortunate.
Rick: So you kept the original engine in it?
Ed: No, It came with a flat head, but by the time I tried to rip the flathead up, put money in it and plus I belong to a hot rod club.
Rick: You want to drive it too.
Ed: And them guys got Camaros, and they’re going 80 miles an hour, 70, down the road.
Rick: Flathead would not.
Ed: And then I went to a 4.3, little V6 Vortec tech motor. Perfect.
Rick: Perfect. It’s still got enough grunt to get down the road.
Ed: It’s got enough to do whatever. I got a $700 tranny overdrive built good, and the 291 gear.
Rick: You can cruise all day long.
Ed: Hey man, I’m going 70, I’m at 1200, 1300 RPMs.
Rick: You can’t beat that at all.
Ed: I’m happy. It runs great.
Rick: So how long has it been done?
Ed: Well, it’s not really. It’s never-
Rick: It’s never done, no.
Ed: But in this case here, it’s probably been 25 years since-
Rick: Really? Wow.
Ed: Yeah. I started off, I had corduroy upholstery. The old tweed stuff. So this has been through three transitions. Drivetrain and interior, the seats and all that. But a lot of this stuff is swap meet stuff. You get it, like the seats, I got at Louisville at a swap meet for a reasonable price. My upholstery guy put some helped.
Rick: That’s hot rodding. That’s the way it’s done. I love the woodwork and everything you did in the back. I think it’s just a cool layout. Did you just design that yourself?
Ed: Yeah. Being kind of retired, sometimes I got a little hot rod man cave shop. I’ll sit my chair behind here, prop me a beer and just look in the back.
Rick: Just think about it.
Ed: Yeah. Luckily I got a woodworking shop and this wood was donated here, this 100 year old oak. So I saw in there, and just started on it and worked out great. And I enjoyed every minute working on this truck. My wife did too, because I wasn’t pestering her.
Rick: There you go.
Ed: Worked out well.
Rick: It’s a good thing. Cars are a great thing. All right. That’s cool. Well you got an awesome car. I’m glad you’re enjoying the heck out of it. Well done. I appreciate you talking to me.
Ed: I appreciate you coming to Autorama.
Rick: Enjoy the show.
Ed: Glad you like my car.
Rick: I do.
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