Here’s another cool car for petrolheads, specifically collectors who are into vintage or post-vintage automobiles. What you see here is a 1935 Ford V-8 Speedster Special. I know right. It looks amazing but here’s the thing. Purists may want to look away because this vehicle’s history is kinda murky.
The 1935 Ford V-8 Speedster Special was a South American take on the modified Ford formula. It is not pure vintage. The car was built on a 1935 Ford Model 48 chassis but some may have noticed that it has an Adler Trumpf Junior Sport bodywork, well, at least it is from the rear axle forward.
The shapely boattail is not part of it was apparently added by the builder.
“Produced by Adler from 1935–1937, the Trumpf Junior Sport was the roadster variant of the marque’s small, front-wheel-drive car, a layout pioneered by German marques prior to World War II. Despite being designed for a front-wheel drive platform, the Sport roadster’s bodywork has been cleverly modified and seamlessly mated to the rear-wheel drive Ford chassis.”
As I have said, it is not for the vintage/post-vintage car purists. Notwithstanding that, this car is a show of the engineering ingenuity of whoever designed and produced it.
And while the body appears to circa 1935, the car was reportedly discovered in Argentina, where it is believed to have been created, in the 1960s. Now you understand why I said this may not be purists?
Power is derived from a standard Ford flathead V-8 featuring a single two-barrel carburetor, and mated to a three-speed manual transmission.
This particular example is originally a right-hand drive because Argentina, and other neighboring nations, followed a left-hand traffic pattern in the mid-1930s. But nothing out of the ordinary. What is unusual is the throttle pedal; it is mounted between the clutch and the brake.
Further proof that this vehicle isn’t for purists is the ancillary components are from a variety of sources. The tail lights are Ford’s, but the headlamps are from Scintilla of Switzerland and the horn is from Magneti Marelli manufacture.
The 1935 Ford V-8 Speedster Special has been restored before 2015. It will be offered without reserve at the Hershey sale organized by RM Sotheby’s.
Images: RM Sotheby’s.
