Ford
Edsel Ford 1932 Speedster (Model 18)

Why it matters

The 1932 speedster was the first of three custom speedsters that Edsel Ford had designed by E. T. (Bob) Gregorie, and the first collaboration between them. It anticipated Ford's later styling, including the 1933 grille and hood treatment, and the pair's later work led to the Lincoln Continental.

How rare is it?

Six separate kinds of rarity – never combined into one number.

Each kind of rarity is rated separately and never combined.

Production

Every figure says what it counts.

Independent counts (e.g. engine and colour) are never combined into a calculated figure. Surviving examples are never presented as original production.

History

After a 1932 European trip, Edsel Ford asked Gregorie to design and supervise a sports car like those he had seen on the Continent. Gregorie drew a full-fendered, boat-tailed speedster on the stubby 106-inch wheelbase of the 1932 Model 18 and the body was built in aluminium, in Ford's Aircraft Division according to one source and mainly in the Ford Engineering Laboratory with Lincoln finishing the trim and paint according to the other. Edsel drove it for about a year and a half and sold it in 1934 when work on the second speedster began.

The car was long thought scrapped, but it survived, was wrecked at some point and rebuilt with four steel fenders adapted from a 1935/36 Chevrolet, and was later restored over about five years. It won the Gregorie Award for Enduring Design Excellence at the 2013 Amelia Island Concours d'Elegance and sold for $770,000 at RM Sotheby's Amelia Island on 12 March 2016.

Technical specifications

Engine

Transmission & drivetrain

Chassis, body & dimensions

Performance

“Not yet verified” means no source has been checked for that value yet. Nothing is estimated to fill a gap.

Identification guide

How to tell an original from a replica or later conversion.

The car is built on the chassis of a 1932 Model 18 with a standard V8 and running gear but carries a unique hand-formed aluminium boat-tail body, with no bumpers, running boards or top, no-handle doors, spun aluminium discs over wire wheels, bullet-shaped polished aluminium headlights and a new, longer hood with small cooling vents. Its fenders were adapted from Ford Tri-Motor aircraft wheel pants. The grille was taken from a four-cylinder Model B and reshaped to a prow-like peak. The original colour is described as gunmetal gray, the restoration uses 1932 Ford Tunis Gray matched to the cowl-vent underside, and the chassis number is given as 1814449.

Sources

Each number links to the exact facts it supports.

1. 1
   Ate Up With Motor – The Edsel Ford Speedsters Level C

   • 1 one built

   Accessed 2026-11-11
2. 2
   Before the Continental: Edsel Ford's Speedster Level B Aaron Severson · Ate Up With Motor

   • using a standard V8 engine and running gear
   • based on the chassis of the 1932 Model 18 Ford

   Accessed 2026-11-12
3. 3
   1932 Ford Model 18 Edsel Ford Speedster Level B Ken Gross · Sports Car Market · 2016-05-02

   • updated Ford flathead V8 engine was later installed
   • body panels were hand hammered from sheet aluminum
   • 1932 Model 18's stubby 106-inch wheelbase

   Accessed 2026-11-12