Ford
Edsel Ford 1934 Model 40 Special Speedster

Why it matters

The 1934 Model 40 Special Speedster was the second of Edsel Ford's personal speedsters, designed by Bob Gregorie as a lower, more streamlined successor to the 1932 car. Its aluminium body, flathead V8 and stripped-down specification anticipated the hot rods that appeared in southern California soon afterwards.

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

Edsel Ford and Gregorie began discussing a lower, more radical speedster in the summer of 1934. The Ford Aircraft Division built it in aluminium, Edsel registered it in September 1934, and it was photographed at Greenfield Village on 26 September 1934. It overheated because the enclosed radiator was partly blocked, and a cracked block in the winter of 1939-40 led to a new Mercury V8 and a facelift of the grille, finished by spring 1940.

After Edsel's death in 1943 the car passed through several owners, was advertised in Road & Track in 1948 and was later found on a used-car lot in Pensacola, Florida, in 1958. It was bought in 1999 by the founder of the Amelia Island Concours, sold at auction in 2008 for a reported $1.76 million and then donated to the Edsel & Eleanor Ford House. It was restored to its 1940 condition by RM Auto Restoration with an NOS 1940 Mercury engine and shown at the Petersen Automotive Museum in 2011.

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.

Construction is aluminium body panels fixed with flush rivets (an aircraft practice) over a tubular aluminium structure, on a bespoke cruciform frame with a stock drivetrain. The chassis sits nearly six inches lower than a stock Ford, with the front axle moved forward and the rear spring placed below the frame rails. There is no top or side curtains and no running boards, and the original design had low faired-in headlights and a split grille. The 1940 facelift added a new lower grille and large headlights, and a new aluminium dash with Stewart-Warner instruments. The paint is Pearl Essence Gunmetal Dark, a colour Edsel used on many personal cars.

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

   • donated it to the Edsel & Eleanor Ford House
   • unmodified 221 cu. in. (3,622 cc) Ford V8
   • three-speed gearbox
   • The cruciform frame was more or less bespoke
   • tubular aluminum structure
   • front suspension retained the familiar transverse leaf spring
   • spring would ride below the frame rails rather than above them
   • aluminum body panels ... cycle fenders were also aluminum, as was the dashboard
   • Gregorie said it was capable of 90 mph

   Accessed 2026-11-12
3. 3
   Edsel Ford's 1934 Model 40 Special Speedster Automobile, Photographed at Greenfield Village, September 1934 (photograph record) Level A The Henry Ford · 1934-09-26

   • flathead V-8 engine

   Accessed 2026-11-12
4. 4
   Edsel Ford's 1934 Model 40 Special Speedster Level B Sports Car Market

   • powered by a stock 75-hp Ford Model 40 V8
   • floor-mounted 3-speed
   • moved the front axle forward ten inches
   • "push and pray" mechanical brakes
   • the 2,400-lb Speedster

   Accessed 2026-11-12