1940 Ford V8 Endurance Rally Coupe Deluxe

Built for the 1940 model year, this left-hand-drive Ford Coupe DeLuxe was imported to the UK and registered with the DVLA in December 2014.

Handed over to Royal Kustoms of Poole in Dorset, at a cost of over £100,000, the Coupe was eventually rebuilt, with a 296 cu.in (4.8-litre) flathead V8 and prepared for endurance rallying organised by ERA and HERO (https://www.endurorally.com/) in time for the 2020 season. Sadly, we all know what happened in 2020. Although the car has undergone shake-down runs totalling less than 3,000 miles, it has yet to turn a wheel in competition.

With plans changing, the owner decided to sell the car and returned it to Royal Kustoms in September for a full service and check over.

Royal Kustoms estimate that the build today, excluding base car purchase, would exceed £200,000.

Royal Kustoms are highly regarded for the quality and ingenuity of their race and rally preparation. This car has been obsessively over-engineered – outside, inside and underneath – to the most exacting standards of build quality and craftsmanship.

Should they wish to do so - the new owners will just need some paperwork for the car, then they’ll be all set to compete in the pre-war class for notable endurance rallies like the Alaska to Mexico Marathon at the end of September this year.

Fully fettled and ready to go, the car starts, goes and stops as you would hope. The handling and balance are impressive, as is the power on tap from the stroked and bored, 4.8-litre ‘Flathead’ V8 offering around 170 bhp and excellent amounts of torque.

And it goes about its business to a barking, thunderous, roaring soundtrack of Wagnerian proportions that will have people diving for cover at 200 yards.

No expense has been spared, no corners cut, no compromises tolerated.

Every structural, mechanical, electrical or cosmetic component is the best that it could be.

The car has spent most of its life in the dry Southern States of America was sourced in New Mexico and brought to the UK in 2014.

The body, panels and wings are original as is most of the chrome work. That’s where it started now brace yourself.

Here’s the spec sheet…..

Chassis

Original 1940 Ford Chassis converted with a custom centre section to accommodate 5-speed gearbox.

Fully step boxed the entire length of the chassis rails with added strength gussets.

Rear chassis crossmember converted to take 1939 pickup Parallel leaf-spring kit with custom rear crossmember.

Hydraulic bump stop brackets fitted onto chassis.

All chassis areas with either roll cage or suspension hoops fitted have crush tubes fitted into the chassis.

Front and rear tow hitches installed.

Suspension and Steering

Front: Original style transverse spring front suspension with custom-made front spring with new spring shackles fitted with poly bushes.

Royal Kustoms designed and made front shock hoops with removable strut brace.

Fox front shocks custom made and setup for exact weight of car. Fox adjustable hydraulic bump stops.

Front suspension wishbone has additional reinforcement.

Front anti-roll fitted.

Rear: 1939 Parallel leaf-spring kit fitted.

Fox rear shocks custom-made and setup for exact weight of car, fully adjustable for height.

Fox fully adjustable hydraulic bump stops.

Royal Kustoms top A-arm made with hi-acute off-road Land Rover centre ball joint.

Steering: Fully adjustable electric power steering unit connect to a GM525 heavy duty quick steering manual steering box via Borguson steering U/Js with added tilt adjustment.

Fully refurbished spindles with new kingpins fitted.

Drivetrain

Ford Tremec T5Z Motorsport 5-speed transmission.

MDL dual-friction clutch disc and diaphragm clutch plate.

Wilwood external hydraulic clutch slave cylinder.

Mustang racing mechanical clutch release bearing.

Custom-made propshaft fully balanced with heavy duty U/Js fitted.

Ford heavy duty 9” rear axle assembly with Strange heavy duty half-shafts and 3.55 crown and pinion. Custom-made by Hauser racing.

Brakes

Lincoln Bendix 12” Front drum brakes with re-lined road/race shoes and added air scoops on backing.

Ford 11” Bendix self-adjusting rear drum brakes with road/race linings.

Wilwood adjustable pedal box running Wilwood front and rear master cylinders.

Remote brake servo installed onto front brakes only, running a vacuum hold tank.

Brake proportioning valve and residual valves fitted. Braided flexy lines installed, front and rear.

Hard brake lines are Kniefer with a stainless outer spiral sleeving fitted through out.

Engine

296 cubic inch Ford ‘Flathead’ V8.

Ex-military block. Fully ported and polished. Heavy duty main caps. Engine block converted for oil filter system.

New Scat 4 ¼ inch stroke forged crank shaft.

Scat H-beam rods with 2.0 inch bearing size for modern rod bearings.

Ross Racing 3 5/16” forged pistons with Molly rings.

Custom Cam shaft with adjustable lifters, Isky racing springs correctly weighted, 1.6 Manley stainless intake and exhaust valves, 1 piece valve guides.

Mellings oil pump with baffled oil pan.

Edelbrock 75cc finned ally heads. Cosmetic head gaskets installed. ARP head bolts and complete stainless bolt set.

Twin Stromberg's correctly jetted for engine.

Modern seal/bearing water pumps. K&N air filters.

Custom-made lightened flywheel. Engine fully balanced. Custom-made harmonic balanced front crank pulley fitted.

MSD electronic distributor with switchable on-the-fly twin MSD off-road epoxy racing coils with rev limiter.

Fuel System

Pro-Alloy 175-ltr custom-made fully baffled ally fuel tank.

Twin Facet Red Top electric fuel pumps. Twin Malpassi Competition fuel filter/regulators.

Sytec large metal pre-filter element fuel filter. Sytec anti drain back valves.

Cohline 2240 100% ethanol fuel lines fitted.

Electrical system

Complete new custom-made wiring loom fitted with reset trip-able fuses and heavy-duty relays converted to 12 volts.

120 amp alternator. Varley Red Top Racing gel pack battery. 12-volt power sockets installed under hood, inside car and also fitted in boot. Master cut-off key connected onto neg side of battery.

16” high CFM electric fan running with twin auto fan controllers set at different operating temps, also with a fan override switch and a river crossing switch.

New Classic instruments - fully electric gauge cluster.

O2 Lambda sensor and gauge fitted for AFR ratios. On-the-fly switchable fuel and ignition systems.

New electric wiper motor fitted with wash wipes.

Nav systems (GPS and wheel speed sensors) doubled up.

Ignition coils doubled up.

Body and Roll-Cage

Full restoration of body shell.

Original front sheet metal work. Custom-made hood with louvres and side panels. Custom-made floor with drop down boot area and removable trans cover panels enabling transmission removal from the inside if required.

Custom-made seat framework with lockable under-seat drawers.

Custom-made fuel tank framework with removable ally bulk heads and panel work.

Front and rear fenders reworked for higher tyre clearance and to place tyres in the centre of the fender openings.

Full re-spray. Body fully rust protected with all under panels sprayed with Raptor protection and all areas wax treated.

Car fully sound and heat deadened with Dynamat and ½ Dynaliner throughout whole vehicle.

Half custom roll-cage extending into boot, picking up onto rear suspension spring mounts. Fully removable with removable door bars made from carbon-based cold-drawn seamless steel tubing with a tensile and yield strength up to 35% higher than standard mechanical cold-drawn steel tubing. Fully certified to MSA and FIA spec with FIA approved cage joints.

Full under body protection with front axle skid plate, engine skid plate and rear suspension skid plates.

All new rubbers and seals fitted.

Have we missed anything?

Probably.

The Coupe is painted in gloss black with chromed grille and waist-line trims. The paint looks in a largely excellent condition, with just a small paint defect under the rear window. As it hasn’t yet been rallied, there is no obvious damage to the bodywork. The bonnet has been given additional louvres on top for enhanced cooling during long runs.

The chrome bumpers, overriders and exterior trims look solid and generally good but are starting to speckle in places. There are some lovely styling features in the exterior trim, such as the double-chevrons of the tail lights and the custom tailpipe deflectors.

The UK registration plates are in a US style as if from California and the passenger window bears a decal from the Earl Dorris Garage of Fort Worth, Texas. This is (or was) a real garage run by Robert “Earl” Dorris himself, who was also a Civil Air Patrol pilot during the war.

The coupe sits on 16-inch, cream-painted steel wheels, which are fitted with Coker Classic whitewall tyres. Like the rest of the chrome, the hubcaps and trim rings are a little speckled.

There are also 4 x wheels with the BF Goodrich rally tyres fitted included in the sale.

As per sporting regulations, towing strong-points have been fitted fore and aft.

There is also a lightweight trunk lid, to save those extra seconds when competing. A full length custom car cover is also included.

It’s optimally designed and built to survive several weeks of high-speed, high-adrenaline, high-risk racing on the way to winning an endurance race.

The interior is custom-trimmed with ruby leather, stitched in a diamond pattern across the seat facings and lower door cards. The seats are modern Recaro racing seats and are in excellent condition.

The dashboard is essentially the interior bodywork painted black and it is fitted with a new nostalgia-style, 6-dial Ford cluster from Classic Instruments. The central twin temperature gauges are by Stewart Warner and above and below them are multiple analogue knobs and toggle switches for the various electrics. All are annotated as to their function with a playful serif typeface.

A modern, multi-function Gauge Pilot rally computer is mounted on top of the dash on the passenger (co-driver) side. A wiring loom runs away from it providing connections to power and to its sensors. Another modern touch, not quite so obvious, is a twin cup holder and power socket fitted to the drive tunnel.

Up above, the wool headlining looks in excellent condition and the black-painted half roll-cage has an LED lamp mounted onto the horizontal. Down below, the carpets and floor mats appear in good order. A fire extinguisher is fitted to the front of the passenger seat, which also has a secure storage drawer underneath.

Although there are some contemporary elements to this interior - the steering wheel, pedals, gear lever, door handles and window winders are all original style and help maintain the largely period look of the interior.

Once you’ve raised the high bonnet, you understand the need for it. Sitting vertically atop the engine intakes are the twin Stromberg 97 carburetors and air cleaners. The motor, its ancillaries and the whole engine bay are clean and in very tidy order and the car is mechanically very well sorted.

Rebuilt to top specification by Royal Kustoms, the engine is a 296 cu.in (4.8-litre) flathead V8, with Edelbrock heads and is mated to a 5-speed T5Z motorsport gearbox. The car has a 12-volt custom wiring loom and twin ignition.

The rear axle is a 9-inch Hauser Racing built unit, with parallel leaf springs and custom Fox dampers and hydraulic bump stops. These can be seen in the chassis rebuild photos in the gallery.

It has been a few years since the rebuild work and the car has done around 3,000 miles, so the undersides of the car aren’t quite as pristine and shiny now. There is a little surface rust and road dirt but functionally the underpinnings are still good to go.

The boot is divided into an upper “parcel” shelf and a lower carpeted luggage area. On the upper deck is a spare wheel and a small pack of service items for running repairs and maintenance when in remote places. There is an LED work light mounted on the roll cage upright in case such repairs happen at night.

Since being imported to the UK, the Coupe has been in the care of Royal Kustoms of Poole in Dorset and the history file includes the following invoices and estimates from them for preparation work on the car.

Dec 2014 (£3.7k)

• 12 volt conversion
• 12 volt components (electronic ignition, coil, starter motor, alternator, headlamps)
• Battery
• Various electricals
• Check and tune Stromberg carbs
• Recommission

Oct 2016 (£64k) ESTIMATE ONLY

• Rebuilt engine
• Gearbox
• Rear axle
• Full respray
• Suspension all round
• Roll cage
• Brake package
• Fuel tank and system
• Sound deadening
• Electric power steering
• Upholstery
• Exhaust
• Rubbers and seals
• Seats
• Gauges

July 2017 (£5.7k)

• Recaro sports seats fitted
• Interior retrim in leather
• Carpeting

June 2018 (£6.1k)

• Gauge pilot rally computer and sensors fitted
• New wheels, tyres and hubcaps
• Carpeting for boot

In September 2022, Royal Kustoms carried out a full service and check over (£1.2k) including:

• Oil and filter change
• New spark plugs
• Checked timing
• Fan belt adjusted
• Engine bolt check
• Fluids replaced
• Brakes stripped, cleaned and rebuilt
• All body and chassis nuts and bolts checked
• All lines and hoses checked
• Steering components checked and re-greased
• Electrical components checked
• Tyres and tyre pressures
• New rear bumper overriders
• Front cowl vent adjusted and checked for water leaks

The car comes with an additional set of wheels fitted with unused BF Goodrich All Terrain rally tyres and new hubcaps, a lightweight vinyl boot lid that can be substituted for weight saving, a custom cover and a small rally service kit.

If this were just a restored pre-war classic Ford Coupe, it would have quite a different market and appeal and a markedly different price guide. We’ve sold a couple of similar era Ford Coupes before - one a classic, the other a certified competition car - and if you search our site you will see the huge price differential.

This then is mechanically a nearly new, 83 year old endurance rally car prepared by Flathead V8 engine specialists Royal Kustoms - a company who have turned out competitive period cars for the Flying Scotsman, Peking to Paris and the Road to Mandalay endurance rallies.

Acknowledging the current market conditions for pre-war endurance rally cars, we think this well-presented example will sell for between £95,000 and £125,000. That’s a pretty conservative guide and probably something of a bargain if the final bid lies within it.

Royal Kustoms prepared Ford Coupe endurance rally cars have been known to fetch £150k+ and to get one built by them to this specification now, with rising costs, would set you back considerably more.

Viewing is always encouraged, and this particular car is located with us at The Market HQ near Abingdon; to arrange an appointment please use the ‘Contact Seller’ button at the top of the listing. Feel free to ask any questions or make observations in the comments section below, or try our ‘Frequently Asked Questions’.