Pick of the Day: 1938 Ford street rod

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3800
The Ford's two-tone custom paint accentuates the body shape

Building a nice street rod is a pricey proposition, if you want it to come out right and be a source of pride, not to even mention fast and drivable. The build process takes a lot of expensive hands-on labor and high-priced specialty parts. A simple paint job done to professional standards costs at least $10,000 these days.

That’s why the Pick of the Day, a 1938 Ford two-door sedan, seems so appealing. The photos show a handsome and tasteful street rod in apparently excellent condition, the description lists all the right stuff, and the car has only 3,350 miles on the odometer since it was finished.

The Ford has a clean look with deleted door handles and trim

Yet the asking price is just $39,500, according to the private seller advertising the Ford on ClassicCars.com. You couldn’t come close to building a car this nice at that price, unless maybe you were able to do every bit of the work yourself.

“This is a professionally built, all-Ford, all-steel street rod,” the seller says in the ad. “The quality of workmanship is exceptional. It’s been driven less than 3,350 miles since built.

The modernized interior offers full amenities

“The paint is DuPont Hot Poppy and really pops. A subtle blue pinstripe divides the two colors. The rear lighting is led, and the front headlights are halogen. The wide whitewall radials are like new.

“Everything works as it should on this car; it has room to travel and drives nicely, with modern amenities for your comfort.”

An all-ford drivetrain provides the motivation

Power is provided by a 400cid, 300-horsepower Ford V8 linked to a four-speed automatic and 9-inch Posi rear with 3:5:1 ratio, which would allow quick getaways as well as long-legged highway cruising. Drivability is enhanced by a Heidts front end, power steering and power brakes.

Both the exterior and the interior look immaculate, with gleaming red-and-black paint that accentuates the Art Deco styling and a modernized cabin with white-leather bucket seats, Vintage Air climate control, ididit tilt steering wheel, a decent audio system and Classic Instruments gauges. All the glass is new including the one-piece windshield.

Sounds like a nice street-rod recipe, doesn’t it? And with all those premium ingredients, the price sounds more than reasonable.

To view this listing on ClassicCars.com, see Pick of the Day

 

 

 

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Bob Golfen
Bob Golfen is a longtime automotive writer and editor, focusing on new vehicles, collector cars, car culture and the automotive lifestyle. He is the former automotive writer and editor for The Arizona Republic and SPEED.com, the website for the SPEED motorsports channel. He has written free-lance articles for a number of publications, including Autoweek, The New York Times and Barrett-Jackson auction catalogs. A collector car enthusiast with a wide range of knowledge about the old cars that we all love and desire, Bob enjoys tinkering with archaic machinery. His current obsession is a 1962 Porsche 356 Super coupe.

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