Last updated on November 26, 2025
Today’s car is a 1940 Ford Deluxe Coupe owned by Augie Esposito. I shot this at the 2025 Outriders Picnic, the annual invite-only car show and picnic hosted by the Outriders Car Club, the oldest car club in the country, dating all the way back to 1932.
The 1940 Ford was designed under the direction of Eugene T. “Bob” Gregorie, working closely with Edsel Ford, whose sense of style and proportion gave the car its refined, almost custom look. The result was a sleek, sculpted design inspired by the Lincoln Zephyr, with a bold heart-shaped grille, integrated sealed-beam headlights, flowing fenders, and a graceful sloping trunk line. It was elegant, modern, and distinctly Ford at an affordable price.
It’s no surprise that the prewar art-deco style of the 1940 Ford Coupe is often called one of the prettiest production cars ever built. Its timeless proportions, smooth fender lines, and perfect stance made it look “right” from every angle. Its graceful lines and sturdy chassis made it a favorite among collectors, hot rodders, custom builders, and even bootleggers, while its style captured the spirit and optimism of prewar America, a design that still needs no correction today.
The 1940 Deluxe Coupe went down in history as a trusted workhorse for hauling moonshine in the Appalachian South during the late ’40s and early ’50s. Its strong frame and rugged suspension could handle heavy loads of contraband, while the flathead V8 delivered quick getaways on those winding mountain roads. What’s not to love—an 85-horsepower flathead Ford V8 and plenty of storage. These so-called “Moonshine Specials” were often lightened, tuned, and fitted with hotter engines—fast, tough machines that became the backbone of early stock car racing and helped give birth to NASCAR.
This moonshine special is finished in black lacquer with a mohair interior. Instead of its trusty 221 cu. in., 85-hp flathead V8, it now runs a 1967 Chevrolet 327 cu. in. engine, bored .030″ over and fitted with an Iskenderian roller cam. Topping it off is a Rochester Tri-Power setup on an Edelbrock intake manifold, producing about 340 horsepower. Power is sent through a 1939 Ford 3-speed manual floor-shift transmission equipped with 26-tooth Lincoln Zephyr gears, the legendary close-ratio racing gears favored by early Ford hot rodders. That power is transferred through a torque tube to a Columbia 2-speed rear end, delivering both performance and flexibility with 3.78:1 standard and 2.90:1 overdrive gear ratios. Slowing it down are ’41 Lincoln self-energizing Bendix brakes at all four corners. The front suspension consists of a Mordrop 2-inch dropped solid front axle, transverse semi-elliptic leaf spring, and modern tube shocks. The rear suspension features a live axle with a transverse semi-elliptic leaf spring and modern tube shocks. The wishbone radius rods and torque tube work together as locating links, helping to control axle movement and prevent fore-and-aft motion of both the front and rear axles.
The Ford Deluxe was introduced in 1937 and continued until 1940 as an upscale alternative to the base-model Ford Standard, marketed as a separate marque. The total domestic, Canadian, and foreign production of 1940 Ford passenger cars was 642,580, with 541,896 built in the U.S.—of which 367,364 were Deluxe models, including 27,919 Deluxe Coupes. While Ford offered a smaller 60-hp flathead V8 option in the Standard model, the 85-hp flathead V8 came in all the Deluxe models for 1940, Ford records show that only 161 units were sold with the V8-60. The MSRP was $720, with a published top speed of 80 mph and 0–60 mph time of 20.2 seconds.
This Dearborn award winner was restored by the previous owner Bob Kennedy. The Dearborn Award is one of the highest honors given by the Early Ford V-8 Club of America. Augie wanted a moonshine special and made the necessary changes to capture his vision. This Moonshine Special not only captures the look and feel of the postwar bootleggers, but also turns heads at shows and delivers that unmistakable thrill every time it hits the open road. It’s the perfect car for a Ford or local car shows, Cars & Coffee gatherings, or simply cruising the California mountain canyons and practicing your moonshine getaways.
Thanks for coming along for the ride.
Frank
