Lloyd’s 1935 Ford
Deluxe Tudor Sedan
By Ken Bounds
Fifteen years ago in July 1995, Lloyd Duzell, along with wife Gladys, drove his recently completed ’35 Sedan on a thousand-mile tour to the Central National Meet in Nashville. We sat down with Lloyd recently to ask him about the story of his car on the 75th Anniversary of the ’35 Ford.
Lloyd has had a long career of car restoration, from the high dollar classics to
our venerable V-8s and everywhere in between.
Around 1990 Lloyd started looking for a ’35 Ford Sedan project, to build
a car for himself. He actually
wanted a ’34 Victoria, but felt that he could not afford one.
He liked the styling of the ’35 Slantback – it was a working man’s car.
Unfortunately, every time he followed a lead to a prospective car,
something was wrong; the project was half done, parts were missing, or the
originality was destroyed.
At one of our club picnics Lloyd happened to mention his search to one of our
guests, Shawn Maloney. Much to
Lloyd’s surprise, Shawn said “I have one of those.”
So they jumped into Shawn’s car and drove to his house where Lloyd first
laid eyes on the forlorn ’35. It
seems Shawn had acquired the car a year earlier in Chicago from the original
owner. He brought it home, blew the
engine, and parked it in his dad’s garage.
When dad wanted it out of the garage, Shawn moved the car outside where a
tree fell through the roof!
Despite the outward appearance, Lloyd had an eye for what he wanted.
OK, there was that tree through the roof and the resulting water damage.
The fenders were beaten up, the driver’s side running board was in
terrible shape, and the motor was a total loss.
But the car was all there! To
Lloyd, the fenders would not be a problem.
Having a complete car with no extensive searching for parts was a bonus.
A deal was made and in 1991 Lloyd had his project car.
Taking the car apart, Lloyd found a diamond in the rough.
The car was rust free; there was no tar on the undercarriage, there were
no holes to be repaired. Lloyd even
had a solution for the missing engine.
He had recently put a 59A engine into a ’41 Coupe (that is another good
story) and had the original ’41 engine available.
He had Rich Carlson rebuild the ’41 the way he wanted it – the picture
tells the story.
Lloyd knew all along that he wanted hydraulic brakes on his ’35.
The opportunity came along when a friend of his, Mike Yank, purchased a
’40 that he wanted to street rod.
Out came the chassis which Lloyd totally refinished down to the nuts and bolts
for his ’35. He kept the 3.78
rear-end from the ’40, but used the original transmission from the ’35.
Lloyd will tell you that he likes the distinctive whine from that
gearbox. Soon the chassis was
complete, painted with DuPont Centari, and ready for the body.
Over the next few years, Lloyd meticulously restored the fenders and the body of
the sedan and painted it the beautiful maroon you see today.
The running boards were repaired and Bob Drake covers installed.
For the interior, Lloyd wanted his seats done in leather, an option for
police cars in 1935. Bob Adams did
the seats and Ray Morey of Cary did the door panels and headliner.
In late 1994 the “project” was now a complete car.
Lloyd did the car his way – not restored to original showroom
specifications, but certainly a beautiful example of an Early V-8 with just
minor modifications for drivability and the owner’s personality.
Back to where our story started, Lloyd first displayed the ’35 at a V-8 Club
National Meet in 1995 in Nashville.
He took a 2nd
place in Touring (the Touring A Division made its debut in 1998).
Since then Lloyd and Gladys have driven the car on numerous club meets,
overnighters, tours, and shows. In
2007 Lloyd received a 1st
Place Touring A trophy for the ‘35 at the Central National Meet in Winona, MN.
