Bob Miller’s 1934 DeLuxe Fordor Sedan

By Gary Osborne

The year 1934 was a tough year for Ford.  The Country was still in the throes of the Depression and people were not able to afford new cars.  This economic reality forced Ford to put a hold on new design features for their next model.  What Ford did was to run the 1933 model production into the 1934 model with some minor changes made to keep costs down.  Some have even concluded that the two models are the same.  However, this is completely false as there are quite literally dozens of differences between the two.  Cliff Helling, the author of the Early Ford V-8 Club’s 1934-1934 book has written extensively about these very differences. 

The 1934 DeLuxe Fordor Sedan in this article is owned by Bob and Rhonda Miller.  Bob has always been fascinated by Fords of the 1930’s era, and in particular those that have been associated with gangsters of that time.  We all know the stories of Bonnie and Clyde, John Dillinger, “Pretty Boy” Floyd, Floyd Hamilton, and others.  They all seemed to extol the power of Ford V-8s. 

Bob purchased this car about a year and a half ago from the 2^nd owner in Pahrump, Nevada.  Pahrump is a small town outside of Las Vegas that was named by the indigenous people for the abundance of artesian wells in the area.  It’s also known because it is home to several legal brothels.  Now, neither one of these facts has any thing to do with this car; just interesting.  The car has spent its entire life out there in the desert, and when not in use it was covered with a tarp because there was no garage.  You know where this is going. 

After agreeing on a price and having it shipped to Illinois, Bob began the process of clean-up and repair of the vehicle.  The main issue was the paint that years in the desert sun had damaged.  In order to bring out the luster of the original Vineyard Green, there were countless hours of polishing done to the body.  Then, of course, the dry rotted tires had to be replaced and then a tune-up of the engine.  After some investigation, Bob realized that the radiator needed to be replaced.  Finding an N.O.S. radiator was no easy task, but he found one and installed it.

Now that the car was looking and running good it was show time!  Bob entered it in a local car show at Hooters in Schaumburg to see how it would fare.  The car took 1^st place in the 1930s-1940s Division.  It was great to see others appreciate the car as Bob has.  He has had a lot of fun with this car in the short time that he has owned it and found that many people have questions about the affiliation with gangsters that some of these cars had.  He even had a display sign made up to go with the car to help spur on some of those conversations.  Keeping the history alive of these old Fords is one of the reasons that Bob enjoys driving and displaying his Sedan.  During the next driving season, maybe other members will get the privilege of seeing this beautiful car at one of our events. 

Side Note: For those of you with a sharp eye you can look back at the August 2017 Road Chatter to view John Ellis’ 1933 to look for some of the subtle differences that Ford incorporated into the 1934s.