Pat Maroney’s 1936 Ford DeLuxe Fordor

By Gary Osborne and Patrick Maroney

The previous 1935 season of automobile sales was a very good one for the Ford Motor Company. Ford had been adding more improvements and accessories annually to their cars to attract the buying public. The same strategy was employed again for the 1936 model year.  

Body styles and trim packages were offered to meet many different types of consumer tastes.  The new 1936 Fords once again had more streamlining along body lines, more chrome trim, more paint colors, and more DeLuxe appointments than the previous year.

After all those improvements for 1936, there was one problem; sales were stagnant! The competition from other manufacturers was really hurting Ford as consumers looked for something “better”. Probably the most widely held complaint was that Fords still had mechanical brakes. Chevrolet offered hydraulic brakes for their superior stopping power and people took notice. This may have contributed to Ford’s total 1936 sales being about 180,000 units less than Chevrolet’s. The Ford engineers were going to have to sharpen their pencils to make next year’s models more successful.

Our beautiful example of a 1936 Ford Sedan in this article belongs to NIRG members Pat and Dee Maroney who have owned their Ford V-8 since 2016.  It was just the type of car that they wanted to tour with. I’ll allow Pat give you a little history about this particular 1936 Ford.

PAT: “The ownership of this 1936 Ford DeLuxe Touring Sedan began with a woman who lived in Colorado. She sold the car with 19,000 miles in 1965 to a gentleman who also lived in Colorado.

In 2016 I personally spoke to the second owner, Casey Hayes, a Colorado State Representative. Casey drove the car until 1970 after which time he searched for a location to store the car.   

Casey decided to loan the car for display to the Forney Automobile Museum in Denver, Colorado. Casey was aging into his late eighties at the time we spoke, and he personally shared these stories with me. He expressed that the auto museum had preserved the car well.

An airline pilot bought the car from Casey in 1993, after it had been kept in the Forney     Museum for 23 years. The pilot left written documentation stating the car had 52,000 original miles during the time he owned it. He also listed the car as equipped with a radio, heater, mirror, clock, and grill guard.  He said at the time that the brake drums had never been turned. In addition, he stated the car was painted once in the 1950’s sometime, with original black and apple green stripe.

The fourth owner, Ron Crooks, a used car dealer, seemingly only purchased the car to resell for profit. He brought the car to Cherry Valley, IL in 2013.

I became the fifth owner of the 1936 Ford. I had sold my 1929 Model “A” Ford Tudor and was looking for a four door which would be heavier and add a little comfort to the ride. The original brochure for a 1936 Ford stated in big, bold letters, “Center-Poise Riding Means Remarkable Comfort.” That’s exactly what I was looking for. I purchased the car in April, 2016.

Since my purchase, I have added five new whitewall tires, and replaced both water pumps. I have had the generator rebuilt, and replaced the fan belt. I had the original fuel tank sending unit rebuilt. I replaced the gasket that goes around the cowl vent. I also replaced the gasket that runs along the trunk of the car, and the weather-stripping on all four doors. I added front and rear seat belts. The front floor mat has been changed and many other miscellaneous improvements have been made.”

Pat said that he is very glad that he installed seat belts in the car because he learned firsthand why the rear doors are called “suicide” doors. While travelling about 50 MPH driving to the Early Ford V-8 Club Grand National Meet last June, the rear door flew open. Fortunately, no one was hurt as Dee was firmly strapped in with the new seat belts. The 1936 DeLuxe Fordor is a nice car and worthy of admiration.  Check it out the next time the Maroneys have it on one of our NIRG Tours.