Ron Blum’s 1940 Deluxe Fordor

By Ron Blum

At eighty years old our 1940 Ford Deluxe Fordor is looking great and has been a lot of fun for our family over the years. I do not know how many owners our car has had, but I know the first owner of my 1940 Ford Fordor was a woman who lived in Wichita Kansas. I know this because to this day, the tax stamp she had to buy after purchasing the car in 1940 is still attached to my sun visor.

The car was purchased in California by the company where I was employed. The company president and I loved old cars, so in 1993, we bought the car from someone in the Golden State. The president always went to Florida during the winter months and the car was shipped to Ft. Lauderdale and back home to Palatine in the spring. After a couple of years his interest in the car fell off and it became my responsibility. I then took care of maintenance, repairs, and storage in winter for the 1940 Ford. After a few more years, after I had a considerable financial investment in the car, it was transferred into my name.

When the original 01A V-8 engine grew tired, I replaced it with a freshly rebuilt 1945 Flathead V-8 from Motor City Flathead in Dundee, Michigan. The car originally was Sahara Sand, but was painted Garnet Maroon in 1995. I knew nothing about the 1940 Ford Deluxe’ s stock configuration, so when the car was painted, the dash and window trims were also painted red instead of the correct wood grain colors. At my wife Arlene’s suggestion, our car quickly took on the nickname of “Humphrey” after the famous actor Humphrey Bogart of that era.

While our 1940 Ford Deluxe Fordor has generally been reliable we have had an occasional problem.  During one trip to the Rockford Airport with the club years back, the car blew a head gasket on the highway. Thankfully, fellow member Lloyd Duzell was along, and he gave me some copper solution for the gasket to get me back home. Later that year, Lloyd and I installed a completely new wiring harness for the Ford. Driving the 1940 Ford to the Detroit National meet in 2005, one of my water pumps sprang a leak at the last toll booth in Illinois. I had to be towed home where I picked up my modern car to rejoin the group in Detroit.

The car was used in a few weddings, including our granddaughter Erin’s in 2014, which the photographers loved.  Our 1940 Ford was also used in the 2006 Clint Eastwood movie “Flags of our Fathers”.  Having our car as part of that film was a great experience. Our Deluxe Fordor has won many trophies but the one I remember most was at a car show at Gary Lang Chevrolet, up in McHenry.  Fords were a rarity at that show. Much to my surprise “Humphrey” won best in show over all those Chevrolets.  It turned out that the owner of the dealership was the sole judge for the best in show award and his first car happened to have been a 1940 Ford.

In the fall of last year, 2019, I lost my heated garage space due to the owner selling his condominium. So, I put my car in my sister’s heated garage, a few buildings away in the same complex as she moved to an assisted living home.  But then, her condo was sold in early January and I had to move out, so there were spaces in my sister’s new garage, and I brought it there for storage. Well you can guess the rest of the story.......her assisted living complex is on lockdown and I cannot get my car out. They won’t let me in.  So unfortunately, our 1940 Ford “Humphrey” is quarantined until COVID-19 restrictions are lifted.