Ford Fordor De Luxe
It’s very standard – and that makes it all the more impressive after the 2019 Peking-paris Motor Challenge, says Paul Hardiman
Apart from wiping off some of the dust, this is as it finished the last (seventh) Peking Paris Motor Challenge, and in impressive condition for all that. It is remarkably – almost terrifyingly – standard too . No rollcage, bucket seats, Tremec five-speed or even any sort of underside skid protection here.
This is largely as it left the factory nearly 80 years ago. It could even be wearing its original paint, which would concur with the feeling this was a very low-mileage, original car before it was plucked from slumber and driven halfway across the world, now showing only 15,500 miles.
Modifications for the rally include a Brantz rallymeter, a pair of aluminium Edelbrock cylinder heads, a sock filter for the replacement Holley carburettor, electric fan, modern batteries, van tyres and a rack for two large jerry cans in the boot, which carries a multitude of spares such as cylinder head gaskets, brake shoes and a spare drive cable for the Brantz.
The body is straight, the only damage confined to a little light metal reshaping around the left rear bumper stay. The brightwork is all pretty good, only one of the hubcaps is slightly dinged and the paint is lightly microblistered in places.
Underneath, it appears undamaged apart from light scraping on the differential, though the rally results suggest our team had a fairly gentle run, finishing last out of 24 in the vintage category. The tyres, Hercules Terratracs with two spares, have almost all their tread remaining.
Inside, the standard bench seats remain, with harnesses. The velour is unworn, the headlining good and the carpets only have a few wear patches. The tripmeter is zip-tied on to avoid drilling holes.
The motor, rebuilt before the rally at Flathead City in Oregon, is minus some of its heater trunking, but the exchangers are still in place. It starts okay, with a lovely off-beat bass rumble, and is easy to conduct, with a decent and slick column shift, light steering thanks to low gearing, and nice sharp brakes. They pull to the right a little, but it has just been halfway around the world and then driven directly to selling dealer Mcguire’s after the finish.
Oil pressure is 10psi on the gauge, but at least that means it’s reaching the crankshaft. There’s plenty of torque, which does show up a hint of clutch slip, though it’s not certain whether that’s down to worn friction plates or stickiness in the linkage, so it could possibly improve with use; the car has been standing for a couple of months, after all.
The most impressive thing is that such a standard design can tackle such an arduous 36-day drive and come out on the other side of it largely unscathed – but that’s what these beam-axle, transverseleaf chassis were designed for.
This fabulous old warhorse is still registered in California, and NOVA paperwork has not yet been applied for in case it is not permanently imported to the UK, but the selling dealer will help with the registration process.