1940 Ford DeLuxe Coupe - Interstate '40

In fact, both Diane and Tom are big '40 Ford fans. For Diane, it's a car she's always admired for its style. For Tom, it goes back to nostalgic memories of the Flathead-powered '40 his older brother, John, owned back in the mid '50s.

In addition to liking hot rods, Diane's husband builds hot rods-and he's really good at it. Tom Walsh has built record-setting Bonneville racers and America's Most Beautiful Roadster finalists and winners, including the red '32 roadster you saw in these pages a few months ago and may have seen at the Grand National Roadster Show in January. In this case, the goal wasn't to win a trophy or set a land speed record, but to drive a cool-looking resto rod. It didn't have to be radical-just practical, reliable, and fun.

Now it's Chevy-powered, courtesy of an 0.030-over 350 small-block, balanced and blueprinted, and nostalgically dressed with a Cadillac air cleaner and Corvette valve covers painted red to pop against the black paint. Fuel and air are fed through a 650-cfm Edelbrock carburetor and Edelbrock manifold, and exhaust exits through HPC-coated headers and stainless pipes and tube-type mufflers.

Tom fitted the frame to accommodate the Chevy engine and re-fabricated the center X-member to allow the Turbo 350 transmission to be removed without having to pull out the engine. With driving in mind, he added a Heidts independent front suspension and a 3.08:1-geared Lincoln Versailles rearend, with antiroll bars and Strange double-adjustable shocks at both ends, plus coil springs in front and leafs in back. With stopping in mind, he added four-wheel discs. Goodyear radials were also chosen for the road, wrapped around 15-inch red Ford steelies spiffed up with more red paint and rings and caps.

The '40 DeLuxe dash was kept stock with the original gauges converted to 12-volt power. The rest of the interior retains resto rod styling, from the '40 steering wheel to the seats. Ken Nemanic at Vintage Automotive Upholstery covered everything in Bedford cord ribbed fabric that stays comfortable whether the air temperature is hot or cold. Vintage Air A/C adds to the comfort.

The Walshes told us that their favorite view of the '40 is looking out past the hood with the highway ahead of them. The coupe wasn't finished long before Diane and Tom got to enjoy that view. It had 220 miles on the clock when they loaded the travel-friendly trunk and started their first road trip, covering approximately 3,000 miles before returning home to Danville, California. What else would you expect from a couple who loves hot rods and a hot rod built for fun?