“Unrestored” Original

This Car originated new in Idaho. It was driven very little until 1951 +/- It was parked in a farm building shop and was covered for about 35 years (1986) when the farm was liquidated and foreclosed on. Mr. Joe Caputo an antique car collector and dealer bought this car and took it to Chittenango, N.Y. The original mileage at the time was 31,500 miles. It was easy to get running and he did some minor work. IE: rechromed bumpers, blended some paint on fenders, etc. However the odometer was frozen, so he kept a log on miles driven. The interior was original and in good enough condition that it was not touched. It is that way today, original 1941 interior. The trunk is all original with the original “Ford” Spare Tire. The motor is the original motor and has not even been cleaned or rebuilt. The outside paint as you see it is about 70% the original 1941 factory paint. In 1998 this car was traded to one Daniel J. Kelsey of Auburn, N.Y. At this time the log showed about 44,500 miles driven. Mr. Kelsey had a new odometer installed with a zero reading. He also added vintage aftermarket turn signals to the vehicle. In 2003, Mr. Kelsey became very ill and asked Joe Caputo to take the car back and sell it for him. He advertised it on the internet and on September 10th, 2003, it was purchased by, Theodore C. (Ted) Parker, Jr. of Millsboro, Delaware. The odometer now reads 02755 as of 10/30/08 making the actual mileage on car and motor approximately 48,000 miles. As it is about as original as can be, I plan on leaving it that way. A few minor acceptable upgrades have been done.  Such as; radiator and hoses , rebuilt starter and generator, repair exhaust manifolds and new muffler, and a tune up. all parts are original ford parts. Amazingly everything works on this car, even the wind up clock on the dash. It stands appraised in it’s current condition as a #3 driver. Before this sale, Mr. Caputo had all new brakes installed, a new front floor mat, and 4 new wide whitewall tires and a complete maintenance done.

Special note of interest;

The “Flop down’ back seats are what makes this an “Opera Coupe”.

Ford had a limited production of about 10,500 of these cars in 1941.

Of these, less than half were “Super/Deluxe”.