While the body and chassis were being sprayed, Anders made good use of the time by overhauling the engine, which is from a '69 Camaro. The mill is now bored to 355 ci and has a few more ponies. A '55 Cadillac air cleaner and Offenhauser valve covers may fool most guys, but the engine is meaner than it looks.
As is so often the case, this project only worked out with the help of some really good, and sometimes enthusiastic, buddies. Uffe Larsson helped with the chassis and lowered the hood; Richard Berngard, Sonny Nylen, and Anders' father, Kjell, helped him assemble the body. Luckily they all knew the words "good enough" were not part of Anders' vocabulary, so they knew it had to be perfect-otherwise Nisse would do it all over again.
Anders also received a helping hand with the paint finish. "At first we sanded the body with 1,200-grit paper to remove the inequalities after the paint job. For the polish, I used a Festo machine and 3M professional products," he says. "I achieved this result after four goes. I sealed it with a special wax mixture from the USA."
You'd think that would be enough for the moment-but you'd be wrong. Anders has already moved on to another project, a lowered '57 Nomad painted black, of course!
Rod & Custom Feature Car
Anders "Nisse" Nilsson
Lomma, Sweden
1940 Ford DeLuxe coupe
Drivetrain
The '69 Camaro 350 was bored .030 over and filled with TRW 11.0:1 pistons and a COMP Cams Magnum series camshaft. The GM high-performance 2.02 heads are ported and port-matched. The engine breathes in through a Holley 650-cfm carburetor on a GM intake manifold and out through Hooker 1 5/8-inch high-performance headers and a dual-exhaust system with Flowmaster 2 1/2-inch mufflers. A GM Turbo 350 trans with a B&M converter provides reliable shifting duties.
Chassis
The stock frame was cleaned up and partially boxed for a little added strength. The stock front wishbone was split and the spring eyes were reversed. Volvo Amazon disc brakes were modified to fit the straight-axle. The rear suspension consists of a Total Cost Involved leaf spring kit and lowering blocks with a GM 10-bolt rearend.
Wheels & Tires
The 15x5.5 and 15x8 solids painted red and wrapped with Firestone wide whites (5.60s and 8.20s) are the perfect combo for a black '40 Ford.
Body & Paint
A '40 Ford doesn't need much in the way of custom mods to look perfect. The only thing done here was lowering the hood slightly and getting it arrow-straight before the black paint was laid down.
Interior
Continuing on with the perfect-combo theme, the interior was done in a red leather tuck 'n' roll with black Mercedes carpet. The original dash, gauges, and steering wheel were restored, and a Moon tach was added for a touch of hot rod flavor.