While most American automakers began to focus on closed coachwork by the mid-1930s, Ford introduced a new open car that combined the best features of a closed body, a cabriolet and a four-door sedan. Built from 1935 to 1939, the distinctive Convertible Sedan was a low-volume prestige car, designed to enhance traffic at Ford showrooms. Offered only in DeLuxe trim, the Convertible Sedan included dual tail lamps, dual windshield wipers, walnut wood grain window moldings and dash panels, rear armrests, twin electric air horns, a “banjo” steering wheel, a locking glove box door, and a dash-mounted clock. Despite its considerable appeal, relatively high pricing of $920 and a shaky economy held sales of the Convertible Sedan to 3,561 examples in 1939, and the model was quietly retired from the Ford product catalog.
It was 1939. The end of the Great Depression neared. And, in Flushing Meadow Park, New York, the World’s Fair shone like a beacon of hope. Among the most popular exhibits, the Road of Tomorrow at the Ford Expo Building. And the centerpiece there, the 1939 Ford Convertible Coupe, considered by many as the most beautiful Ford ever.