Edsel Ford's Dream Roadster Gets a 480-HP Rebootari da silva (ari da silva)Two guys in Argentina, who have made some very cool “evocations” of great cars from the past, have made an evocation of Edsel Ford’s iconic roadster.It’s powered by a Coyote V8, with a Tremec five-speed and rear-wheel drive.Prices start at $500,000. As they say in Buenos Aires, “Yikes!”Magnificent craftsmanship and meticulous engineering precision are to be appreciated, especially when combined into a gorgeous form. Arturo Arrebillaga and Francisco Orden of the Argentine design and engineering firm Iconic Auto Sports are capable of both. Just look at their earlier projects: artful recreations of a 1931 Mercedes-Benz SSK Count Trossi, a 1952 Alfa Romeo DV C52 Fianchi Stretti, and a red Maserati 450 S of the type that raced in the Mille Miglia. The latter was shown to me on Orden’s cell phone, and only fleetingly, but if I won a couple Powerballs, that would be the one I ordered in Argentine pesos.ari da silva (ari da silva)But all those are in Iconic Auto Sports’ past. It’s their most recent work building 1934 Ford 40 Special Speedster Boattail “Evocation” that was the reason for their visit to Malibu and their offer to me to drive their new car up and over the twisting roads that Malibu offers to those who know their way around a tire patch.AdvertisementAdvertisementThe new car is called the SP40 Restomod Speedster, and you’d have to be a real Art Deco junkie to even know what that was inspired by. Sure, everyone knows the ’32 Ford Roadster, the most famous hot rod of all time, created and recreated ad nauseam by old guys who want you to know that theirs is “a real hot rod, made of metal, not one o’ them fiberglass kit cars with a Chevy small block in it.”ari da silva (ari da silva)The SP40, if you are a true aficionado, to use a Spanish language term that might be thrown around in Buenos Aires, was a one-off creation designed and built by Edsel Ford himself, son of Henry and scion to the mighty Ford empire. Edsel had help from collaborator Eugene T. Gregorie, too, but it was his idea.ari da silva (ari da silva)Edsel wanted to make a creation that was all his own, something he could take credit for and something that would leave a lasting impression that would far outlive him. The 1934 Edsel Ford Model 40 Special Speedster is a bespoke, one-of-a-kind roadster commissioned by Edsel Ford and designed by E.T. “Bob” Gregorie. Featuring an aerodynamic, boat-tailed aluminum body, it was a major inspiration for early hot rod design. Maybe. The historic original currently resides at the Edsel and Eleanor Ford House in Michigan.Iconic Auto Sport took actual scans from the original 1934 Ford 40 Special Roadster and used them to recreate the car in carbon fiber. Or that’s what they did for the body.AdvertisementAdvertisementFor the rest of the car they went all modern. The chassis is a bespoke creation of Argentine chassis engineer Pedro Campo. They used 1010 steel for its safety in a crash, as well as its strength. There was no torsional rigidity or bending resistance figure offered, but it looks and rides quite firmly.The powertrain, too, benefits from the nearly 100 years of automotive engineering and advances in metallurgy that Edsel Ford could never have imagined. Specifically, that means a 480-hp, 369 lb-ft Ford Coyote V8. I don’t know if you’ve ever driven anything with a Ford Coyote V8 in it, but if you haven’t, go find one and drive it. If you have, then you know the gobs of torque that setup offers.ari da silva (ari da silva)The Coyote is mated to a Tremec five-speed manual, a sound combination, sending power to the rear wheels.This all sounds like a recipe for the world’s greatest Ford Roadster. So is it?AdvertisementAdvertisementWell, I have some… thoughts.I got to drive it on some very twisty roads up near Mulholland, roads that would be really fun on a motorcycle or even in a Mazda Miata. But the SP40 is wide, two meters wide, Orden said (more than six and a half feet), and you sit way down inside it even if you have a tall torso, so it didn’t feel ideal on the tightest parts of the twisties. But that Pedro Campo chassis was, indeed, stiff as a brass board, way stiffer than any ’32 Ford roadster you have piloted, and it made the Plymouth Prowler feel like a flimsy aluminum beer can in comparison.ari da silva (ari da silva)On the more wide-open, faster sections of Malibu Canyon, it was a little more in its element. It held on well through fast corners, and the piles of torque from El Coyote ate up the constant radii hungrily .But the pedals were off. They were banana-tall slivers of metal with no grip tape on them, so my tennis shoe-clad feet kept slipping around on them instead of gripping, particularly the brake pedal, off which you must not slip. The clutch travel was longer than I’d have liked, and engagement took place way up at the top of the travel. (All of which can be adjusted, Arrebillaga said).AdvertisementAdvertisementWhile torsional rigidity and bending resistance of the chassis was sound, this was by no means a sports car. It was fun in a straight line thanks to that magnificent Coyote, but less so the tighter the corners came.And the exhaust was loud. Some people like that, and they can probably set this one up with whatever exhaust you want. And the general public liked it, from nice old ladies coming out of the Malibu Mart, to young surfers heading back up the hill from a sesh.But you’re going to have to really want it. Prices range from $500,000 to $560,000, depending on how you set it up. You might be able to get away with that pricing if it was one of Iconic Auto Sports’ earlier projects, but unless I’m terribly mistaken, there has never really been any great love for Edsel Ford’s original roadster. Two years ago at an RM auction, a recreation hammered for $88,000. Muscle car restomods go for four times that.It’s not sold here in the US as a kit car, either. The term Arrebillaga used was, “assembled from parts.” Orden said you can register it in the US, though the car I drove had Montana plates, a state in which you could register and insure a plastic milk crate. So who knows?AdvertisementAdvertisementIconic Auto Sports has more plans for their chassis, including a hardtop and a speedster. Other cars will follow, but they didn’t say what. Vaughn Business Consultants, Inc., recommends doing something more like that Maserati. I’d pay a half a million bucks for one of those.
