Miami is famously a melting pot, an eclectic, humid stew of Latin, European, and American influences. The city is also renowned for art deco treasures, such as the Colony Hotel on Ocean Ave.That makes the city a rich backdrop for Road & Track's exclusive drive of the SP40 Speedster, a roughly $500,000 special with a unique pedigree. This carbon-fiber-bodied, Thirties-style two-seater is the work of a pair of passionate Argentinian coachbuilders and race drivers, now setting up shop in Miami. But the inspiration for this deco dreamboat originally hails from Detroit. That's where the late Edsel Ford asked designer E.J. "Bob" Gregorie to sketch a Euro-style sports car like the ones he'd seen on the Continent in 1932. Edsel, an accomplished artist, had set up Ford's first-ever design department, among several philosophical breaks with his father. By 1934, working with the Ford Airframe Team at Willow Run Airport—later the site of a fabled World War II bomber plant—Gregorie realized Edsel's vision of a dramatically low, boat-tail two-seater. That included wind-tunnel testing of a 1:25-scale topless model with a tubular steel frame. SP40 RestomodThe Model 40 Special Speedster joined Edsel's personal garage. It was powered by a 75-hp flathead V-8 and had cycle fenders reworked from the "wheel pants" of Ford Trimotor aircraft. After Edsel died of cancer in 1943, the one-off concept began to trade hands. An advert in the May 1948 issue of R&T failed to secure a buyer, despite a reference to an aluminum body built for Edsel Ford: "Priced reasonably at $2,500," the ad read.In the late Fifties, a U.S. Navy sailor bought the Speedster for just $603, and then it dropped off the map. That was until Bill Warner, founder of the Amelia Island Concours, made a fabulous barn find in 1999: the Speedster covered in tin cans and detritus in the old sailor's Florida garage. Following a restoration and a $1.7 million auction sale in 2008, the original Speedster has come full circle, residing in the permanent collection of the Edsel and Eleanor Ford House in Grosse Pointe, Michigan.SP40 RestomodSo, what to make of this reborn Speedster? Blessedly, it's not another restomod Mustang, even with a 5.0-liter Coyote V-8 beneath a louvered hood, seemingly long enough to inter Victor Wembanyama. The new car's creators are fine with a restomod description, although the SP40 Speedster itself isn't based on the chassis or structure of an original vehicle. It's built from scratch, with no period parts, based on a design that never emerged from a factory. So it's really an idea that has been re-created.Those creators, Francisco Orden and Arturo Arrebillaga, built their Iconic Auto Sports business with replicas of such classics as a Mercedes SSK "Count Trossi" and the Alfa Romeo 1900 C52 Disco Volante, having won awards for the quality of their work. I meet the longtime friends—who attended the same Scottish school in Argentina—in predawn Miami, where their Speedster emerges from a covered trailer like a time traveler. Sleep has been hard to come by for the pair during their car's whirlwind coming-out party in the U.S. The night before my drive, both were working with a mechanic to fix an oxygen sensor, seemingly broken by the repeated starts and idling at the Moda Miami show where the car made its U.S. debut. Moda itself proved a literal washout, as a Florida deluge led organizers to pull the plug early. Adding injury to insult, the partners' original Speedster replica of 2018, which earned them a coachbuilding award in Argentina, had its fenders bashed en route to Miami—the car apparently came loose in its ocean shipping container. SP40 RestomodThe Speedster I'm going to drive has therefore been freshly assembled over recent days from a rolling chassis shipped to Miami, as import regulations forbade a completed car. The build includes a brand-new Coyote V-8 and a trusty Tremec TKX five-speed manual transmission. This engine flexes 480 hp, with provocative, sizzling side exhaust pipes adding 20 horses versus a Gen 3 Mustang application. (Successive customer cars will receive a Gen 4 version). "It's got the power of a Mustang GT but two-thirds the weight," Arrebillaga says of the 2623-pound Speedster.Though I'm essentially its shakedown driver, this is no kit car or Chip Foose–style show pony. Working with a renowned builder of sports prototypes and race cars in Argentina, Orden and Arrebillaga developed and tuned their prototype chassis at the country's former Formula 1 circuit, Autódromo Oscar y Juan Gálvez. The tubular steel space frame underwent digital simulation and stress testing, and a pair of former Pininfarina designers served as advisors for its updated exterior design. Finding space to package an independent suspension, including double wishbones up front and custom coil-over racing dampers, was among several engineering challenges. SP40 RestomodI clamber aboard over a dashing cutdown door and its leather-wrapped sill, strap into a Sparco four-point harness, and peer over a tiny fingernail clipping of a windshield. (Orden will later slide in an additional seat cushion to help me see over the mammoth-size hood). Gymnastic entry and exit are eased somewhat by a detachable three-spoke steering wheel, its Art Deco "V8" emblem rendered in machined aluminum. Once in the driving seat, I brush fingers over a walnut-trimmed dashboard, jiggle the wood-topped shift lever, and realize I can nearly reach down far enough to rub my knuckles across the pavement. There are no airbags, ABS, or traction control. Simple climate controls, Bluetooth audio, and a smartphone charger are the limited obvious connections to this century. The Speedster's details are obsessively rendered, including the body's mirror-matched carbon-fiber weaves. (Arrebillaga's years in yacht racing brought some carbon expertise). Twenty-inch forged aluminum wheels make a visual callback to the original's handsome wheel discs. In motion, wheel vents to cool Brembo brakes resemble the spinning band of a whitewall tire. Old-timey leather cases envelop the fuse box and fluid receptacles beneath a side-hinged hood. Round LED headlamps perch at axle height, with regulations satisfied by additional lighting hidden behind the canted vee-shaped grille. Rear lenses, inspired by sailboats, integrate LED taillamps, brake lights, and turn signals in a single custom unit. Natty Rizoma side mirrors trace to the company that supplies Ducati.SP40 RestomodAimed into South Beach along the MacArthur Causeway, the locomotive-like Speedster turns heads more assuredly than a pack of Lamborghinis would do. I'm sitting almost atop the rear axle in a car that's only about a foot longer (at 166.2 inches) than a Miata but whose wheelbase stretches 30 inches beyond the Mazda's.As I roll up to the landmark Colony Hotel, the rising sun spreads tropical-pink frosting over a suddenly vintage scene. Every stop draws a cloud of shutterbugs. The proboscis of the Speedster's front-right wheel and exposed suspension are entirely hidden from the driver's view, making curbside parking an adventure. Departing South Beach in search of the only three curves in Florida, a glare from a parked cop tells me what I already know: This must be the loudest car I've ever driven on the street. The Speedster sounds like Detroit's entire Arsenal of Democracy is crammed inside those stainless-steel pipes. The car makes a Dodge Viper seem defanged and a Mustang GT sound like a Mach-E. I'm convinced this prewar pummeling couldn't possibly meet noise standards in many states, though Orden assures me a buyer could request more exhaust silencing. Between the sound, the gasoline smells, and a cabin heat-soaked from both the powertrain and Florida sun, the only thing missing from this sensory workout is hand-cranking the engine. But it's still a blast, an updated reminder of what sports cars used to feel like before seat belts were even a thing.SP40 RestomodI make my way to Everglades National Park. The Speedster launches smartly, with no sideways drama, painting demure rubber stripes with clutch drops from as little as 2500 rpm. With a Torsen limited-slip differential and 52 percent of its weight over the rear, the little runabout just squats and goes like hell; the partners figure a 0–60-mph run in about 3.5 seconds. They also say the Speedster has seen 149 mph during track development, clearly with a hardy soul aboard, before it ran out of room on a straightaway.The Tremec shifter is fresh-from-the-box stiff yet plays along to the V-8's 7500-rpm redline. Custom clutch and brake pedals are bottom-hinged, with a Ford electronic throttle pedal for easy integration with the howling Coyote. Brakes, with six-piston calipers up front, are powerful but could use more initial bite. The clutch is firm but not tiring, with easy take-up for boulevard cruising. But the Speedster has a turning circle to rival a Ford Expedition's, demanding regular three-point maneuvers in tight spots. The steering integrates variable electronic assist for easier operation at parking-lot speeds. Toward the day's end, the engine did begin to misfire at low revs, which the team attributed to a shortage of time for a comprehensive engine calibration and fuel mapping.That Ford rack-and-pinion unit feels quick and direct, with none of the retro slop that mars so many modded Mustangs. High g-force adventures in Florida are almost all Disney-branded, but the Speedster glided easily through gentle bends. SP40 RestomodThe chunky 20-inch tires had plenty of grip to spare, but the SP40 has been tuned sensibly with a skosh of understeer at the limit to keep owners out of trouble. That's a good thing in a roofless car whose hip-height door openings evoke a nagging sense of exposure. When you read about some Golden Age, Martini-soused Hollywood star dying in a crash, it was probably in a car like this. Speaking of collisions, my forehead didn't encounter a stone or palmetto bug, but old-school goggles would be a good idea for committed owners.Which brings us to that commitment. An SP40 Speedster with a painted body will start from $500,000, with this exposed carbon-fiber version kicking that to $560,000. Of course, fanatics will pay huge sums for a top-spec Mustang restomod. But that cottage-nostalgia industry has a huge potential audience to tap into, with Ford having sold more than 10.5 million Mustangs since 1964-1/2. SP40 RestomodThe Speedster can't call on the same shared history. There was only one precursor, and it still belongs to its original owner. Or, at least, to Edsel's estate. Which is why the plan is to keep the exclusivity high, building 40 Speedsters in total at the rate of around five per year.Wealthy collectors in sunny California, steeped in Ford history, are obvious candidates, Orden and Arrebillaga say. But their first paying customer is an Argentinian collector, who previously bought the first Pagani Zonda ever sold in Latin America. Wherever this international iconoclast ends up, I'll end with a nod to another famous Detroiter, Jack White: It might get loud.