Mark Osborne
Global Director of Motorsport
LOT 112 ¤
1939 Ford Custom Convertible Coupe by Harry Westergard Chassis no. 2065
Sold for US$67,200 inc. premiumLot to be sold without reserve
Lot 112¤
1939 Ford Custom Convertible Coupe
1939 Ford Custom Convertible Coupe
by Harry Westergard
Chassis no. 2065
by Harry Westergard
Chassis no. 2065
303.7ci Overhead Valve Oldsmobile V-8
Single Rochester Quadra Jet Four-Barrel Carburetor
160bhp at 3,600rpm
Three-Speed LaSalle Manual Transmission
Live Axles with Transverse Leaf Springs
Four-Wheel Hydraulic Drum Brakes
* One of the foundational creations of custom car culture
* Built just after WWII
* Overhead Valve Oldsmobile Power
* Numerous magazine features since the 1950's
* Acquired in 1980 from Jerry Brucker
HARRY WESTERGARD CUSTOMS
Harry Westergard is not famous like George Barris, but he is widely known for having a young George Barris hanging around his shop where he worked in Sacramento, where Barris acquired much of his early knowledge of customizing.
Westergard was in his early 20s when he began building cars, working from the garage of his home. He also worked at other local shops but mainly followed his own entrepreneurial path. After two years in the Navy at the end of World War II, he returned to Sacramento and resumed customizing.
Customizing at the time meant smoothing and filling stock bodywork, chopping tops and windshields, lowering and finishing off matching parts taken from other cars. Enamel paints, widely used in production cars, were often rejected by customizers in favor of multi-coat layers of lacquer to get a rich, deep, lustrous finish. Westergard is recognized as one of the pioneers of "tail dragging" style bodies and suspensions and he is widely regarded as one of the pioneers in California custom car culture.
THE CAR OFFERED
This 1939 Ford was customized by Harry Westergard for Jack Russ at the end of World War II. It has evolved over the years under various owners, but the basic Westergard design remains intact. That includes the smoothed and filled body, inset rear license plate, modified Buick skirts, DeSoto fluted bumpers and cut down Packard grille, one of Westergard's favorite elements. The exhaust pipes exit through the rear fenders, a necessity due to the "tail dragger" chassis that left no room under the rear valence for pipes.
It also may be the first custom to utilize door latch solenoids allowing Westergard to remove the outside door handles and completely smooth the doors, establishing a trend that would continue for generations.
Originally it was probably an open top convertible coupe but by the time of a 1949 Hot Rod Magazine article on it with its second owner it had a white padded removable Carson top. At that time, it was powered by a Ford V-8 with Denver heads and a Grancor manifold. A later owner had Westergard replace the Carson top with the present liftoff hardtop taken from either a '41 Packard or a '40 Chevrolet. A thin chrome spear has been added along about half the length of the body side at the beltline.
Around the mid-50's another change saw the tuned flathead V-8 replaced by an overhead valve 303 cubic inch Oldsmobile V-8. A floor linkage for the LaSalle manual transmission replaced the column shift and a 50's Ford Thunderbird steering wheel spruced up the interior looks.
Finished in many coats of black lacquer, the upholstery appears to be the original white leatherette with a matching headliner in the later steel hardtop. The Oldsmobile engine has a Rochester Quadra Jet 4-barrel as the Olds factory used starting with 1952's Super Eighty Eights. It has a floor shift LaSalle transmission and hydraulically operated brakes and clutch. There is a standard '39 Ford radio, cushioned running boards and frenched headlights. It rides on 14-inch chrome reversed wheels with Baby Moon hubcaps and 7.00-14 narrow whitewall tires.
The Westergard '39 Ford Convertible Coupe is one of the most respected and frequently covered masterpieces in custom car culture. Numerous sources cite Harry Westergard's vision, concepts and particularly the skill reflected in the high-quality work that he did in rudimentary shops with hand tools. George Barris maybe didn't "learn at Westergard's feet", but he learned much working with Harry Westergard. In fact, a whole generation of California customizers traced their starting points in customizing to the work of Harry Westergard and a few of his contemporaries.
At least when it came to customizing cars in the 40s and 50s – Los Angeles owed much to Sacramento. It is without doubt that Harry Westergard's '39 Ford Convertible Coupe is one of custom car culture's cornerstone vehicles.
Additional information
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