Inventory Listing

Beautiful custom build. 100% with ostrich leather interior by the legendary Steve Holcomb. 427 Chevrolet, 500 horsepower, TH400, 4-wheel disc, ice cold A/C. Incredible streetable rod!

Starting with an all-steel 1940 Ford that had been used as drag race machine in the 1960s meant that everything had to be done over. It was fast, no question about that, but it didn’t have the polish that you’d need to compete in 2016, so it was torn down to the molecular level and rebuilt from there, earning the name Kontrolled Kaos. The body was expertly smoothed by the pros at Beach’s Auto Refinishing, who also reversed the swing of the doors, shaved the door handles, and removed any of the extraneous trim, including the bumpers. Fit and finish are paramount on a build like this, so extra time was taken to ensure that the gaps were even, particularly on the suicide doors. Of course, all that work wasn’t for nothing, because every square inch of bodywork was smoothed and blocked in preparation for the three-stage Lamborghini Orange paint, which has a lot of metallic and pearl in it to make this car simply glow in the sunlight.

If you’re at all familiar with the hot rodding industry and magazines like The Rodder’s Journal and Hot Rod, then you’ve heard the name Steve Holcomb and Pro Auto Custom Interiors. The incredible tan leather interior in this 1940 Ford was crafted at a cost of over $20,000, which didn’t include the custom dashboard and beautiful white-faced VDO gauges. Power bucket seats are wrapped in ostrich skin and calfskin leather and custom door panels were created to match. The rear seat area is now a fully upholstered package shelf with built-in speaker housings, making this a car that can actually haul all your gear on a road trip. And that road trip will be comfortable thanks to power windows actuated by those crank handles, a tilt column and billet wheel, powerful Vintage Air A/C and heat built into a custom lower dash panel, and entertainment in the form of a Pioneer AM/FM/CD stereo system. The trunk opens in the conventional manner and it’s as beautifully finished as the passenger compartment.

Pull the pointed hood open and you’ll find a built 427 cubic inch Chevrolet rat motor that’s grunting out more than 500 horsepower. There’s a big Edelbrock 4-barrel carburetor up top, along with a high-rise aluminum intake, and with a big cam inside, it’s got a thundering lumpy idle that beats out through a set of 3-inch pipes and Flowmaster mufflers exiting just under the running boards. There’s a thick radiator up front keeping it cool, ably assisted by electric fans, so it’ll happily idle in the sun without going supernova.

The front of the frame has been fitted with a custom tubular stub section that carries a fully independent suspension with coil-over shocks and rack-and-pinion steering, and it works so well, you won’t miss the power assist. Sitting amidships there’s a built TH400 3-speed automatic transmission that’s built for combat and just shrugs off the torque churning through it. A custom driveshaft and heavy-duty U-joints go back to a bulletproof Dana 60 rear end with a limited slip and 4.11 gears inside. Ladder bars and coil-over shocks hold things up here and despite the race-grade hardware, the thing rides and handles remarkably well and nobody will object to a road trip in this car. There are big vented disc brakes at all four corners and a 20-gallon fuel cell hangs under the trunk. The final touch are those beautiful Coys aluminum wheels—just check out the dish on those 12-inch-deep 20s out back!

This is one of the most impressive rods we’ve ever represented. Beautifully built by some of the best names in the business, full of innovative ideas, and with about 5000 miles on the build, you know it works like it should. If you want attention, if you crave the big trophy, or if you just dig having a car that does everything well, this incredible Ford does not disappoint.