One of the marquee motor vehicles at an annual central Ohio auto show is sure to reflect a lot of awestruck faces.
The Arthritis Foundation’s Classic Auto Show & Cruise-In is slated for July 10 and 11 at Dublin Metro Center, preceded on July 9 by its Rolling Legends Tour.
Last year, a major highlight of the show was the 1939 General Motors Futurliner #10, of which only 12 were ever made. This year’s highlight is even rarer: only six 1936 stainless steel Ford Tudors were ever made, and only this one has been restored.
The six cars were manufactured as part of a partnership between the Ford Motor Company and Allegheny Ludlum Steel Company. The latter is renowned for supplying the steel for the Chrysler and Empire State buildings.
Allegheny Ludlum was looking for new ways to promote its stainless steel, and Ford had previously experimented with stainless steel Model A cars, so an alliance made sense. The cars were used by Allegheny for promotional purposes until 1946.
Joe Floyd of Sioux Falls, S.D. owns the car that will be on display at the show. It was restored by car restoration expert Lon Kruger, and Floyd bought it from Kruger in 2010.
A car collector, Floyd assigns the 1936 Fords a very special place in his heart, so obtaining the ultra-rare stainless steel model was a huge coup for him.
“I was fascinated by the history of the car,” Floyd says.
Though the original cars were made of raw, unpolished stainless steel, Kruger’s restoration saw the steel polished to a mirror sheen. When Floyd brings it to car shows, he usually puts it on a rotisserie and sits back to watch patrons gawk as it rotates.
“All my ’36es, I drive, (but) that one, I have to pick a cloudy day to do it,” says Floyd. “You drive it down the highway on a sunny day, you’d blind somebody.”
Like all the cars in Floyd’s 1936 collection, he only drives the stainless steel model twice a year. For the rest of the time, it’s kept in a temperature- and condition-controlled environment, with heated floors to prevent the tires from deteriorating. A gel cell battery, less prone to deterioration than a standard lead-acid battery, and fuel without additives to avoid congealing complete the maintenance efforts.
Of the other five cars, two are at Allegheny Ludlum’s Pittsburgh headquarters, one is on display at the Crawford Auto-Aviation Museum in Cleveland and two are unaccounted for.
In addition to the collection of classic cars on display, the Auto Show & Cruise-In features food, raffles, a style show and performances by McGuffey Lane and Phil Dirt & the Dozers. Proceeds benefit the Arthritis Foundation.
Garth Bishop is managing editor. Feedback welcome at gbishop@cityscenemediagroup.com.
WEB REFERS
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