1936 Ford Model 68 DeLuxe Cabriolet — Rumble Seat, 302 V8, Full Restoration Why This Car Is Special The 1936 Ford Model 68 DeLuxe Cabriolet is one of the most desirable body styles Ford produced during the prewar era. Ford designated its entire 1936 lineup under the 'Model 68' name, representing a significant refinement over the 1935 cars in terms of styling and chassis development. The cabriolet was a low-volume, premium body style within that lineup — a convertible with a genuine rumble seat, meaning the rear deck opens to reveal a separate passenger compartment exposed to the open air.

It was a coachbuilt-style experience at a production car price point, and buyers who ordered one in 1936 were making a statement. The cabriolet accounted for a small fraction of overall Model 68 production, which itself totaled just over 791,000 units across all body styles. Open cars with rumble seats were already beginning to fade from the American market by the late 1930s, making the 1936 Ford cabriolet a genuine end-of-an-era body style.

What makes this particular 1936 Ford Model 68 DeLuxe Cabriolet worth serious attention is the combination of authentic pre-war coachwork and a thoughtfully executed restomod drivetrain. The all-steel body retains every significant factory styling detail — the chrome vertical-bar grille, the teardrop headlamps, the sweeping fenders — while the chassis underneath has been updated to make this car completely usable in modern traffic. It is not a trailered show piece.

It is a car you can drive to the coast on a Saturday morning and bring home the same day without worrying about vapor lock, drum brake fade, or a 6-volt electrical system that cannot keep up with a modern traffic light cycle. The tan exterior with the red leather interior is a sharp, historically consistent color pairing for a car of this era, and the folding black soft top with the rumble seat behind it gives this car a silhouette that nothing built after 1940 can replicate. Features List - 302ci Ford small-block V8 - 5-speed manual transmission with floor-mounted shifter - 4-wheel disc brakes - Independent front suspension - Rack-and-pinion steering with tilt column - Air conditioning - Folding black convertible soft top - Functional rumble seat - Updated 12-volt wiring throughout - Performance exhaust system - Wood-grain dashboard and interior trim - Banjo-style steering wheel - Red leather interior upholstery - 16-inch steel artillery wheels with V8 hubcaps and beauty rings - Wide whitewall tires with red pinstripe accent - Chrome vertical-bar grille with concealed horns - Teardrop-shaped headlamps - Clean and detailed undercarriage - Professional-grade tan exterior paint - New glass throughout - Functional heater Mechanical Under the hood sits a 302 cubic inch Ford small-block V8, the same engine family that powered everything from Mustangs to police interceptors across several decades of Ford production.

It is a proven, parts-everywhere platform that any competent Ford shop can work on. The engine bay photo shows a tidy installation with a chrome open-element air cleaner, MSD ignition wiring, an electric cooling fan from Perma-Cool, and what appears to be a mechanical fuel pressure gauge — the kind of detail that tells you the builder was thinking about long-term drivability, not just appearance. Behind the 302 is a 5-speed manual transmission with a floor-mounted shifter.

Running an H-pattern gearbox in a prewar body is a distinctly different experience from driving a modern car, and in the best possible way. The gear ratios give you flexibility that the original 3-speed flathead setup simply could not provide, including an overdrive fifth gear that lets the engine settle into a relaxed cruise at highway speeds. The chassis upgrades go well beyond the engine swap.

Independent front suspension replaces the original transverse leaf and kingpin setup, giving the car actual road-holding geometry. Rack-and-pinion steerin