’41 Chevy coupe is no hot rod, but it’s perfect gift

Larry “Mac” Sullivan and his father-in-law, Herb Farabough, were great friends who loved fishing, watching NASCAR and occasionally going to car shows together.

So when Farabough died at the age of 95, daughter Carol, who is Sullivan’s wife of more than 50 years, wanted to do something nice for her husband. She knew he had his eye on a particular old car.

“After my dad died, I decided to get it for him, as a gift from my dad,” said Carol.

But it had to come as a complete surprise, so there was some serious planning involved.

The car in question was a survivor, a low-mileage 1941 Chevy Special Deluxe coupe sitting, in of all places, a local pawn shop. Mark Springs, the son of the previous owner, Fred Springs, operates Country Pawn and Supply and put the car on display there after his father died. That’s where Mac Sullivan got his first good look at the car.

“I came home and told Carol that I really liked that car … but I already have a hot rod,” Mac Sullivan recalled.

His “other car” is a bright red ’32 Ford roadster with a small block Chevy V-8 in it. He figured he really couldn’t make a case for buying another old car.

“But her brother, Jerry, knew that my first car was a ’41 Chevy … a two-door sedan,” he said. “Out of the blue, she said she wanted to go see that car. We walked in the door and the car wasn’t there. I said, ‘You must have already sold it.’ And Mark said, ‘Yep, it’s sold. But I’ve got another one, a ’56 Chevy in the back. Would you like to look at it?’ I said yes, so we walked in the back and there was a car with a cover on it.”

But when they pulled the cover off it, there sat the ’41 Chevy coupe.

“Mark said, ‘It’s sold, all right. Your wife bought it for you.’ I got goosebumps,” Mac Sullivan remembers.

“He was shaking all over,” Carol recalled of the unveiling.

On the way home, they pulled up at a stop light and her husband thought the car had died.

“I couldn’t hear it running because I was used to the rumble of the hot rod,” Mac confessed. That was almost exactly a year ago.

In the intervening time, the Sullivans have made minimal upgrades on the car, concentrating on taking it to area car shows and sharing it with others instead.

“I was told it’s an original 60,000-mile car. It had been owned by an old bachelor in California. A local doctor bought it and brought it here, and he later sold it when he found a ’41 convertible,” Sullivan said. “I think it may have been repainted once, and it was upgraded to a 12-volt electrical system from a 6-volt. And somebody had put air conditioning in it.”

The 75-year-old coupe is powered by the original 216 cubic-inch inline 6-cylinder engine, with a 3-speed manual transmission. The old weather-checked tires were removed and replaced with a fresh set of Coker wide whitewall radial tires, mounted on the original pinstriped wheels, with factory button hubcaps.

“It doesn’t drive like a new car. You’ve got to stay with it,” Mac quipped.

The interior of the coupe shows little wear, with what is believed to be the original grayish brown twill upholstery in place.

Corey Conyers was called on to professionally buff out the Admiral Green Metallic paint on the coupe to a level that complements the nearly perfect chrome bumpers and stainless trim that adorns the car.

“A lot of people remark about how original it is,” said Carol Sullivan.

“We’ve had a few people walk up and say, `That’s Fred Springs’ old car,’ ” said Mac Sullivan. “It’s not perfect by a long sight, but it’s what I wanted.

“Some car guys say, ‘When are you going to put an LT1 (Corvette engine) in it?’ And I say there’s no way, this car is staying original.”

This story was originally published August 31, 2016 at 10:37 PM with the headline "’41 Chevy coupe is no hot rod, but it’s perfect gift."