Elegant '40- 1940 Chevrolet Master 85 Sedan

A car as beautiful and elegant as this '40 Chevrolet Master 85 sedan is bound to have some history to it, right? Especially since there were promises involved and friendships made over the span of some 65 years. Raul Alvarado, the current owner, loves his ride and shared with us the history behind the Chevy.

The original owner was a man named Hoover, who back in November '39, along with his wife, took a train from Los Angeles, California, to Detroit, Michigan, to purchase the vehicle. To save off of the freight fee, then $50 to $80, the Hoovers instead used the money on their marriage and honeymoon. Their honeymoon was spent at the nation's capitol where they took pictures of the car as it was parked in front of the White House. In those days, you could drive and picnic on the White House lawn. How times have changed!

At the time of the purchase, Mr. Hoover was enlisted in the Navy, but when Pearl Harbor was bombed on December 7, 1941, life was put on "hold." The car was garaged and Hoover was off to serve his country. Hoover was discharged in '48 and returned home and resumed his life with his wife. They couple purchased a newer Chevy, this one with an automatic transmission, and he put the '40 back into the garage where it was rarely taken out.

Fast-forward a few years and by then the Hoovers, who now lived in Villa Park, California, a suburb in Orange County, met Mr. Bob Gould. Bob asked about the car and made an offer to buy it. Hoover asked, "What are you gonna do with it?" Bob answered that he wanted to keep the car intact, no customizing, just restore it to what it once was during better days. Well, that was fine by Hoover and so the car changed hands in '83 for the sum of $500.

Bob kept his part of the deal by faithfully keeping the '40 clean and polished, and a few months later went to visit old man Hoover, who, alas, had passed away not too long after selling the car. Mrs. Hoover was very emotional when she got a glimpse of the car that she and her husband had once owned, but was pleased to see it preserved in its original finish.

Bob owned the car for some 22 years and in June 2004 sold it to current owner Raul. The first thing that Bob asked Raul was the very same question that Hoover asked of Bob those many years ago. When he heard what he wanted to hear, Bob made the deal and sold the sedan for $10,000. Bob had mixed emotions about the sale, but was happy that he had kept his promise to the late Mr. Hoover.

Raul pooled all of his resources and received help from his wife, Sandra, and cousins Freddy, Mario and Eddie. He also sends a special thanks to Ralph "Tutu" Burresch, whose friendship and technical knowledge of vintage GM motorworks has made him a "guru of originality."

Once the restoration was complete, it was Raul's turn to visit Bob and his wife, Angie, and show them how the car looked now. The couple was very impressed and, as promised in a previous meeting 10 months earlier, Raul loaned the Goulds the '40 for the weekend. To this day, Raul and Bob remain good friends and, in honor of Mr. Hoover who served his country 60 years ago, Raul added an original 48-star America flag license plate emblem and the gas ration "A" sticker used during the same time period. Raul's not quite finished with the car. He's still searching for the "Remembering Pearl Harbor" emblem, along with any other patriotic emblems of that time, to be part of his "Elegant '40" sedan.