Tudor Sedans

By Rick Black, Las Cruces NM

The Tudor sedan body style was one of the first Model A body styles. In fact, the “mysterious new Ford” seen on the streets of Detroit in the fall of 1927 was indeed the new Model A Tudor Sedan.

The most popular of all Model A body styles, the Standard Tudor was available in all 4 Model A years, with well over 1.25 million of them being built.

From 1928 to mid 1931, Ford produced the Standard Tudor Sedan. In 1931, as Ford sales began to slip, the marketing group came up with the idea to release some new models to help increase sales. Read the letter from Ford to the Dealers.

The De Luxe Tudor Sedan was introduced in June of 1931. Ford hoped to boost sales during the early years of the depression by adding features the Standard Tudors lacked to make it more desirable. Most of these changes were inside the car, where the interior resembled the Victoria. Fewer than 24,000 De Luxe Tudors were produced and all were “late 1931” models with indented firewalls.

The table that follows outlines most of the differences between a Standard Tudor and a De Luxe Tudor. You’ll note that most of the changes are in the interior. The exterior differences (paint combinations and cowl lights) can easily be applied to Standard Tudors, making the two somewhat difficult to differentiate. The discriminating Model A fan will look at the interior (especially the front seats) which is the key to identifying whether the Tudor is a Standard or De Luxe.

Features: Standard Tudor
De Luxe Tudor
 Remarks
Cowl Lights
**
Yes
 ** Dealer Installed Option
Driver’s Seat on Tracks
No
Yes
 Tracks also used on A400
and late Victoria
Interiors
Standard Fabrics
Mohair or Bedford Cord
 Mohair by far the most common
Dome Light
No
Yes
 Center of Ceiling
Stripe on inner gas tank
No
Yes
 Exterior striping identical
Dash and Moldings
Maroon/Brown
Wood grained
Rear Seat Armrests
No
Yes
Assist Straps
No
Yes
Rear Window Shade
Standard Cloth
Silk-like Cloth
Wheel Color
Black
Match Stripe
 See colors below
Floor Coverings
Rubber Mats
Carpets
Exterior Paint
Standard
Tudor
De Luxe
Tudor
Wheel
Color
Thorne Brown
x
not available
Black
Lombard Blue and Black
x
not available
Black
Chickle and Copra Drab
x
x
Tacoma Cream
Kewanee and Elkpoint Green
x
x
Apple Green
Black
x
x
Apple Green
Ford Maroon and Black
not available
x
Vermilion Red
Brewster Green and Black
not available
x
Apple Green

An excellent article on De Luxe Tudors appeared in The Restorer, Volume 18 Issue 4 (November/December 1973).
That article was reprinted in “How To Restore Your Model A” – Volume 5.

For more details on De Luxe Tudors, click here.