Chevrolet Master Deluxe 1940 images

This 1940 Chevrolet Master Deluxe looks period-correct from the outside, right down to the running boards Chevrolet dropped the following year. Pop the hood, though, and the factory 85-horsepower six is long gone, replaced by a fuel-injected 5.7-liter V8 and a modern overdrive automatic — a resto-mod combination that turns a pre-war cruiser into a genuine highway car.

1940 Chevrolet Master Deluxe Â 5.7 Fuel Injected V-8 700R4 4 Speed Automatic

MCF thanks Gateway Classic Cars for the images provided here

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Under the skin of this particular 1940 Chevrolet Master Deluxe sits nothing Chevrolet ever bolted in from the factory — and that’s precisely what makes it worth a second look. The stock version of this car left the assembly line with a six-cylinder engine barely capable of keeping up with modern traffic. This one didn’t stay stock. Swap in a fuel-injected 5.7-liter V8 and a modern overdrive automatic, and a car built the same year Germany invaded France suddenly drives like something built decades later.

What Chevrolet Actually Built in 1940

The factory Master Deluxe arrived as the fancier, more expensive companion to the base Master 85 lineup, distinguished by “knee-action” independent front suspension the cheaper model didn’t get. Power came from a 216.5-cubic-inch inline six making a modest 85 horsepower, routed through a three-speed manual transmission — respectable for 1940 traffic, but nowhere close to what modern roads demand. It was also the last model year Chevrolet fitted running boards, a styling cue that quietly disappeared as cars grew wider and lower through the 1940s.

A Resto-Mod That Skips the Six-Cylinder Entirely

The build shown here trades that original inline six for a fuel-injected 5.7-liter (350) small-block V8, backed by GM’s 700R4 four-speed automatic overdrive transmission — a combination that transforms a car once limited to sedate cruising speeds into something that can comfortably hold modern highway pace. It’s a common formula among serious resto-mod builders: keep the pre-war sheet metal and chrome that made these cars distinctive, and replace everything underneath with drivetrain technology the original engineers never had access to.

Why Builders Still Reach for a 1940 Chevrolet

Cars like this Master Deluxe survive in decent numbers today, giving builders plenty of clean donor cars to start from without cutting up something irreplaceable. Combine that availability with a body style that still turns heads on the show circuit, and it’s easy to see why a fuel-injected V8 swap keeps showing up under 1940s Chevrolet sheet metal instead of staying parked in a museum.

That contrast — pre-war styling wrapped around thoroughly modern mechanicals — is exactly what draws crowds at car shows, where onlookers expect one experience from the outside and get a completely different one once the engine fires up. It’s also a practical choice: parts for a fuel-injected small-block and its supporting electronics are far easier and cheaper to source than anything for the original inline six, keeping a seven-decade-old body genuinely drivable. For an owner who actually wants to put miles on a car this old, that trade-off isn’t really a compromise at all.

1940 Was the Year Headlights Changed Forever

Chevrolet’s 1940 lineup, Master Deluxe included, was built around the new sealed-beam headlight standard that took effect in the United States that model year, replacing the separate bulb-and-reflector units every automaker had used previously with a single sealed unit that produced more consistent, reliable light. It’s a small detail easy to overlook on a heavily modified resto-mod like this one, but it marks 1940 as a genuine turning point in automotive lighting technology rather than just another styling refresh.

Master Deluxe vs. Master 85: A Trim War Hardly Anyone Remembers

Chevrolet split its 1940 lineup between the value-focused Master 85 and this Master Deluxe trim, distinguished mainly by the Deluxe’s standard Knee-Action independent front suspension, a feature the cheaper Master 85 did without in favor of a simpler solid axle. That distinction mattered enormously to period buyers cross-shopping ride quality against price, even though today the difference is largely academic on cars like this one that have replaced the entire original drivetrain and suspension philosophy anyway.

Why Fuel Injection Beats a Modern Carburetor for a Swap Like This

Builders choosing a fuel-injected small-block over an equally powerful carbureted version, as this Master Deluxe’s owner did, are typically after real-world drivability rather than outright performance — factory-style electronic fuel injection handles cold starts, altitude changes, and daily temperature swings far more gracefully than even a well-tuned carburetor, without the periodic adjustment a carb demands. For an owner who wants to drive a swapped classic regularly rather than babying it between shows, that reliability advantage often matters more than any small horsepower difference between the two setups.

The Small-Block That Became America’s Default Engine Swap

Chevrolet’s 350-cubic-inch small-block, introduced decades after this car rolled off the line, became so widely produced and so thoroughly supported by the aftermarket that it eventually turned into a default engine transplant for nearly any pre-war or classic project needing modern power, regardless of the donor car’s original manufacturer. That ubiquity is exactly why parts, tuning knowledge, and specialist mechanics for a 350 swap are so much easier to find today than support for the original inline six this car left the factory with.

Running Boards Disappeared Because Cars Got Wider, Not Because They Went Out of Style

The running board’s exit from Chevrolet’s lineup after 1940 wasn’t purely an aesthetic decision — as cars grew wider through the 1940s to accommodate more interior room, the practical need for a step-up ledge between the fenders diminished, and stylists increasingly saw the running board as a drag-inducing, old-fashioned holdover rather than a functional necessity. A 1940 Master Deluxe like this one represents the last model year buyers could get factory running boards on a mainstream Chevrolet, a genuine end-of-an-era detail that’s easy to miss underneath a modern V8 swap.

Why 1940 Specifically Keeps Getting Chosen for This Swap

Builders looking for a pre-war Chevrolet donor car gravitate toward the 1940 model year specifically because it represents the final, most refined version of Chevrolet’s late-1930s styling before a more dramatic redesign arrived in 1941, giving a swapped build clean, well-resolved lines without the slightly awkward transitional look of earlier years in the same body generation. That combination of a mature, attractive shape and genuine survivor availability is exactly why 1940 Chevrolets keep turning up at resto-mod shops instead of fading into obscurity behind flashier, more expensive donor choices.

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