ROCK ‘N’ ROLL CONVERTIBLE
1951 FORD CUSTOM DELUXE
In the US in 1951, all the stars were aligned. Joe Dimaggio — a name most of us know, even if we’re not intimately acquainted with what he did — had just played his last game, and his team won another baseball World Series. The world’s first nuclear power station had been fired up, and Alan Freed, a Cleveland-based disc jockey, introduced rock and roll music to the world and popularized the term itself. Harry S Truman was president and petrol cost 19 cents a gallon. The average price of a brand-new car was US$1500, and the average annual salary in the US of A was $3500. A new house would cost you $9K!
New cars were all the rage, and manufacturers were cashing in as much as they could on the prosperity of post-war America. In 1943, Henry Ford Sr retook control of the company, almost running it into the ground. To be fair, he had basically been forced back into the driving seat of the company with the death of son Edsel (who, a couple of decades later, would have the misfortune to have one of Ford’s more spectacular failures named after him). Ford Sr’s fixed ideas and, by then, old-fashioned style preferences almost brought the company — which was still family owned at this stage — to its knees. However, following the death of Henry Ford Sr in 1947, his grandson Henry Ford II took over, introducing radical changes and seeking to rid the company of old-fashioned practices — Ford’s recovery was soon well underway.
By 1949, vehicle production was booming in the US, and Ford, as well as its competition, was introducing new models. The new Ford V8, which came to be known as the ‘Single Spinner’, was introduced, and, for the first time, Ford vehicle sales exceeded one million in a year.
The 1949 models debuted at a gala at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City in June 1948. The model line-up received kudos for a modern chassis design with independent front suspension and parallel leaf springs in the rear. The solid steel construction was advertised as a “lifeguard body”. The popular woody wagon was also steel at heart, and the convertible chassis received a solid cross member, thus improving structural rigidity. From a customer’s perspective, the old Custom, Deluxe, and Super Deluxe models were now replaced by much improved Standard and Custom trims, and the cars gained a modern look with completely integrated rear guards and just a hint of a front guard.
The new Ford was good enough to rejuvenate the company’s failing corporate health. Indeed, the success of the 1949 model is often credited for saving Ford from oblivion — it really was that desperate. Whether an organization of such enormity would have disappeared completely is open to speculation, but this car warrants a special place in Ford’s long and varied history. The company’s success in the 1950s was made possible largely by the basic excellence of this car, the first all-new Ford in a very long time.
This was an all-new car in every way, with a modern ladder frame supporting a coil-spring suspension in front
The company’s success in the 1950s was made possible largely by the basic excellence of this car, the first all-new Ford in a very long time. This was an all-new car in every way, with a modern ladder frame supporting a coil-spring suspension in front and longitudinal semielliptical springs at the rear
and longitudinal semi-elliptical springs at the rear. The antiquated torque tube was replaced by a modern drive shaft. Ford’s popular 226-cubicinch (3.7-litre) straight-six and 239-cubic-inch (3.9-litre) flathead V8 remained, now rated at 90hp (67kw) and 100hp (75kw), respectively. The standard gearbox was a three-speed manual, with an automatic overdrive option. The engine was moved five inches forward to create a lower profile and provide greater internal space within what was a slightly shorter and narrower body. This allowed more leg room for the people in the front seat and, with the rear seat now positioned ahead of the rear axle (instead of between the wheels), an extra six inches of width for passengers in the back. Advertising emphasized this additional comfort by describing the seats as “sofa-wide” and promoting the “mid ship” ride and Hydra- Coil front springs.
Improved fortunes
The car marked a momentous transformation in Ford’s fortunes, its productivity nearly tripling and catapulting the company into the number-one spot, overtaking arch rival Chevrolet. On the face of it, this tremendous success can be attributed to the brand-new cars they had to offer.
It has to be said that the ’49 Ford was worthy of all the media attention and phenomenal sales that followed. This Ford is significant because it was the first low-price car with a slab-sided body devoid of any of the traditional guard lines. In fact, the slab-sided Fords were regarded as so flat that they were soon nicknamed ‘shoeboxes’. Today, though, it’s hard to equate the curved lines with a shoebox. This was the beginning of exciting times for the Blue Oval brigade. It’s estimated that around 28 million people visited the dealers’ showrooms in the first three days after the new models were announced. What drew them were attractive cars that had progressed from initial design to production in just 19 months (in those days, the average lead time was about three years). The haste wasn’t without its problems, of course, and the build quality on the first ’49s wasn’t as good as it might have been. Body rattles plagued the early vehicles, and alterations were made to alleviate problems. This situation persisted throughout the ’49 model run and wasn’t fully resolved until the 1950 models came along. But it didn’t stop the ’49 Ford from becoming a huge hit with the company, out-selling Chevrolet by a large margin, with 1.1 million cars coming off the assembly lines.
The success of that model was never in doubt, but, in a never-ceasing sales race, Ford had to top even that, and so, by 1951, it had introduced a replacement model and became universally known as the ‘Twin Spinner’, gaining this moniker from the two bullet-shaped protrusions from the grille in contrast to the one on the Single Spinner.
Fuel economy was not even a real consideration in the US during that era, so 18 miles per gallon was reasonable — at 19 cents a gallon, it probably took less than $4 to fill.
The new model was available as a four-door, two-door coupé, two-door convertible, and station wagon. Within those variants, there were both manual gearboxes, with or without overdrive, and Ford’s automatic option, which
was offered seriously for the first time. These models were assembled in the US, Canada, and some even in Australia — it is likely that most of those that found their way here came from Australia.
Aspiring young actress
This is where the first owner of our feature car enters the story. On the East Coast of the US, an aspiring young actress was shopping for a new car. Still a littleknown actress at the time, four years later, Beverly Long would go on to star with James Dean in Rebel Without a Cause. In Rhode Island, at the Howard and Lewis Ford dealership, Beverly was impressed by the 1951 Ford Custom Deluxe Convertible; just the thing to turn up to auditions in.
However, there was a problem with it. The 1951 Ford Custom Deluxe Convertible was still powered by the flathead 239-cubic inch (3.9-litre) V8 motor. This version of the motor had been used since 1949 and its 100hp (75kw) was now having to drag more weight around. Ford’s Mercury division was using a slightly bigger 255-cubic inch (4.1-litre) version of the same motor, which produced 10 per cent more power. Ford’s flathead V8 was really in its final stages of development, and the L-shaped head, which had served so well for so long, would be replaced by an overhead valve unit two years later.
Beverly, the prospective buyer, said that she would have bought the convertible if only it had more power and could therefore match the performance of the car it was replacing. The salesman, not wanting to see a chance go by, suggested that he could order one with the Mercury version V8 — which is how this original Ford V8 Deluxe has a Mercury motor. The car is complete with all the paperwork in place to show that it has the motor that was fitted to it before leaving the Ford plant, even though it is the larger, more powerful, 4.1-litre Mercury edition.
Beverly paid US$1425 on top of the $1100 trade-in she was given for her old car — $2525 for a brand-new V8 convertible at a time when the national average salary was $3500 would be like paying $35K in New Zealand today.
It’s estimated that around 28 million people visited the dealers’ showrooms in the first three days after the new models were announced. What drew them were attractive cars that had progressed from initial design to production in just 19 months
Remarkably, this car then remained in the new owner’s possession for the next 63 years, probably taking her to film and television sets around Hollywood. However, she either wasn’t very busy or was driven to work in studio cars, because, all these years later, the car still only has 70,000 miles (112,600km) on the odometer.
Sight unseen
Some time after Beverly Long died in 2014, the car came up for auction, and Lyall Williamson, father of Nick Williamson of International Motorsport in Auckland, saw that it was up for sale. Having wanted a Ford V8 Deluxe Convertible for a long time, Lyall purchased the car sight unseen at auction in the US and then had it shipped home to the family garage in New Zealand.
On stripping the car back to its bare bones, Lyall discovered that the motor was not what he was expecting — it was even better. He speaks with authority, quoting engine colours, model numbers, etc., and leaves the distinct impression that he knows exactly what he is talking about, especially when he is talking about the Fords of this era.
Lyall says that the car was in such great condition that he hasn’t had to do too much to it — probably, though, those words are coming from someone who is used to, and capable of, rebuilding a car from nothing more than a pile of parts. When one reads the list of bits and pieces either pulled apart, reconditioned, or replaced, it is obvious that the car has undergone a considerable amount of work to get it to the stage it is at today. Yes, it might have the original carpets,
but the underbody has been stripped of its tar coating and then been repainted. In 1951, that underseal was an optional extra, and the original receipt shows that Beverly paid US$57.40 for it. Lyall has also rebuilt the suspension, along with the gearbox, overdrive, diff, brakes, steering, and many other bits and pieces. Some needed replacing because of age and some, like the gearbox, simply needed to be pulled apart, checked, cleaned, and reassembled. The upholstery has been renewed, as has the convertible top. The bodywork is to the usual high standard seen from Accent Panel and Paint, which is the in-house body shop at International Motorsport.
Well rewarded
The hard work that Lyall has put in has been well rewarded, and the car probably looks as good today as it did the day that Beverly Long bought it. Unlike its original owner, a search of US films in which the ’51 Ford appeared didn’t turn up a very long list. One of its more famous roles is actually in the New Zealand road movie Goodbye Pork Pie. On that occasion, it was the four-door sedan version, and it is probable that, when that movie was made, there were still a few of these cars on the roads here.
Today, the shining, slab-sided, chromedripping, white-walled, faux-leathered, and oversized beauty reminds us of an era of milk bars, cheap petrol, and movies starring the likes of Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall. An era when you only wore denim on the farm and you went to town on a Friday night.
The car looks today as if it could have been parked outside the diner in American Graffiti. Young girls in tight pullovers and hooped skirts would be sitting above the back seat, while, in the front, boys practise dangling cigarettes from the corners of their lips. The waitress on roller skates would be delivering ice creams and Coke. It is as pure a piece of Americana as you could find.