crashum7

My 1951 Ford Custom 4-Door is the first car I have ever owned that had a Flathead and a column shift. In the past, I have driven many cars with manual transmissions, all with a floor shift, including my 1954 Ford Mainline.

The family and I were driving down the road one day, and my wife spotted the ’51 sitting in an apartment building parking lot. She seemed excited, and told me to stop by and look, since she liked the style of the car. I got out and saw that the car had basically no interior, a HORRIABLE paint job (some runs were ¼” thick), painted bumpers, and cracked glass, with a $2500 price on the window. I told my wife it was not worth the price, but she insisted I call.

I got home and called the number, and was told by a gentleman the car was sold. I hung up, and about ½ hour later, the phone rang, and a woman told me (she must have had caller ID) the car was still for sale, but her husband didn’t want to part with it, but to come by and take a look.

That evening I went out to see the car with an older friend of mine, who fell in love with it instantly (his first car was identical to this model). We met with the owner, who turned out to be the original owner, and he reluctantly told me he needed to sell the car because they were moving to the South. He started the car up, and it ran like a top (the engine was in good shape). He told me to take it for a spin, so I got behind the wheel and my friend slid in on the passenger side.

The problem was that I had no idea how to drive the column shift. My friend tried to explain the pattern to me, but I was confused. Frustrated, the slid to the center of the seat, and told me to work the pedals and steer, and he would shift. We pulled out onto the road, with me driving and my friend shifting and yelling “clutch!” every once in a while. It was quite a sight.

Anyways, the brakes were shot, and the car needed more work than I was interested in doing, so we got back and thanked him for the test drive. The owner asked if we were going to make an offer, and I told him “no thanks, it needs too much work for what you want.” The owner then said “well son, make me an offer if you think $2500 is too high.” I turned to him and said, “Ok, how about $900 cash, right now.” Well, the next thing you know I now owned a Shoebox.

Since then, I have many very interesting stories to share about adventures driving and restoring the car. More to come in the future!