Minneapolis Street Sighting: Ford Customline

Mostly when I go out shooting, I expect to see remains of vehicles of the last thirty or so years; 1960s vehicles are slim picking around here, with pickups and donks making up the brunt of the limited selection. 1950s vehicles are hard to find just lingering along the street, and usually when they are found, they're likely to be of the tri-five variety in somewhat resto-rodded condition. Thankfully, even though this poor Customline suffered from extensive rust, it had something that a majority of those generic tri-five Chevys don't: character. Swathed in just enough rust to have patina, this old Ford surely has lived a storied life--and it still is living one as I write this. Cars like this make me excited to keep shooting.













These early-to-mid-fifties Fords are pretty scarce here. Aside from the mid-decade example I posted at the beginning of the month, this example of a ratted out Ford represents all of this car's presence in my state. I'm sure there might be others, but I have not found them as of this writing. From a distance, this poor car looked like it would maybe make a good restoration project, but as I moved closer, I could tell this was not the case. Despite having solid trim, and decent-for-its-age chrome, this midlevel Ford clearly needs quite a bit of work to make show-worthy. The paint has quite a bit of surface rust, and I shudder to think what's hiding underneath, much less the underbody. However, the chrome is savable if someone is extremely diligent about their work. Aside from having extensive pitting, and surface rust on both bumpers, the chrome really isn't all that bad. Unfortunately, one of the hubcaps seems to missing, and I doubt the factory ones are easily found.
It's unclear what model year this specific car is, and I'm not very good at indentifying model years of older cars, unless I know that model like the back of my hand. I can narrow this down to 1952 to 1954 obviously, because the 1955s look different (and better). Since this has a V8 badge adorning the front fender chrome, I can assume that the awesome 239-cube V8 sits underhood, being motivated by a 3 speed automatic. Unlike most automatics today, this transmission started out in second for decent acceleration, and made the most out of the V8's 140ish horsepower. Yes, 140 horses with a three-speed sounds like a performance recipe, doesn't it? Well.. keep in mind this was nearly sixty years ago, when V6s capable of 300 horses were unheard. So, to people who drove this car when it was new, it probably felt "fast" to them. Quite a long way we've come in this last sixty years, but I guarantee you that no one will forget these cars.
In my days of shooting, this is one of the few cars that's sparked more questions than answers for me. I know virtually nothing about these cars, and still don't. I love learning new things regarding car every day, and its usually the pedestrian cars like this one that spark the most interest. I hope whoever owns this once-proud Ford Customline can restore to its original glory-- and have fun doing so. Isn't that what the hobby is all about?