Today’s car is a Customized 1951 Ford Custom Victoria owned by Michael Patterson. I photographed this car at the 3rd Annual Relay For Life of Torrance Car Show held at the Redondo Beach Performing Arts Center, CA. that won Best in Show! The car is finished in a two tone combination of Hawaiian bronze and cool vanilla with dry pearl and gold ice pearl with gold metal flake over the brown paint, it has a brown interior with beige Mercedes Benz German square weave carpet. It is powered by a 315 hp 5.0 liter, Ford Windsor V8, with naturally aspirated sequential multi-port electronic injection, mated to a Ford 4-speed automatic transmission with Automatic Overdrive (AOD) with 3.27 rear axle. Slowing this beauty down are disc brakes in all 4-corners. The front suspension is stock with 2″ drop spindles. The rear suspension is a 9″ rear axle from a 77 Lincoln Versailles with Jamco 4″ dropped leaf springs and 3″ blocks for a total of 7 ” drop.
Michael has owned the car for 18 years and started the project 16 years ago and completed it 6 years ago, but we know how that goes it never really ends. Michael named the car Icky Vicky! He did not want it to scream Hawaiian or Tiki but used the subtle theme tactfully, like the gear shift and direction signal handles, the Hula girl on top rear posts and the Tiki face pinstriped on the firewall. Some of the other eye catching details include…. The custom grill is made from 2 lower sections of a Kaiser grill. The rear bumper is a stock bumper, but the bumper overrider is from a 54 Kaiser Manhattan that was 3 pieces and welded together then fit to the bumper and add the openings to allow the 2″ exhaust to pass through. The hubcaps are from a 1954 Chrysler New Yorker, a perfect fit. I am a fan of hubcaps for 40s and early 50s customs over chrome alloy wheels that look like they came out of the local auto parts store that don’t seem to fit the car.
The “Shoebox” Fords were built from 1949 to 1951. The total production for 1951 was 975,550 units with 219,628 of those being Ford Standard’s and 755,926 being Ford Custom V8’s and of those 110,286 were Victoria Hardtop Coupe’s. The MSRP was $ 1,925.00. The published top speed of 90 MPH with a 0-60 mph time of 18.7 seconds.
As a side story the legend has it that the ’49 Ford was designed on the kitchen table of former Studebaker designer, Richard Caleal, with the help of his Studebaker design buddies. Ford’s top management was so impressed that they used the design over their own in-house effort, and the rest is history. There are many twist and turns to this story that evolved over the years. The one solid fact is that this design saved Ford!
This beautiful custom carries many of the unique period correct details that have been executed expertly. What a great car to take to at Ford / FoMoCo car show, Cars and Coffee Events, or just cruising to your next car event with like minded friends. Thank you for riding along. Frank
