Hot Rods What's the appeal of a Shoebox Ford?

I do not know if you are right or wrong on this point. I do know that in '52 the body got a redesign. For me the 51 is the last year of the shoe box. Like you I have also been wrong before.

My pet peeve is guys calling a '49-'54 chebby a shoe box. Chebbys are not shoe boxes, that is a ford thing.

I used to hitch hike the highway that runs from McMinnville to Forest Grove quite a bit (do not remember the number) and there was this old guy who used to pick me up in a 51 Vic. I loved everything about that car, even the smell.

 

Highway 47 .

 

thanks Marty. Its been 51 years and lots of fun.

 

Def 49-51, I've never heard anyone else put the shoebox moniker post 51.

 

My folks moved to a new town in the middle of my sophomore year. Until then my buddy, Ken and I really got into model A coupes......I was gifted a nice but incomplete 29 coupe. I began hanging around with "Jim" at the new school and he had a nice little black 50 Ford 2 door with a merc motor his dad built for it. I spent a lot of time in that car racing the other flatheads and chevy 6's.
One day before my 16th birthday my dad told me about a 50 Crestliner [black & white photo] in the next town with a cracked motor for 50 bux. We dragged it home behind our family 55 olds and my dad and I built a 53 Merc motor for it. I really wanted a coupe like my grandfather had
This past history is prolly part of the appeal I have for shubox fords and I've had several through the years.....my son has a 49 deluxe coupe with an O/T drivetrain.............1200 HP.
Here are a few photos of some of my old ones through the years.

 

Call me unusual (and old) but, contrary to just about everyone on this site, I'm not a fan of Model A's, or even '32's. My favorites are the fat fendered Fords, and the shoebox. Only thing I would do to make a shoebox perfect would be to radius the rear wheel opening. Also, to be honest, I hate skirts on any car, let those wheels show...

 

A 49', like my avatar, was my dad's first car at 36 years old, he was not a car guy. I remember growing up watching 49-51 Fords cruising around our small town. All were mild customs, mine came available and I grabbed it. Still modifying it along the way.

 

My first car was a 50 ford, i am now building a 50 model like it was in 54. Hope i enjoy this one as much as i did the first one.

 

I used to get around a lot more than I do now. I have even heard guys call a '55 Chebby a shoe box.

A shoebox ford is its own creature. I normally ignore the guys who's definition is different than mine. Just makes life easier. I probably don't have enough life left to not live easy.

 

Sorry Oliver, shoebox is '49-'51. Unlike most other people, I like the visor on them. My '51 coupe has always had one and looks so weird to me without it.

Dave

 

When I was 15 and my brother was 18 he built the first 49.. we didn't do a great deal to it except put a Pontiac engine in it and wiped everybody's butt in South Texas...

In 2011 I decided to do another one, The Judge! But with a 383 stroker, 700R4, Jaguar xjs IR, S-10 front clip and fully loaded with AC, PS, PB, TILT SW, CRUISE, SHAVED, '51 hood and deck hinges, 1,600W sound, electric windows, remote unlock, bear claws, etc, etc.

She's a schizophrenic luxury car!

Here's the story;
https://49fordcoupe.smugmug.com/

 

Who is your blonde friend, Mark? I love her!

 

From what has been explained to me by a handful of guys that owned em is a 49-54 ford is called a shoebox cause theyre sort of square like one. Same idea as a bathtub merc

 

As far as visors on '49-'51 Fords, Vicky's should NOT have them. They are perfect as is.

Dave

 

You are correct regarding '49-'51. As others have pointed out, '52-'54 are not in the same category.

 

Nicknames get used, abused and misused over the years since they were first applied. A shoebox Ford is '49-'51. A bathtub is a Nash... JMHO...

 

See post 175

 

Which post is 175? I'm not about to start counting them from the beginning...

 

Each post is numbered near the bottom RH corner of each post. This one being # 199.

 

Actually they used to be called a Nashtub.

@treeman53 I am not sure how unusual you are. I did drop a deuce this morning.

For this post and probably most about shoebox fords, I am probably the odd duck. I look at them as hot rod fodder, more than a custom. Not to much as a stump jumper, but hot motor, California rake, bigs n littles. This is not to say that they do not make good customs, I am just a hot rodder more than a custom car guy.

 

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/whats-the-appeal-of-a-shoebox-ford.1258536/page-6

 

I'm not sure what/where/still interested the OP is but I love my shoebox! The first smooth sided car after WWII with a lot of new, at the time, features. They're relatively inexpensive, good looking, fun to drive, can be built a 1000 ways, and chicks dig 'em! You need one.

 

If you read the whole thread

What else you got to do? Will see a lot of nice cars along the way!

 

And this:

 

I didn't say all..

 

I owned one back in '62 and hated it but, if it had run like this one I might have changed my mind. Turn up the sound
https://www.facebook.com/reel/14749...e2lc9ioq1eRBEK6R6Gb_v0mHt8BfFbGLLw&__tn__=H-R

 

In 1960, when I was 16 and getting my driver's license, I didn't like shoeboxes because they were old and dorky and I was all infatuated with new cars.
Now that I'm an old fart and all into nostalgia, I like shoeboxes because they are old and dorky.

 

So scarce that they didn't make an A in 32. The did, however, make a Model B