I wanna know what past for a hot rod in the early 50s and where would a 47 Ford 2dr sedan fit in (in the 50s). Thanx in advance Flat "Wanna-be" Rat
A '47 Ford 2dr sedan would be the car you borrowed from yer dad in the 50's. If you have a hundred posts & don't know what passes for a 50's hotrod, you should read more, post less. wwS
I was figuring on it being a kids first car in the late 50s, maybe a gift from grandpa either that or grandpa's old car. Sue me, I'm illiterate
He's right. You mighta made a custom out of it, but surely it wouldn't be a hot rod. It'd have to be pre war, probably pre 39 (maybe a 40 if ya ran shine ), but usually it would have been a roadster, around 27-34, and most likely with a flathead. Some guys ran coupe bodies (3w and 5w), but were rarer. There are some exceptions of course, but if ya wanna study what it was like, get HotRod the first 12 issues (1948) and Best of Hot Rod (1949-1959) and get some ideas. You did say early fifties, things changed later on, but those body styles, then, weren't "hot rods". YMMV, Jay
I "drove" a '49 Mercury, borrowed from my Dad, almost every weekend, in 1959. At that point, '49 Mercs were the "kustom" to own...however, not the four door kind my Dad had...that was still a "family" car... Even into the early sixties, in the Midwest, a "true hot rod" was a 30's Model A, a Deuce or '33/'34 Ford...anything else just wasn't!!! R-
True Hot Rods were always, Roadsters first then Coups. What started A's on duce rails were the guys that bought 32 Sedans (2 and 4 door) for the V-8's and rolled off the body and then put the more availoble 28-31 roadster body's on them. It was easier and cheeper than changing over an A frame to V-8. The Wizzard
Get copies of Don Montgomery's books on the subject.He was there and he has gotten lots of pix from others who were there. In the NE in the late 50's nothing newer that 1934 was considered a hotrod. People modified 46-55's but they were just regular beaters or were customized.
Yeah, a 47 ford would prolly be a "hand-me-down" from your parents who just went out and bought a more comfortable 53 Chrysler. A normal plan of action for a 47 tudor might be to wax and polish everything! Install longer shackles to lower the car and if you were really a rich teen, you might spring for a dual exhaust system. A good alternative would be a glasspack muffler. Peel off the nylon plaid seatcovers to expose the long protected gray pinstripe cloth seats. Hang a tassle or shrunken head [absolutely NO fuzzy dice!] from the mirror and make sure the wide whites were always spotless. We didn't ahve a lotta money back then btu we had time and mom always had cleaning supplies. Clean that devil to look better than new and then wax everything. The flathead, be it a 6 or an 8, needs to have fresh paint on it with an aftermarket chrome air cleaner and chrome head bolt covers. You couldn't get too radical with modifications to dad's old car or he just might take it back. Besides, there just wasn't money to spend on it. Anyway, nobody really got carried away with a 47 ford sedan in the early 50's. It was just transportation....kinda like a late 90's Camry is to us today.
In high school I drove an '86 Mercury (Sable) borrowed from my mom. My senior year i bought a 1966 Pontiac Tempest. I thrashed that Mercury, mostly driving backwards at 30mph, then dropping it in drive to make it burn out. Mom was perplexed when the******* was going to hell .... WWS [ QUOTE ] I "drove" a '49 Mercury, borrowed from my Dad, almost every weekend, in 1959. At that point, '49 Mercs were the "kustom" to own...however, not the four door kind my Dad had...that was still a "family" car... Even into the early sixties, in the Midwest, a "true hot rod" was a 30's Model A, a Deuce or '33/'34 Ford...anything else just wasn't!!! R- [/ QUOTE ]
I've always referred to this as "high school hot rods". It's what you could afford with an after school job. Lowered and duals (dumps would be perfect). Blankets on the seats and painted rims. Put some stickers (Moon, Edelbrock, etc) in the rear side windows and cruise.
My father bought this new in '55. These shots were taken in '56... 12lbs of lead in the nose to keep the front wheels on the road. The "real" hot rodders thought the McCulloch Supercharger was just wannabe bolt-on go fast*****. He sold the Chevy in late '56, bought a Porsche and went racing. Sold the Porsche in '61... and bought a washer, dryer, fridge & stove. Damn kids.
[ QUOTE ] Yeah, a 47 ford would prolly be a "hand-me-down" from your parents . . . [/ QUOTE ] Uh huh, like that happened all the time. A '47 Ford Tudor or coupe was a very desirable car in California in the early '50s and a goodly number of them were indeed hot rodded, along with quite a few other cars that would not pass the critical muster laid down by this thread. It will probably be a great surprise to guys like Gene Adams,***** Harryman, Don Montgomery, and our own Jay Carnine that their coupes and sedans weren't hot rods.
If you look on marts real hotrods at the original photos there are quite a few 30's ford pickups,late 40's fords with no hoods and lots of other cars that people would not think as hotrods of the time.One ole guy told me by email that on the east coast anyways they hotrodded anything they could afford and tried to make it go faster with whatever was left over.In other words anything was fair game.I have a 35 ford pu now but an old 33 dodge coupe wow that would be real kool...........Marq
You're probably gonna get a lot of answers here, but the main thing to keep in mind is where you lived determined the modifications made. What was popular in one town was probably popular in the next few towns over, but get out there a ways and things could change. 47 Ford coupes and sedans and the 46's & 48's were very popular. The business coupe being the most desired with the club coupe - and its back seat - being next on the list. There were a lot of two door sedans as well. Not too many four doors. High school hot rods were in most cases pretty simple stuff. On a 47 two door in the mid 50's the mods were few and basic. Most times the car had good paint which was clean and waxed. Chrome was usually very good. Mods were usually pipes with Smithys or Belonds or Walker glasspack or steelpacks depending on what the muffler shop carried. You could get dual exhaust pipes and tailpipes from parts houses and a lot of guys went that way, but the muffler shop was the usual way out for most guys. Simple truth was, a lot of guys didn't want to get dirty and work on their own cars and only did a few limted mods. Limited as well due to finances, a lot of guys would not spend the money on their cars. Just enough to sorta fit in and that was about it. Additional mods were longer shackles in front with 5.50-15 whitewalls (VW size tires) and the trend was to find the narrowest whitewall you could. Mid 50's the whites weren't too narrow, but by 58 or so they were getting narrow. A few ambitious souls had for-real dropped axles, but they were few and far between on the fat-fenders. Rear tire choices were usually 7:10 x 15 or most popular 8:20-15. Looked cool, but with the added bite they would often destroy drivetrain components. Toss in a set of full-size wheel covers - 55 & 56 Olds Fiestas being the most popular and the most usual although the 54 Buick wheel covers were popular as well. About 1957, screw-on Moon discs got popular with the race oriented cars. Blackwalls became popular as well and were a nice contrast to all the WW equipped cars. After the above mods, the usual for almost everyone - in my area (Southern California coastal town of Ventura) - was a trip to Tijuana, Mexico (TJ) for a white tuck and roll (T&R) job. The entire interior could be upholstered for $100. - $120. (Trunks were extra, maybe $10 - $15. for carpet. The interior would have T&R on the seats, package tray, rear side panels, doors, front kick panels and a smooth naugahyde headliner as well as smooth naugahyde over the sun visors. in matching colors. Color choice was usually white with white piping, white with contrasting color piping and for the thin fender guys and the occasional fat-fender, a two tone T&R job in black & white or blue and white. Lotta times a Bermuda bell would be added, a very few had the vacuum powered Wolf Whistle and some guys would run the rubber shrunken head from Pep Boys or Honest Charley's. After the above mods, the car was deemed "finished" for the most part and the owners would advance to the next expensive hobby. Girls.... For those who succeeded with the fair**** - and success doesn't necessarily mean you got into her pants, it means you had a steady relationship with a girl and from there came the angora fuzzy dice (which is another whole subject) and perhaps further for many would be marriage. Far as thin fender coupes and roadsters went, they were few and far between. Highboys even rarer. In my school - era 55-57, three year high school - there were two deuce coupes, one full fendered A roadster and a few Caddy/Olds engine swaps in the fat-fenders along with a Chrysler Hemi in a 40 coupe at the tail end of 57. The deuce coupes mentioned ran Desoto in a five window (full fendered) and Olds in a three window (highboy) which was the first highboy coupe I ever saw on the street. The A roadster ran a Red Ram Hemi. Throw in a couple of 36 coupes, one sedan a handful of shoeboxes - coupes and sedans - as well as a few 53's and a 54 (all Fords) as well as a few 40-& 50 era Chevy coupes and sedans and that pretty well rounded out the high school hot rod contingent. For those who think primered cars were in and popular, not true. Not in my town anyway. One 40 coupe and the A roadster running in all-primer were about it and they were painted not too far down the road. After high school, but still in the late 50's, engine swaps got very popular after guys realized a stock overhead could outrun all but the most radical flatties and 6's. A few hop-up bits to the overheads and the handwriting was on the wall for the flats. Sleepers got popular as well, but a completely disguised sleeper was somewhat rare - I built a shoebox sleeper coupe in 62 that shocked more than a few guys, but since most cars had at least a touch of hot rod flavor to their cars you never could be sure what they ran. It was, very simply one of the best times in my life. Even so, I think the golden age of hot rodding is today. Hot rods are more accepted, there are more of them and regardless of how they're built or who built them, it's good for all of us. A hot rod for many of us is a trip down memory lane and for others a fun experience that can be quite educational. Nuff said....
Rocky, Donzie, AV8 and C9 all speak the truth. If it was mine I'd put an axle in it, big & little WWW's, shave the hood & trunk, and stick an overhead in it -- Olds, Cad, SBC. Louvers, paint, and a nice T&R interior. It wouldn't have been a commonplace car in the 50s, but it would have been admired.
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