A little over 20 years ago, I struck a trade deal with a fellow HAMBer and wound up with a semi rough 1954 Mainline Tudor with a 223/3spd. I trailered it home and gave it a good tune up and once over. I didn't have much money, so I did what I could to make it a driver, and that's what it became. I drove the little car all over Texas to various car shows, rockabilly and punk rock shows, and back and forth across the state for contract refinery work. I shaved the raised whitewall tires with an angle grinder to make them wide whitewalls. I did this by putting the car on jack stands and putting the trans in 1st gear at idle to rotate the tire while I hit it with a flap disc and then a DA sander, it worked great! I went through the brakes and then lowered the car with Aerostar coil springs I got for $20 in a junkyard, and added 3" blocks out back and torched the eyelets of the leaf springs for a little more drop. A single gl***pack muffler got the little 223 to sound raspy. This car would run 3500rpm in 3rd gear for 150 miles straight, and it drove so great and when I drove it like a grandma it would get 22mpg. The body wasn't very good, since it was originally from Boston area, but eventually I had a buddy and former coworker help me out with a 2 day paint & body makeover where we sprayed the roof, dash, and interior garnish moldings in a red metal flake and sprayed the rest of the body in cheap black primer. I sold the car after moving to Austin because I wanted to focus on a Model T project. A few years later I wound up with a '52 Crestline 2dr, a '53Customline 4-door parts car, and a '53 Mainline Coupe ex Drag Car. I wasn't particularly fond of the '52 & '53's due to the dash, I much prefer the '54. None of these were drivers and I never did anything with them, so they were eventually sold off. In 2014 I picked up a '54 Crestline Victoria 2dr Hardtop. This was a decent desert car with very little rust and it had a Y-Block and Auto Trans. I did a lot of tuning, but it had a bad valve that wouldn't clear up. I didn't want to go through the motor, and I had a 302/AOD laying around, so that went in it. But after upgrading parts of the 302, I fell back into the 5.0 Mustang world and wound up selling the '54 unfinished so I could focus on a '91 Mustang Coupe with a 5.0. Yeah, yeah, I know. Fast forward to now... I am on the hunt for another '54 Tudor to satisfy my desires. Although I'm in no way, shape, or form in the right time of life to handle another vehicle, since I'm in the process of buying a house, as well as possibly a piece of hunting property out of state, and I have a full build going on with my '56 F-100, as well as two daily driven 4x4's to maintain and upgrade(of course), taking on a 1954 Ford project right now seems like a really good time, haha. FML The '54 that started it all, circa 2003... The last '54 Crestline Victoria...
The Jalopy Journal
