march2012cover

My wife and I enjoy our Fords and wanted to replacement for a 1948 F1 so we could take our grandkids with us when we went to shows. Featured in the enclosed pictures you will find my 1954 Ford Mainline 2-door sedan, this fits the bill. The car was a solid North Caroline car with very little rust. The previous owner had replaced the floor pans and the front clip with a Fat Man clip and then basically stashed it in a trailer for about 10 years. He called it “my car in a box”, as it and many parts that came with it, were all in boxes.

The restoration, customization and paint took me over four years at home in my two-car garage. The only time off from my garage was when it was moved to another two-car garage where the painter worked on it for 16 months! It is painted with PPG paint in “Perfect Purple” with a little pearl and also Chrysler Pearl White with a little pearl. As it is powered by a 1995 Lincoln MK VIII 4.6 V8 with an EAOD transmission, I call it my “Ford-O-Linc.” The rear end is a Currie housing with a Ford 9” 3:40 gear. Though it takes HY-TEST gas, we manage to get better than 24 MPG. It is great for cruising! The grill is stock, my wife and I both think it is the best grill Ford had in the ‘50s. The bumpers are stock and smoothed, my wife and I both think it is the best grill Ford had in the ‘50s. The lake pipes are not functional, but look good and the exhaust is a single 3” pipe, it flows better than the duals. It has PS with title centers. The front seats are Pontiac SSE1 full power and the back seat is Lincoln Town Car back with the original bottom. The car was built to drive, among upcoming shows, we hope to make it to our CVA Regional Meet.

It was finished in March 2011 and in the past year my wife Mary and I have put a little over 3,000 miles on it. She says it’s a far cry from the one she drove as a kid. Since it completion it has won nine awards, of which two were “best paint” and four were “Best of Show”, a couple of ladies choice are in there as well, it seems they love the purple paint!