What made you a "Ford" guy?

[bloodyknucklehill]

Just thought it'd be a fun thread to kick off the new, Re-Vamped, FordBarn..

My blue oval love affair started with stories I was told sitting on my Da's knee.. My favorite was the one about Grand Torino my Mild mannered Aunt ended up driving.. She is not a gearhead by any means but by some dumb luck always ends up with really cool cars that get driven like a Grandma would all the time.. This particular one turned out to be a totally nutted out 351 Cleveland model with full length headers, ported and polished heads, some type of aftermarket cam, and an Eddy high-rise manifold with a 750 carb and a posi-track 9", with glasspacks exiting behind the rear wheels that her and her husband at the time had bought from a junkyard auction with no idea what it had under the hood.. My Dad sure as hell did once he checked it out after they bought it.. Well my dad had to to take dear ol' auntie to work one day but insists on driving there and back.. So my old man, being the speed demon that he is, decides to bust the cobwebs loose from this street-beast on the trip.. They go through a couple of long straights with dad reving it and smoking tires in the middle of town, aunt screaming to "SLOW DOWN" the whole way.. Then Pops comes to a stopsign that pulls out onto a road that banks heavily to the left.. So just as dear old auntie is catching her breath Dad punches it, turning the car completely sideways, nose pointed at the left lane fog-line, and holding a sideways drift for about 200 feet till the turn-in for her works' parking lot.. The nose of the car was pointed left and the turn-in for the parking lot was on the right, so dad whips it around really fast and slides into the parking lot, as my aunt was clawing at the door.. A few of her male co-workers, who were outside BSing before they headed into work, were clapping and hooting as she got out of the car, but dad was never allowed to drive her car again.. A couple of months later she sold the car and last I heard of it someone put it in a ditch and totalled it.. Maybe that's why I tend to lean towards Fords or maybe not but it's one of the things I think briefly think about every time I hear the word "Ford" and maybe the reason that the first car I bought was a Ford.. My youth was filled stories of automitive debauchery such as this so it's no wonder i turned into the completely car crazy man I am today.. To this day, through the generational barrier that can often exist between father and son and the family qualms and problems that sometimes drive families apart, the one thing my Father and I can always talk about is cars..

Well how bought your guys' stories now?

[28RPU]

I am mostly a Ford guy I guess because my dad was one.That is all he ever owned except for a short period when he bought a 59 Chevy truck and promptly got rid of it and bought a 65 Ford truck.He said they just feel better to him.My first realization of car awareness was my dad's 49 Ford coupe.I think it had glass packs on it because I thought it was a souped up car from the sound of the little flathead.He got drunk and wrecked it one night and then bought a 50 Merc 2dr for $75.That was in 1955 and he could barely afford it.In 56 he bought a 55 Ford 2dr wagon that I learned to drive in.When he wore it out he went down to the Ford dealer and bought the only car he ever bought new, a 1967 Fairlane hardtop that I helped pick out.I liked it so well that the first car I bought with my money was a 66 Fairlane 390/4speed.I still have his 67 Fairlane with 70,000 original miles on it.I like all brands of cars,but like my dad, a Ford just "feels right".

[Bob 37]

I guess the day I became a Ford guy was in the summer of 1960 while sitting on a bench on Main St. with some friends, (none of us able to legally drive yet) just watching the cars go by. At one point one of the older guys turned on to Main St. with his black and white '56 Ford Customline Victoria hardtop with a newly installed '58 Ford 352 "Police Interceptor" motor, straightened out and "punched it". The car squatted in the rear and proceeded to smoke the tires through 1st gear and half-way through 2nd!
Yep, I think that was what did it.
I eventually went on to own that very car and his subsequent '62 406/405 Galaxie tudor sedan.

[Frank The Plumber]

I am a Ford guy because I did not want to be just another follow in line GM automobile hump, I rebelled. I got a lot of crap for it too, poop on em.

[40cpe]

For me, it comes from what was cool in the 50's. GMs and Chryslers had 6 cylinder engines and there was no way an Olds was in our budget. The shoebox Ford V8s with duals was where it was at, and still is with me.

[Bob/Pa]

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MY DAD, started me out with a shoebox 1949 ford in 51 then in 52 got a 1951 convertible customized it and same year got 1934 5 window coupe, sold the 51 still have the 34.

[middletown]

My dad was a Chevy guy, his first car was a 1960 Corvette that he purchased in 1963. He sold the Vette months later when he was drafted. We had a Black 58 Bel Air and an Olds when I was very young but Dad really was not and is not a car guy. He would work on them when he had to but not because he wanted to and other than the Vette he has never had another "fun" car. I am not sure were I get my lust for automobiles but I been that way my whole life. I consider myself a Ford guy but given the financial ability my collection would be much more eclectic; think Jay Leno type collection with more muscle cars. That said when I was 16 (1983) my neighbor was selling a 1957 Chevy Bel Air hot rod that had a 283, a Saginaw 4 spd and Cragars all jacked up on air shocks to clear the fat white letter bias plys and I wanted it badly. Though I had multiple jobs I had no $'s saved and dad was not going to lend me the 1500.00 it would take to buy the car; if I wanted a car I had to pay for it and all the other expenses related to it. Several months later my BMX bike, where I had always dumped my money, got stolen and I received a $300.00 check from our homeowners insurance. Within a week I noticed a car in the teacher’s parking lot for sale for $300.00. It was a Colgate green, think pastel, 1968 Mercury Montego MX. After a brief negotiation I got it for $100.00 and all of a sudden I was a ford guy. I had many cars over the next few years but I always kept the Merc. As a kid on the cruising seen your car was your identity and in a sea of Chevelles and Mustangs the Montego stood out as different. I helped a buddy in ROP body shop do some minor body work and we stripped off some trim and them I had it sprayed Black. I drag raced the car in the late eighties and went though several small blocks. I did eventually sell the car when I went back to college in my late 20’s. By that time I had built my first 64 Galaxie so the Merc had been sitting and I had no safe place to store it. Some day I would like to build another Montego or Cyclone but I will have to wait. Now we have a Model A and I have my 64 Galaxie Convertible and I am working on a 1970 Crew Cab F-250 4x4 to use as our horse hauler. Kids and house payments make progress slow but I’ll keep at it.

Thanks,

Joe

[40cpe]

Originally Posted by middletown

I am not sure were I get my lust for automobiles but I been that way my whole life.
Thanks,

Joe

We must be born with it. My now just 2 yr old grandson was infatuated with wheels since he was a baby. When he was crawling he would study the wheels on his highchair. A little older, before he could stand alone, he would prop up at the coffee table and push a hotwheels type car and study it as the wheels broke over the edge. To this day he will carry 3 cars in each hand and has literally dozens of them. He walks around cars and pats the various parts as his mother tells him the part names. I'm boring you, but you get the picture...

[Lamar Wadsworth]

My father worked for Ford (Atlanta Assembly Plant, 1952-82), and he believed that he ought to drive what he helped build. My mother worked for Goodyear (Rockmart GA plant), so we had Fords with Goodyear tires on them. Learned to drive on a '55 Fairlane Town Sedan, 272 and 3 on the tree, still have the car and working on getting it back on the road. My parents bought the car new at Drake Motor Co. here in Rockmart GA.

[Ole Don]

I love all cars, but old Fords just seem to follow me home. Just sold the hot rod, a 27 R/P with a 286 flathead that guys here on the barn helped with. Current car is the 55 Club Sedan bought in 1996. The wife says that one will stay forever. It currently has a fresh 312 that may get run at Bonneviile in the street stock class in September. Stay tuned for results, or read about it in Y Block Magazine

[fordy_nine]

I agree with 40cpe, being a car guy is a genetic trait passed down through generations. Being a Ford guy was partly because my extended family was into Fords and racing. My dad had a '40 tudor when I was little, next car was a '50 shoebox, both cars were the best designs of their respective eras to my eye. I had a love for the model T from my early teens because my uncle had raced them in cornfields in the Twenties and Thirties. I got my hands on anything automotive from the library and read all the car mags my dad brought home. I couldn't have turned out any other way....Bob L

[Retro Jim]

I have owned Chevy's , Olds , Pontiac's , Corvairs , Chrysler , Dodge Super Bee and Fords . They all have their good side and their bad sides but I still enjoy my Fords the most . I have a 55 Ford , 49 Ford & 50 Ford right now . I rebuild Ford engines allot and work mostly on Fords . What can I say , I am a Ford guy with Blue Blood !
My parents , grandparents and even my uncle all had Fords . My uncle never owed anything but a Ford in his whole life ! They are just well built cars and very dependable !
That's my story and I am sticking with it !

Jim

[raceron1120]

Well according to 'legend', I was brought home in a '51 Ford panel truck, my first memories included standing between mom & dad in '53 Ford panel while looking out the windshield. I still remember dad coming down our long driveway in his new '57 F100 pickup. . . and mom's new '60 Galaxy....and big brother's first car - a '53 Mainline.... and his first new one - a '63 Galaxy...and his '65 Mustang. Sis' and bro in-law's new '62 Monteray, then a new '65 Cyclone. . . and so it's been through the years.

I deviated a couple times when younger, I don't know what came over me but I had a '70 Satellite convertible (nice to look at but very high maintenance) and a '69 Malibu 350 (it was okay, but heck it was just another SBC). I returned to the blue oval. And with little exception have been there ever since. Sold Ford parts for several years in the 70s and 80s. My current DD is a '05 Tundra - for reasons I won't go into here. But I will likely be getting a new F150 4x4 within the next few months, it'll be my 8th Ford pickup in the last 40 years.

[Clem Clement]

Daddy bought 25 straight new Fords from our local ACE Ford. Daddy had gone to HS with the owner. Mother got his trade ins. I grew up riding on the fold down junp seats in a 41 coupe. My first car was a 40 Merc 4 door convert. Now I have 2 Model A's and a '39 peeekup.
clem

[A Chopped Coupe]

I wasn't born into Ford's like most of the guys here, I started out with Chevy's, 52Htp with Corvette 6cyld with tripower, 56 Chevy...............I started drag racing with SS/IA 67 Camaro...................While at the Woodburn drag strip a guy approached me and asked if I wanted to sell my car.......................long story short....................the money was right and I sold it. While looking for a replacement I heard about an old drag racer who had a 427 Galaxie..................a lot of my friends who were Chevy guys told me I was crazy to go look at the car and it put me in the poor house to race it competitively.......................I went to look at the car and really liked the body style.................I bought the car and Larsen/King went through the 67 High Rise motor...............raced the car for a couple of years and sold it to buy a 68-1/2 428 Cobra Jet Mustang.............Oh..............the car I sold..............it was a factory lightweight 63-1/2 427 Galaxie.............and I have been Ford from that fateful day back in 1977.
Here is a picture of my car today...........still into drag racing........still have a Ford................the car has been a drag car since running at the
1979 Winternationals at Pomona...................still runs strong and straight!
First picture is from 1980 at the Fremont drag strip, next is in my driveway this year, next is the burn out box at Redding drag stip and the last is of the sticker from the 1979 Winternationals.
You just have to love these Fords!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[fordman]

I think the main thing that made me a ford man was an option to buy a C*****, think about it! I was 14 with $30 and my option was a model A or a '30 C****. easy decision.

when I was 17, I bought a wrecked '40 and a '40 with good chassis, so I switched bodies and added a few essentials like twin carbs, headers, alum heads, columbia OD, fender skirts, an auto 45 rpm record player in the glove compartment (changed to a 6 volt motor w/rheostat), etc. the 45 only worked when parked. so I was a ford man with V-8 engine; no C**** for me.

[THR1LL3R]

Grandpa.

[Merlin]

I can't really say I'm strictly a "Ford Guy" I'm usually a equal opportunity car brand lover... Well maybe not Mopars too much but my grandfather was the Dodge person and my Dad the Chevy person. For me I started out with Ford and bounced back and fourth between Chevy and Ford for years with the occasional Pontiac mixed in,These days it's pretty much Ford.

[Old Redneck]

Being poor I guess.

[37 Coupe]

I think the Model A made me a Fordman,when I bought a 1930 roadster that was just 33 years old noticeing how many survived. Also what I always liked about the Ford product was its history,how you can relate the products to a man ,Henry, Edsel and his sons,even Iococca and the Fords today. Hard to put a face to GM for me ,Durant? Ransom Olds ? Mayby different for Chevy guys, I kinda liked Pontiacs in the 60's,GTO's and John Delorean at the time.