“I have owned several custom shoebox Fords in the past, but I had a different look in mind for this one. I wanted a mild custom consisting of a bull-nosed hood, Appleton 552 spotlights, tuck ’n’ roll upholstery, and lowered with skirts. Really loving the body style, I committed myself to finishing it. I gave myself a deadline of one year to complete it. I don’t like working with deadlines, but that was the only way I would complete it. I knew I wanted to update the running gear, so I installed a small-block Ford 302 with a C4 transmission by fabricating my own engine and transmission mounts. I retained the original radiator and had Gonzalo at Guzman Radiators re-core it and block off two water outlets.
“I took care of all the body repairs and did all the painting. I color-matched the factory paint, which was a single-stage metallic, but this time around I applied DuPont two-stage, and that enhanced the metallic that much more. For the interior I knew I wanted a real ’50s touch with the pleated upholstery. I decided to match the car’s dark forest green dash and the cream white top.
“Once the car was completed, I entered it in the Grand National Roadster Show in 2010 and took First Place in its class. Winning that award was very rewarding, but the most rewarding was bringing back to life another old Ford that would have otherwise continued rotting in that same yard where it had sat for 40 years.”
Rolling Down Memory Lane In Robert Lomas’ ’51 Ford