A Mystery Shoebox Ford

Johnny Joyo’s grandpa, Peter Thomas, is what most would call a renaissance man. He volunteered into the US Army in 1943, fought at Normandy, went on to fight at the Battle of the Bulge, and is an all around American hero as a result. It doesn’t end there. He went on to become an anchor for CBS News and won an oscar for his narration work on One Survivor Remembers. You can now hear his voice every week on the truTV production titled, Forensic Files.

Like I said, renaissance man…

A year or so ago, Joyo and I were hanging out with his gramps in Naples, Florida when I got the chance to meet Mr. Thomas’ best pal. He’s a natural Texan, a real character, and like Mr. Thomas, he’s full of stories. One of those stories pertained to a shoebox Ford that he owned in the early 1950’s. I recently obtained some photos of the car and was struck by how recognizable it is. Even so, I can’t place it.

Anyway, I figured I would post the pictures here in hopes that someone out there might remember it. Details are a bit fuzzy… The car ran around Port Arthur, TX for much of the 1950’s, but some of the work was done in California. The first photo in the series was taken when the car was bought new and only featured some mild changes, the rest were taken in 1954.

I realize these photos are soft… But it’s all we have to work on. Any ideas? Note the taillights… I really feel like I’ve seen this one before.