I've loved watching the amazing progress of Mark's (Royalshifter)"Victoria Secret", the '51 Ford Victoria transformed from rust to glory. Seems like this might be a good time to ... <BR><BR>To read the rest of this blog entry from The Jalopy Journal, click here.
Can you imagine the first engineer (at GM or Ford) to say: "Let's make a convertible with a permanent top". He must've got some strange looks, but it worked. I can't remember if it was shifter's thread or somewhere else I read that if you remove the top from the windshield posts the mounting holes are still there for the convertible top.
Have a friend who cut the top off a 53 Victoria & he said all the mounting spots for the top mechanisum were all there.
For the record, I think this is by far the best looking shoebox body style. (You should also know that I own a very nice '51 club coupe!)
Not sure...but my Mom (a dedicated gearhead since her Crager-head Model A Roadster days) said they were called "cracker boxes" by the media in '49-'51. 'Shoebox' was never heard (by me, anyway) until the '70s. Even Chevys are called 'shoeboxes'... LOL
You probably all know but this was the first year with the Fordamatic and the 3 speed Overdrive and standard 3 speed were also available. The Crestliner that came out in '50 to compete against the new hardtops in the GM line was not getting the sales Ford needed so thus the hardtop was rushed into production and with both the Crestliner and hardtop sales were good. 4dsrus
Cool thread, Mark Skipper's Victoria is definitely one of the best restyled 1951 Victorias that has been done!
Thanks for that Jay . . . we just can't say enough about Mark & Kelly's grand slam home run, just outstanding!
Personally, I wouldn't really count the Ford-O-Matic as a 3-speed. It's true that it has 3 speeds, but if you have it in Drive, you won't ever get to use 1st gear.
There a 55 ford victoria that gets parked over on linden and west grand in oakland. I have tried talking the owner into selling it to me a half dozen times. Some how every time i see the thing a bbf and turbos fill my mind. I know not terribly authentic from a historic perspective, but what can i say.