Ray Erickson’s 1952 Ford

We’ve talked about Ray Erickson before. He built a number of the mid-west’s more well known customs and is largely responsible for the bible belt’s custom scene. Put simply, he is a flat-out legend to those in the know…

Anyway, my favorite of his long list of customs is probably his simplest. It’s a 1952 Ford that he built for his wife sometime around 1955 with a budget of only $350. In the end, it was feature in the November, 1956 issue of Rod Builder & Customizer and then sold to fund further projects. I don’t believe the car has really been seen since.

But what’s cool here is an email I found this morning while searching for something else. It’s just a quick note from Ray with a bunch of pictures:

“Here’s my old 52. I used my wife as an excuse to build the car and she drove it quite a bit. Take note of the roof louvers. I made a brass die and then had a buddy hold it with a big chunk of hickory from the outside of the car while I hammered away from the inside. Worked pretty good. Ray.”

Sadly, Ray passed away back in 2014 – just a year or so after he sent this email… I say sadly, but Ray lived a long and accomplished life. And this Ford is just part of one hell of a legacy that he left. We should all be so lucky.