Featured Classifieds: 1954 Ford Sunliner

Convertibles are usually overpriced and I typically like hardtop lines better, so I never really consider drop tops in my mind’s eye. But this morning I was farting around in the H.A.M.B. Classifieds and ran across this ad.

It’s a 1954 Ford Sunliner that (apparently) has had a lot of recent mechanical attention, but still looks as though it hasn’t been touched in half a century. The patina (awe shit… please don’t start fellas) is nice and natural and the rust seems to be held at bay for the most part. This is definitely the type of car that you would never consider buying without peeping with your own eyes first, but initial impressions lead me to believe this a pretty damned good buy for less than $15k.

So given this discovery, I decided to look through my library for inspiration of what a ’54 Sunliner could be. I stopped at my December, 1960 issue of Rod & Custom Magazine.

***

Buzz McLeod hailed out of Washington state and belonged to the Draggin’ Sirs Car Club. His ’54  ‘vert featured typical body mods of the time and a trendy paint job – Watson inspired scallops over 1957 Pontiac “Lime Fire” green paint.

I think three things really stand out here:

1. You pretty much have to french the headlights of these cars.
2. The Chevrolet grille was an obvious choice in my opinion.
3. Apparently, Buzz had some hot rod in him as he managed to stuff an Olds motor in his ‘vert. To me, it’s “under skin” changes like this that makes a car special over time.

I mean you can just imagine some dude from Seattle in 1973 saying something like, “Whatever happened to that Olds powered ’54 that Buzz used to have?” – Can’t ya?

In any case, if you are looking for an affordable project with a pretty high ceiling, check this one out. I don’t know the owner and know nothing about the car, but I think Buzz was on to something.