Features Needed a family car so bought a 56 ford

It is pretty warm out today and I have been running it a lot with no more heating up issues.... I am hooked I really like the car.

Here are the pics.. I think I am going to stay with the dog dish's for now... I think I like the plain wheels best but it makes it look like I wanna race....and the 289 doesn't back up that look!!!!

 

Dog dish all the way, the car looks incredible.

 

In the past Ive owned 2 56 htps. Yours looks to be a nice example. I wonder if any of those crome window flippers work? I really like 56 fords. I had a collection of them including three 2 dr sedans that I sold in order to be able to pay cash for the place where we now live. The hardtops had a lot of wind noise at high speed due to bad sealing around the side windows.The sedans didnt have that wind problem. A 289 should be enough engine for a daily driver. I would prefer a 289 to a Y block. I owned a 67 galaxie 289 power steering and air conditioning auto trans and it was enough to power that dinosaur.

 

you dont see them to often down this way ...

nice find ...

 

Sounds reasonable to me.
Nice ride!!

 

trucknut, I saw this thread last week and thought I posted on it. Apparently not. So here it is...

I absolutely LOVE that car! Always have had a soft spot for the '55/'56 Ford hardtops. I like the earlier shoeboxes and the '57 too, but there's something about this model...looks "husky" to me...kinda tough-lookin'. I think it has a lot to do with having a little glitz of the mid to late '50s designs, yet still retaining the tall doors...bottom to window sill...as compared to the smoother, "half-used bar of soap" look of the earlier shoeboxes, and the shorter doors and lower-slung look of the '57 and later models. Also might have to do with the fact that when I was a little kid in the early '60s, this seemed to be a very popular model to hot rod. I remember seeing a few of them rumbling around, and they impressed me even then. I just might have to get me one of these one day. Congratulations on finding what looks to be a very straight and solid car.

 

I think a set of trim rings along with the dog dish caps would look good.

 

It may not be running hot.... The Y-block ran cooler than the late motors and the gauge is 'calibrated' to reflect that. Drop in a 160 stat and that should put the needle about right.

And if you still have the vacuum wipers, putting in a Y-block dual-diaphragm fuel pump (it fits on windsors!) will improve your vacuum source a bunch, so the wipers won't stop on hills or when you punch it.... LOL

 

Thanks for the fuel pump tip. I may do that in the future if the wipers bug me any. I am used to it though since both my f-1s and my early bronco have vac wipers.

I fabbed a better fitting fan shroud tonight and that helped out the idling temps stay below 200 for prolonged periods. It still creeps up idling in gear holding the brake for 10 mins or so but I usually pop it in park if stuck idling in traffic that long.

Thanks for all the complements on the car everyone!!!

 

They're great cars, my daily driver for about 10 years was a Fairlane coupe with a 351W in it. Total sleeper, left the full wheelcovers and skirts on it. Do look at the front crossmember under the radiator, they're prone to rusting out and you can lose the front a-arm mount...

Yeah, it was my family car at the time too!

 

NICE 56 id run the dog dishes but it looks KILLER with the plain steel wheels

 

I liked it before with no caps, but I think it looks even better with the dog dishes. It adds a little something to it... Nice work

 

The smaller caps look great. Just right.

 

The only thing I think that would make it better would be if it was still Y Block powered.

I fondly remember a 292 powered 55 Ford 2 door from my youth, high school days, man that car sounded nice.

 

Nice car. Really nice. I had a 55 in highschool and my friends laughed.
It was pink and white. We all loaded up in it and I chirped em going into second with a 272 and automatic. The laughing stopped and coolness prevailed.
1972,$100.00.

 

Caps with blackwalls are great.Full covers with small whitewalls are good too. Would you believe I went on my honeymoon in a brand new green and white vicky in 1956. I think I'm getting old! -Bill

 

It let me down for the first time this weekend... I ran it a few hundred miles and Saturday morning the timing chain slipped a tooth on the interstate... I limped it to my parents place (the closest location) and drove down there place sunday and replaced it.

It is running good again....but I am guessing this engine may have some real high miles!!! it had a really worn original ford timing set.

 

its just testing you to see if your worthy of owning it lol

 

Does this ever bring back memories. This is the only white '56 Victoria I've seen in 50 years. Mine had a 312 bored .060 and the heads milled, 4-barrel Holley and a cam from the super charged 312. Add a pair of glass packs and it made for some great cruising. There is no sound like a Y-block! When I was dating my first wife, she could hear me 1 1/2 miles away with her windows closed. I had white wall tires with 4-bar flipper hubcaps. It would run about 120 mph so I could hang with the 348 Chevys pretty good on top end. Loved that car. Wish I had another one.

Bob

 

I agree, nothing sounds as good as a Y block.

 

Nice score y blocks are great got a 341


Posted from Ar

 

lookin good trucknut
rear shackles need to be flipped so they point up from frame mount
check under another 55- 56
car will be way lower and drive better

 

Nice car, reminds me of the one that started my liking 56 Fords. It too was white with a turquoise interior, was nosed and decked with a tube grille. It was owned by an American serviceman at the U.S. Naval Station in Argentia, Newfoundland.

 

Very nice car and practical family car. Yep, dog dishes look best. Nothing wrong with buying a driver when you got kids and no doubt other commitments. Did the same thing myself many years ago buying an old pontiac that only required cam and lifters to keep the engine purring.( one lifter failed while returning from Back to the Fifties in '88?)

 

Way cool Ford.
I personally like the dog dish caps, but it looks totally cool as shown in any of the three pictures..
Good for you...!

 

If you lowered it a tad, it wouldn't matter what you ran: dish, cap or neither. It's a win-win-win situation.

 

Actually I kinda like it with the shackles flipped and up in the air... my dad says that was done a lot around here when he was in high school... he graduated in 58.

 

Your Dad is correct !!
We did that a lot...

 

yeah that was a fifties thing in pa and ohio probably all around the east. and that is nice lol

 

I like- and another vote for the dog dish's