Ford Gallery

Last week, I shared a bit about the "Oddballs and Orphans" I have driven over the years. This week I'll share a bit about the Fords I have owned. The 1936 Ford was the car I drove for my first driving test. It was not my car, however, as it belonged to my best friend, Wes. The car had three-on-the-floor, mechanical brakes and arm-wrestling steering.

The first car I owned was a 1950 Ford Custom Fordor. In the parlance of the day, it was "loaded," as it was equipped with radio, heater, overdrive, and exterior sun-visor. This baby had about 94,000 miles on it when I bought it and I drove it to about 125,000. A week after I bought it I got married and following the reception as we were driving to our "getaway" we had a collision which seriously damaged the right rear quarter panel, driving capabilities not impaired. Insurance company paid me for "constructive total" the book value of the car, which was more than I had paid for it. A back-alley hobbyist replaced the panel for me for $80 and we had a free car!

Here is a list of the Ford vehicles I've had.

The 1950 Custom 239 ci V-8

1962 Lincoln Continental 7.1L with suicide doors

1965 Mustang 289 ci V-8. Brilliantly (or perhaps ironically) this was our only car during a period during which we had three kids under age ten.

1967 Galaxie 500 289. I actually "owned" three of these at the same time, although I didn't know that until the day I sold one of them. I was driving a beautiful 4-door which I had purchased from my Dad after he had put 139,000 miles on it. (I finally sold it when it had 201,000 miles.) Saw a bright red 500 convertible which I couldn't resist, so I bought it just for fun. Good thing, too, because it got about 100 miles to the quart on oil. Meanwhile, my minor son bought another 500 and kept it at a neighbor's yard a couple blocks away. He didn't tell me he had it until the neighbor told him he needed to get it off his lot. So I took care of it. Sold the thing the first time I ever saw it.

1969 Thuderbird Fordor, again suicide doors. (Couldn't find picture, so imagine the above is a four-door which has been painted Washington (dark) blue. Much prettier than the picture.)

1973 Galaxie 500

1985 Crown Victoria LTD and

1951 Custom fordor which was my principal to-and-from-work driver for many years from 1968 to 1978. It went through several cosmetic permutations. It was Hawthorne green when I got it. I had it painted a bright banana yellow which it presented for several years, then it got a metallic grey paint job, thanks to Earl Scheib.

Also had a 1952 F-1 pickup which Ellie and I refurbished by taking an auto-body course at the local voc-tech school. Painted it fire-engine red and drove it for several years.

And a 1956 F-100 pickup which I owned for about eight days. I drove it home 25 miles from point of purchase, parked it in the driveway, washed and waxed it, and sold it for twice what I paid for it. These two vehicles were the only cars I ever owned on which I made money.

And when BBBH and I decided to get into the RVing thing, we bought a motor home on a 1996 Ford E350 chassis with 460 ci V-8. We used it six years, then traded for a similar MH on a 2009 Ford E350 chassis with V-10 power.

And our current Ford vehicle is a 2003 Mercury Mountaineer.

[Next week: Good Cars, Bad Cars]