Another For Sale
An old Ford in front of one of the many antique shops in Sandwich, Illinois.
Busy, busy, busy. Ten items on my To-Do/Errands list today, and writing this post isn’t one of them. But here it is. It’s here because I used to cover vintage vehicle events of various kinds for a good couple of years (full-time), and almost got it out of my system.
Northern Illinois is a virtual hotbed of vintage motordom. The vintage cars per square mile in the areas surrounding Chicago are unmatched, and there’s some event taking place somewhere five days out of each week every summer. I often had to choose between three major events scheduled for the same day.
So when I come across something like the above old Ford sedan, my knee-jerk response is to take a snapshot. in this case it’s a 1955 Ford Customline 4-door in pretty good shape. Not fabulous shape, but pretty good. Anywhere else, the thing would be locked up securely, but this is Sandwich, Illinois. It was left unlocked, with a pad of paper left on the front seat with a description and two phone numbers.
Overall, she looks straight and presentable. Note the lake pipes (exhaust pipes under the doors).
Nice, clean upholstery, too.
The pad notes that its engine was transplanted from a 289 Mustang, along with a 3-speed automatic trans.
Door, hood and trunk lid alignments are a mix of good and a bit off, indicating that most if not all have been dismounted at one time. Remounting perfectly takes a lot of experience and/or plenty of patience, which few mortals have.
One edge of the hood. The 2010 paint job shows that tedious paint prep is also beyond the reach of many, but if all you want is a runner to have fun in, you just accept this kind of thing and go with it.
The front left fender edge along the hood has similar problems, and sitting out in the weather is not the best thing for it.
At $6,500, who knows if this is a good deal? But it probably is fair.
Is this car solid underneath? Mechanical things needing to be addressed? Who knows? But I’m including the contact info above because if the past is any guide, 8-15 months from now, some guy is going to Google “1955 Ford for sale”, see this post, and contact me to ask if I think it’s still available. I’ll likely be 2,000 miles away by then!
Strolling Amok 
Is the item still available? And what is your best price?
It is available, James! And it can be yours for $4,600 cash! Just give me a chance to do some computer work and
print upfind the title, and I’ll meet you at the antique shop…after hours. Did I mention cash only?Hi Doug,
You may be interested to know that I am an avid follower of your blog. My wife and I live in South West England and have visited the USA on several occasions. We love the sense of space and the can do attitude.
Please keep blogging
Brian Pear
Sent from my iPad
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I am very interested! Thank you, Brian! That’s a long walk! One can do a lot here with a can-do attitude…and a checkbook.
My first car was a 1955 ford Fairlane 2 door. Bought for $42.50 of which I borrowed $2.50 from my Dad I learned to drive and work on them Sold it a year later for $37.50. Every kid should have to work for and then maintain it as it makes you value what you have.
$40 is a lot of lawns, about then. And you’re right about kids and ownership.