I wish we knew more about this 1951 Ford Custom Convertible; the ad description raises more questions than it answers. It’s listed for sale here on eBay but even with more than 50 bids, the reserve has not yet been met despite bidding reaching $15,000. The Ford can be found in French Camp, California.

The seller states that the car has an older paint job and “rust in normal areas” but does not provide any pictures of those areas. Given the curvature of the lower part of these cars, it’s really hard to tell what’s going on down there unless you get a very close look. We’re also told that the car has been dropped two inches in the front with replacement spindles and has been lowered a similar distance in the rear. I think most of you would agree that the stance of the car right now is pretty darned nice.

The seller tells us that the steering box has play–I think they left the factory that way–but we don’t really know how much. I like the two added gauges to keep track of things under the hood. Other than that, everything in this picture appears stock to me.

I think I found some reproduction seat coverings that looked just like these, so I think this is the original pattern, but probably not the original upholstery. It does look to be in pretty nice shape, though.

There are no pictures of the flathead Ford V-8 in the ad, but this screenshot from the video of the car running leads me to believe that things are pretty nice under the hood. The seller states that the previous owner said the engine was rebuilt. The transmission has been updated with a kit to a later model C4 automatic transmission, and the rear end ratio has been changed (presumably to allow lower RPM highway cruising). This seems like a nice convertible to cruise in and possibly upgrade over time. Assuming that the rust mentioned is in the lower part of the car, the horizontal trim on the side provides a nice breaking point for a partial respray after body repairs are complete. Or just drive it the way it is!