This old Ford brings back a lot of memories. My grandparents had a ’53 Ford Customline like this except it was solid dark blue and with the same two-tone gray cloth interior. I remember being a kid and sitting behind that large steering wheel and being fixated by the attractive gold, red, and blue 50th Anniversary medallion in the steering wheel hub. Here’s a highly original survivor (the seller says it’s only had one respray of the light Glacier Blue body paint) with a great original interior and 73,000 documented miles.
Ford’s had a major restyling in 1952, so no major changes were made to their 50th Anniversary 1953 models. They retained the three model lines: the base Mainline, the mid-level Customline, and the top-of-the-line Crestline. Ten body paint colors were offered in 1953, plus three two-tone combinations were available at extra cost. The featured car is finished in an attractive Glacier Blue with a Sheridan Blue top. It’s also the same color combination of the ’53 Ford Customline Fordor Sedan gracing the cover of Ford’s color sales brochure. The Ford’s paint is shiny and very presentable, the panels are straight, and I’m not spotting any issues at all. The chrome looks great as does the glass, lenses, trim, and period-correct sidewall tires. It also has a color-coordinated windshield visor which were a popular option back in the day.
The seller, a guy named Earl, rates the original interior a 9.5 out of ten and there are no signs of rips, tears, or stains. Five “color-harmonizing” interiors were offered in ’53 and this one is the attractive two-tone Gray Stripe Craftcord with two-tone viinyl-and-cloth door and quarter panels. There is some normal wear on the driver’s seat, but the passenger side of the front seat and the back seat haven’t had many fannies sitting on them the past 72 years. The gray painted instrument panel is well preserved and features what Ford called their “Flight-Style Control Panel.”
Ford offered two power plants in 1953. The 101-horsepower Mileage Maker Six, and what this Customline has under its hood: a 110-horsepower Strata-Star V8. Ford made a big deal advertising that it offered the only V8 in the low-price field and that you could get high-compression performance without the need for premium fuel. There are 73,000 documented original miles and the V8 is mated to a 3-speed manual transmission with Overdrive.
I would love to know this car’s story and how it has remained in such great condition all of these years. With 374,487 V8-powered ’53 Ford Customline 4-Door Sedans produced, this car isn’t rare, but one this original and in this kind of unmolested condition is. These were low-priced, sensible family cars that had a normal lifespan of 10-12 years on average before seeing Mr. Junk Yard. This nice example is currently located in Olathe, Kansas, and is for sale here on craigslist for $12,900 (but Earl will consider any and all equitable trades). Another thank you to our friend, T.J., for finding this great old Ford and sharing it with us.
Really nice example, and great memories also.
Like you Ron, as a child I had an Aunt with the dark green version, I distinctly recall holding onto the velvet rope across the back of the front seat.
You definitely want to check out Earl’s other Craigslist ads, especially the Lincoln open top!
He sounds like a real car guy
Thanks, PaulG. I checked out Earl’s other Pearls as you suggested. That ‘71 Mark III chop top is nicely done. That car had great lines for an open top. I was surprised…
Wow! I lived in Olathe over 60 years ago and our landlord had a mint (10 years old) ’54 sedan. I always think of these as the first “modern” looking cars. Lovely example in terrific colors.
Basic early 50’s American sedans are great fun,practical and quite lovely.I had a four door Chevy ( I called it a Biscayne but it was probably a 120). For $475 that car took me all over the place even down to Baja surfing. I had “The Roach” for about 15 years when a guy remodelled the kitchen of my house in Venice Beach..he took “The Roach” as payment ( I already had a 56 Coupe De Ville by then) What great memories and practical way to travel with up to 6 folks….in style.
This car brings back lots of memories for me, as my father’s first new car when I was 5 was a 53 Country Sedan wagon in the same light blue color. He was a draftsman and something of an artist. I still have our family Christmas cards from that year featuring the wagon in front of our home and me pulling a sled in front of the garage. Then, years later, my first car was a well-used 53 Ford tudor Customline, purchased in Ohio for $50. I learned to work on it from reading and trial and error, drove it to California, back to Philadelphia, back to school in Ohio. It still ran well but I didn’t have money or a job. I sold it to a football player for $115. He drove it to his home in Detroit where he quickly wrecked it! Years after that I bought a 53 F-100 panel delivery truck with the same flat V-8, owned for about 30 years, sold 5 years ago for the much more comfortable 66 F-100. I will drive it in the winter once the salt gets off the road.
early 50s my parents had one same color but it was a 1952 minor difference mostly just grill and tail light I was 9 yrs old remember it well
Had the pleasure of traveling Spokane to Bonneville in ‘08 with my B in L in his ‘53 Customline 2 door. Fairly hopped up Flatty with OD. We took secondary roads as much as possible, to enjoy the view. Happily cruised at 75-80 while getting decent mileage. Typical nose-high Ford stance at speed. Surviver car. One repaint and a rebuild on a ‘53 truck engine. Only mechanical failure was the OD solenoid failed at about Missoula. 150 miles from home. We had a memorable trip, and I gained more respect for Shoebox Fords.
This car is the star of an episode of the Andy Griffith show, “Barney’s First Car”. Deputy Fife buys a used car from the proverbial little old widow lady, who only drove it to church on Sunday. The sounds of the car falling apart are legendary. The little old lady, also Grandma Walton, is a con artist
Hi fred, thanks for that, 1st thing I thought of, even though Barneys car was a ’54. When Gomer ( the mechanic) is telling Barney everything they did to the car, he sinks lower and lower. The old lady, Myrt “Hubcaps” Lesh was played by Ellen Corby.
Here you go. ’54 Ford used in the Andy Griffith episode. I always like how Gomer rattled off everything the car had wrong with it.
I hate to tell you guys but my first car was a 52′ Customline 2dr coupe, burgandy/tan top, v-8 3 speed. My parents only drove Nash’s. It lasted until 1961 when I went off to college. My brother blew the engine in Maimi, FL., had to wire my dad for money for a junkyard engine to get back to Chicago, that was the end of my dream wheels.
The first new car I remember my father buying was a 1954 Ford when I was 5 or 6. I think the model was a Customline 2 door sedan. Grey with a dark blue roof. Dad only drove Fords his entire life. A ’48 Ford was traded in on the ’54. The ’54 was traded in on a ’58 Customline, which was a “really sharp” car. The issue with the ’58 was that the front finders rodded out the first winter but we lived in Buffalo, NY. I can remember at least 95% of all the Fords my father owned.
Very first car I owned. Well, my sister and I bought it for $35 back in ’66. Some fond memories were made in it. Sold it for $50 to a friend. It just ran and ran. Couldn’t kill it.
To Malcolm Boyes: if your Chevrolet was of this same era, it would have been a 150, 210, or Bel Air (roughly equivalent to Ford’s Mainline, Customline, and Crestline). But for some reason, most early 1950 Fords you saw seemed to be the Customline, as this one is. Before I bought my 1946 Ford Super Deluxe V-8 that I had and motored in for close to three decades, I test-drove one of these in a solid light blue (also a Customline). It had one very typical piece of damage to which 1952-1954 Ford’s seemed prone: it had been lightly hit on the rear bumper, leaving a minor crease below the left tail-light. The example I tried had 29,000 miles and wore it’s original black-wall tyres. It had a metal cover-plate where a radio would be, and the interior was the same as this one. I found it difficult to drive, because I could not see out well over the hood: I would have needed a Webster’s Unabridged or a Manhattan telephone directory under me. This was a problem for me in many cars, especially of this era. This I can say for the ’53 Ford: it seemed to out-last virtually everything else from its time, except, perhaps, for the 1950 Dodge: ’53 Ford’s were still seen in daily use when Reagan was elected President. The only more persistent vehicle I ever saw, was the 1929 Model A. I would not mind owning this particularly attractive ’53, if I could find a graceful structural way to raise the front seat up about 2 inches. That same problem with my anatomy has also kept me away from 1953 Mercurys, one of my favoutive-looking cars of all time.
my favorite car of all times is the 1954 merc with updated tail light remember see one on show room floor in 1954 it was a two tone green sun valley it was love at first sight I was 9 years old
I think you are right..150 (Never did understand what that meant..not HP!).Thanks..to me it was my faithful Biscayne named “The Roach”…complete with bud vases in the back for my special passengers
To Malcolm Boyes: if it was a ’58, then it could well have been a Biscayne — though not before that year. That 150 was the “plain jane” Chevy — no frills — only the very basics. The 210 was the everyday version that had enough trim to look decent for most people. But the Bel Air was the fancy Chevy… until they introduced the Impala in 1958, above even the Bel Air. To al: that was what disappointed me in 1954 — those new bigger Mercury tail-lights: I had preferred the 1952-’53 style, myself. But I thought that the 1951 Mercury tail light treatment was an improvement over the 1949-’50. So…you were born in 1944 or 1945; WUZ yuh? (smile). On the 1952 Mercury, I liked those front guards that extended down, which were not on the ’53. But the added “flair” around the emblem on the trunk of the 1953 made the car look wider, somehow, and more pleasing. Truth be told, the ’52-’54 Mercury was essentially an upscale Ford, mostly, with some Lincolesque accents, and of course Mercury’s better powerplants.
Harrison I was born in 1945 and agree with most every thing you said the 1951 merc not only had better tail lights than the 49 and 50 but the rear fenders where higher and extended much better have to disagree on 54 tail light like them and 54 dash I thought was better with the rectangle speedometer not the half moon one and of course the new y block v8
Harrison I was born in 1945 and agree with most every thing you said the 1951 merc not only had better tail lights than the 49 and 50 but the rear fenders where higher and extended much better have to disagree on 54 tail light like them and 54 dash I thought was better with the rectangle speedometer not the half moon one and of course the new y block v8
Hi, al! Thanks for the reply. My younger brother liked the 1954 Mercury — he bought one! But I drove a flathead V-8 Ford for many years, and I like them. I still have a soft spot in my heart for the 1953 Mercury, however. There were several 1953 cars that I particularly liked:
Mercury
Chrysler
Pontiac
Studebaker
Plymouth
Dodge
Oldsmobile…
and I’m sure there are more. Some, such as Buick and Cadillac, I liked better in 1954.