This 1953 Ford Country Sedan is claimed to still be wearing its original paint. That is quite a feat for a 30 year old car, but this wagon is going to turn 60 soon. It needs some work, but the Flathead V8 does run and it can easily accommodate eight people. Find it listed here on eBay out of Scottsdale, Arizona with bidding currently at $3,625.
It is sad to think that the niche these wagons once filled is being filled by crossovers and minivans. Big cruisers like this Ford provided plenty of functionally while still being stylish. The Country Squire featured wood trim while the Country Sedan shown here had a little more city feel. Ford also offered a two door version called the Ranch Wagon.
Plenty of cruising power was provided by the bulletproof Flathead V8. It wasn’t efficient, but no one cared back then because gas was cheap. Can you even name a company who still builds a V8 wagon? We can only think of one. The torque was sent through a manual three-speed on the column. The Ford-O-Matic automatic transmission was also offered as an option in these.
We wish the seller would have taken a better shot of the cargo area. It appears to be lined with wood paneling that even extended unto the back of the fold-down rear seats. It is details like this that really make you miss old cars.
The seller has done some work to get the engine running, but they mention that the carb could use a rebuild. We also noticed that some body work has been done even though it is claimed to be a relatively rust free Arizona car. The black Utah plates disagree with that statement, but now we are just nitpicking. This Ford Country Sedan is one cool wagon which definitely deserves to be saved.
I drove a 53 Ford, My Mom’s car through most of high school. The family car was a 57 Ford wagon red and white of course. with the same striped plastic liner in the back. The 53 was slow but very reliable. Our 53 had an Earl Scheib paint job, $39.95 no ups no extras.
Oh that stuff is plastic? Well, “It is details like this that really make you miss oldER cars”.
Now THIS would make a crazy surfin’ safari wagon!!!
Grab a couple boards and hit some gnarly pounders dude……
The close up of the left rear wheel well opening does not appear to have a proper shape (which is clear by itself, but more clear with the properly shaped opposite side), so I think there may be a little more to this car than meets the eye. Also that awful paneling on the doors would have to go. That being said, Its dead sexy and Id love to own it.
I find it disturbing for a “rust free Arizona car” that the bodywork that’s evident on the left side is exactly where you’d expect to find rust…
Excellent observation. I’ve got a ’54 sedan and it’s got the rust in that same area. I sure wouldn’t mind having this wagon. Too bad, my better half doesn’t like wagons, unless they’re woodies from the early 30s or a sedan delivery. Don’t ask me. She can’t figure out why I’m not particularly fond of a bathtub Nash…
Yeah Geomechs! Not a fan of the Bathtub!? You’re just weird man…..;-)
The lincon capri is practically a twin to this wagon (in convertible version). Its pretty cool how similiar they look alike.
The wheel well does not look right, I agree.
Hand-formed bondo doesn’t always work out well. There are patch panels for `53-`54 Fords reproduced, but whether they’re offered for the wagons, I’m unsure. One particular option on this one stands out, visually: back-up lamps.
On the non-wagons, they are mounted just below the trunk lid, but on wagons it appears, they get mounted directly under the taillamps along the outer edges. This is a first for me to see on a `53/`54 wagon.
I’ve owned my 1953 Ford Ranch Wagon since 1972. I purchased it for $85 when I was a senior in high school, and I wouldn’t think about selling it!
My Parents had a 53 country sedan, identical to this one. looks like the same colors too. Red with the off white strip across the windows.That wagon took us on everal vacations, from California to Missouri and many , many other places.
Found on at the Antic Auto Museum in Santa Rosa, NM
“just had a mechanic install new battery”? Really? Did he forget a couple of steps? Like maybe installing battery cables? I don’t know if I would trust this listing without an in person inspection. I would love to have one like this though.
I really dig that propeller front grille. Long live the atomic age!
My first car was a 53 Ford. It had a rod knock and I wanted to change the engine but dad said no so I figured if the engine blew up he’d agree to swap it out. I put it in neutral, set a brick on the gas peddle and left for 20 minutes.
When I came back 3 rods were knocking but it was still running.
They don’t build ’em like they used to, do they?
Very cool.
~ before i was old enough to drive i would ride my bike several blocks out of the way to have a look at the ’53 (or ‘4) Ranch Wagon owned by a professor at Drake University and parked on the street year after year near my paper route. and ever since two door wagons have always held great fascination, now as much as then.
@ Tom Cotter, love to see yours in the next installment of ‘…in the Barn’.
~ Winning bid: US $3,900.00, not a bad deal, imo.
“Super clean”…??
It’s a cool wagon, the last of the Ford flatheads (Ford went OHV for ’54), but smudgy door panels that would clean up with soap & water, awful headliner, and greasy engine bay keep this from being “Super clean”.
The upside is that, apart from the dodgy lower bodywork, this could be brought back without breaking the bank, at least as a decent cruise-nighter or surf wagon. The terrific Art Deco instruments and that looong 3-on-the-tree shifter would make it worth it. It looks like it might even have some optional extras—anyone know whether that heater/defroster control on the lower edge of the dash really was an optional ‘extra’?
Neat car, and to the seller’s credit, offered at no reserve, but don’t call it super clean when it’s not. And take a few more minutes to find out how to turn off the caps lock and how to create punctuation when you write. The contradictions and ambiguities in that six-line run-on sentence raise questions that say it might not be worth the time and $$ to check the car out. Too bad, because the presentation lets the car down.
Love the license plates, tho.
Uh, don’t mean to pick nits, but this wagon is 65 years old; not 60. Still, it’s rather complete, and would be great restored.
my neighbors as a kid had a dark green wagon like this one, and i remember it being sooo quiet. my farmer uncle had a pale green sedan that we did a lot of pheasant hunting out of… it could really dig through the snows of archer, ne.The last time i remember seeing it was sitting near my uncles shop, covered with blood from a deer hunting trip, with the flat heads off cause my cousin wanted to see what was in there.