1951 Ford Custom

Known as the shoebox Ford, this was Dearborn's first new model after World War II. This Ford was a very capable car, particularly when equipped with a V-8 engine and automatic transmission like the car pictured. The shoebox was made 1949-51. The '49 and '50 had the famous bullet nose, so the '51 is less popular as a collector car. It looks like very little has been done to this car in the 70 years since it was built.

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1956 Rambler Custom

In my last post I mentioned that in the fall of 1956, American Motors tried to introduce the first car with electronic fuel-injection but ultimately killed to idea due to the complexity of the system. If they'd gone ahead, the unattractive sedan you're looking at would have been the fastest car in America. Even without the horsepower boost provided by fuel-injection, the 1957 Rambler Rebel (the pillarless-hardtop version of the car pictured) boasted a 327 c.i. V-8 with up to 255 hp. Combine that with the lightweight construction of the Rambler, and you've got a car with a 0 to 60 time of 7.5 seconds.

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