Photo: ThunderHead289 | YouTube
Hidden behind a metal container. Shrouded in vegetation. Sitting under a layer of dust. That’s how you might describe the 1951 Ford Custom Victoria with a flathead V8. With no owner to consider restoring it, the car was on its way to the scrapyard.
The 1951 Ford Custom Victoria is a full-size two-door hardtop that Ford marketed to compete with the Chevy Bel Air, which sold about 7,000 more units in its first year of production. The flathead V8 was a 239-cubic-inch (3.5-liter) small block unit that developed 100 horsepower.
A three-speed manual transmission sends power to the rear wheels. That’s what this Custom Victoria has under that hood that seems to be stuck shut. And that’s what Luke from ThunderHead289 is trying to resurrect.
Luke is an engineer who specializes in restoring old engines.He could lift the Titanic and make it work!“That's his reputation in the field. But will he live up to it this time?
He just couldn't let it end up in the shredder.
Luke found the 1951 Ford Custom Victoria on a farm as the owner was preparing to ship it away.I just couldn't see him go away,” he says. He'll try to resurrect that flathead V8.
Photo: ThunderHead289 | YouTube
To do that, he must first be able to open the hood. To unlock it, all it takes is a few strong fists. Sometimes, a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do, right? But the engine compartment screams “bad news.” That space was a paradise for mice, a home for raccoons. The rodents ate all the spark plug wires and left behind dirt and destruction.
Luke will call Dustin Jennings, “The Man, the Myth, the Legend” Jennings Motor Sports to help him with the flathead V8 and says he turns over engines he wouldn't dare try to turn over. However, he repeatedly calls him “Chet”, but after uploading the video, he realized that wasn't his name and put it in the comments section.
He is surprised to find the keys in the lock of the trunk. But they won't be of much use. They are stuck in there.
This 1951 Ford V8 came from Illinois in the 1980s. The owner was planning to restore it. But he died before he could even begin and his family ignored the car. It hasn't moved an inch since, until Luke laid eyes on it and thought it was still alive.
The cabin and engine compartment were a rodent's paradise.
The driver's door is also stuck. He has to push in before he can pull it out. The raccoons have also done their part with the cabin. There is no fabric left on the seats.Special Airflow seats,” Luke jokes.
Photo: ThunderHead289 | YouTube
The aeronautical-inspired dashboard exudes elegance even under a layer of mildew that has accumulated over the years the car has been parked. Just behind the massive steering wheel, on the steering column, is the gear shifter. Luke is trying to put it in neutral, but because that shifter doesn't work properly, he can't tell if he actually did it or not. So, he'll try to lift the rear end into the air and spin the differential. The driveshaft is moving, so the gear shifter is in neutral.
A view from underneath the car suggests a lot of work is in store if Luke were to restore the 73-year-old Ford. Everything underneath appears to be rotting. And it's not just the underside that's disintegrating. You can see large chunks of bodywork hanging off the Ford's body.
He tries to turn the V8 over, it's stuck, as he likes to say. He removes the spark plugs and notices that they have fallen victim to corrosion and still have some oil in them. The previous owner probably spilled some. He also pours some oil into the cylinders, in an attempt to free up that engine. He also tries to lubricate and blow out all the gunk to prevent it from falling into the spark plug hole.
Photo: ThunderHead289 | YouTube
Luke admits that flatheads in passenger cars are new, not exactly his specialty. He’s worked on them before, but only on a few that powered tractors, which are built differently. But he’ll stop at nothing to get this thing working. However, banging your head on the hood certainly won’t start it.
In search of the panacea
YouTube channel owner ThunderHead289 also checks the engine oil level, and is pleased. The tank is full. The two-barrel carburetor looks like it did the day the car rolled off the assembly line. Somehow, rust has avoided it.
After days of effort, he manages to compress at least one of the cylinders. The engine shows signs of life, so it certainly won't stop. Usually, videos with “will work” captions end with the engine actually running. But not this one, not this time. Luke will follow up and we'll keep you posted.
Maybe one day, this motorized piece of nostalgia will hit the road again, looking and driving the same as it did when it rolled off the showroom floor in 1951. But for now, it’s not going away. Examples of the 1951 Ford Custom Victoria sell for an average of $26,650, according to classic.com. However, the finest examples can fetch well over $100,000.
Luke owns a Ford, but it’s a baby compared to the Custom Victoria. He has a 1976 Ford F-250 pickup with 190,000 original miles on the odometer. The engine mated to a four-speed transmission has never been rebuilt. Luke paid $1,000 to bring it home in 2018.
