Multiple Dearborn Award winner. Loaded with accessories. Overdrive. The best!

1950 Ford Other Additional Info:

GM dropped the hardtop body style on the automotive market in 1949 and transformed fashion overnight. Ford, also hitting on all eight cylinders, brought out all-new cars that were modern, trim, and wonderful to drive, but as beautiful as the Fords were, they didn’t have a hardtop body style. Even low-end Chevys were available with the stylish new sheetmetal, and to counter that, Ford came up with a brilliant alternative: the Crestliner. Positioned as the top-of-the-line and uniquely styled with a sweeping side panel, padded roof, and other trim details, it was as iconic and instantly recognizable as the GM hardtops, and far less ordinary, as only Ford had it. If you want unique and you bleed Ford Blue, a Crestliner was the only choice for you.

That remains true today, as well. This beautiful 1950 Ford Crestliner might just be the best one available anywhere. It is a multiple Dearborn Award winner with Emeritus status and comes from a spectacular collection of extremely well-restored post-war Fords that not only look great, but actually run and drive like new. This one is no exception. We have extensive restoration photos showing the body being taken down to bare metal and being restored from there, and the results speak for themselves. Although the restoration is now a few years old, this car could still roll onto just about any show field and collect awards with little more than a wipe-down. 1950 Crestliners were available in two bespoke color combinations, Sportsman Green and Coronation Red, as seen here, and both came with black sweep panels. The look is dramatic and you won’t mistake the Crestliner for anything else, offering an elegance that designers claim was inspired by the panels on Lebaron coachwork of the 1930s.

You’ll also note that this Crestliner is fully dressed with lots of chrome. Much of that was intended to make it look upscale, and a big part of the reason the all-new Fords were so successful is that “bullet nose” grille and the awesome hood ornament that resembles a Roman gladiator’s helmet rendered in chrome and Plexiglas. This car is also dressed up with a number of accessories, including the unusual bumper and grille guards up front, a spotlight, fog lamps, dual back-up lights, window visors, and a dealer-installed continental kit in back, which looks as if it was designed to be there all along. Fender skirts were standard on the Crestliner, as was the dramatic bead of chrome around the side panels. The black padded roof is in new condition and gives the car a very sporting look.

The interior is wonderfully finished with red striped fabric on the seats surrounded by black vinyl and carpets, echoing the exterior color combination. The look is very upscale and surprisingly ornate—note the beautiful little crests on the window garnish moldings emulating a boat at speed. The lovely four spoke steering wheel was unique to the Crestliner and offers a matching horn ring with a stylized ‘F’ in its center and framing the familiar Ford single pod instrument panel. Other controls are grouped logically along the lower edge of the satin black dashboard, and there a clock in the center which ticks away reliably today. In fact, everything works on this car, including the AM radio, the spotlight, and the overdrive, which transforms this into a wonderful highway cruiser that’s at home in today’s traffic. Under the dash there’s an accessory ‘Magic Aire’ heater unit (also fully functional) and the lovely red trim around the door openings and on the sun visors makes this Ford look well dressed. The trunk is correctly outfitted with a black rubber mat, as original, along with a matching spare tire and jack assembly. There’s also a full-sized tire in the continental kit, but given how challenging it can be to remove the tire, it’s best to use the one in the trunk.

Ford’s 239 cubic inch flathead V8 really needs no introduction. Smooth, torquey, and a lot of fun to drive, it shouldn’t be a surprise that it was a mainstay on American highways for two decades. This car shows 70,425 original miles and remarkably, the engine has never been rebuilt. It was purchased by its current owner with about 45,000 miles on the clock, so not only has it been in good hands for a long time, it’s been properly maintained throughout its life. During the restoration, it was obviously removed, resealed, and detailed before going back in, and today it runs like new. It starts quickly with only a little choke when it’s ice cold, and idles smoothly without any additional help from the driver. Get in, turn the key, and go. That’s the sign of proper tuning, complements of noted flathead expert Tony Gullatta, and aside from the manifolds and dual exhaust system, it’s still quite stock. It’s wearing correct Ford Copper paint on the block and air cleaner, the accessories have all been rebuilt, and obviously, as a Dearborn winner, all the fasteners and hardware are correct. There’s even a proper Ford script battery!

A glance underneath and you’ll understand why this car is special. The body has never been off the frame, and the undercoating on the chassis was applied by the dealer back in 1951. No worries, because the floors are incredibly sound, the rockers are solid, and all the body mounts are in excellent shape, giving the car a solid feeling that many frame-off cars can’t match. The three speed manual transmission features factory overdrive, which provides effortless 65 MPH cruising and the system is easy to use: just push in the lever on the dash, accelerate through the gears normally, and lift briefly at about 35 MPH. You’ll feel a slight shift, like that of an automatic transmission, and it will burble along easily. One of the few demerits the judges on the Dearborn team found was the dual exhaust system, which uses new cast iron exhaust manifolds to make the routing of the pipes easy and very factory-looking, even though it’s not correct. Standard mufflers give it a mellow V8 burble that’s entirely appropriate for the sporty Crestliner, and both pipes end in polished tips under the rear bumper. The rear springs were re-arched so the car sits right, even with the continental kit on the back, and correct 6.70-15 BFGoodrich Silvertown wide whites on factory wheels and hubcaps really make it sparkle.

This car is also nicely documented with the aforementioned restoration photos, awards, and manuals, including owner’s manual, Quick Facts booklet, and a neat owner’s portfolio.

This is a fantastic car, regardless of whether you want to show or tour. Crestliners are some of the most highly-sought of the early 1950s Fords and they remain quite rare today. Fully sorted, this is the rare award-winner that’s also ready, willing, and able to go cross-country at a moment’s notice. Call now!