As Lincolns began to get modern overhead valve V8 engines for the 1952 model yeartheir Ford brothers had to make do with the old fashioned flathead V8 until 1953. Finally, the Ford Y-Block V8 appeared in the Fords from 1954and today Jewel of a car graveyard is one of the first cars to get that engine. This car is currently in a self-service garden in Denver, Colorado.
Ford adopted one-piece curved windshields and this body style for the 1952 model year, and these cars were available as two- and four-door sedans, station wagons, coupes, convertibles, sedan-vans, and pickup trucks (the latter type only in Australiaunfortunately).
The trim levels for the US market include (from least to most prestigious) the Mainline, Customline and Crestline.
The only way to get a 1954 Ford as a hardtop coupe was to buy a Crestline, a Skyliner with a glass roof or a steel roof Victoria. Ford had been using the Victoria name since back in 1932but didn’t get around to it to sell Crown Victories until 1956.
The 1954 Crestline Victoria with V8 engine had an MSRP of $2,131, which would be approximately $24,889 in 2024.
Oldsmobile and Cadillac had been installing OHV V8 engines in their cars since the 1949 model year, but Ford beat out the low-cost competition by a year with the Y-blockChevrolet introduced its legendary small-block V8 in 1955, while Plymouth got the semi-Hemi pushrod V8 that same year.
If this is the original engine, it is a 239-cubic-inch (3.9-liter) version with an output of 130 hpbeating its 239-cube flathead predecessor by 20 horsepower. It’s a bit of a shock to see a Ford pushrod V8 engine with the distributor on the rear.
The Y-Block proved to be an evolutionary dead end, but it was reliable on the street and remained in production in the United States until 1965 (although only for trucks after 1960).
This car has the basics three-speed manual transmission with column shiftA three-speed Ford-O-Matic automatic transmission was available for an additional $184 ($2,149 after inflation).
One of the most interesting features of the 1954 Ford was the “Astra-Dial” speedometer dialThis placed the speedometer above the dashboard, allowing sunlight to shine on the dial during the day.
This car is very rough, but there are still plenty of good parts to be had.
The ’54 Ford in this commercial was equipped with almost every expensive option.
Ford sold more than a million units in 1954.