Mike Hayes has been one of our oldest and most consistent Cohorts. He know what I like, and he’s found a lot of them over the years. And I always like seeing his bicycle parked in one of the shots. I feel like I know Mike, but then that goes for a whole lot of you after all this time together. We really need to have another Meet-Up, now that Covid is receding in the rear view mirror.
And today’s find from Mike is this very fine 1954 Ford Ranch Wagon, from the middle of that twenty year period when two door wagons were very common. I remember wagons like this so well from my Iowa City years. There were a lot of young married students at the university back then, and a used Ford wagon like this was the perfect choice to haul kids and stuff.
This one’s missing its back bumper. I think that’s on purposes, as there’s a heavy duty trailer hitch and receiver mounted back there. Much better than the flimsy bumper-mount hitches that were so common back then. This wagon must have been used as a tow rig earlier in its life. I wonder if it’s got something stouter than the original 239 cubic inch Y Block V8?
It is sporting the V8 emblem on its front fender, just like our baby-blue ’54 four door sedan.
Here’s an ad for a Customline Ranch Wagon, one step up.
And there’s a mystery car next to it, as a bonus.
I’m going to get in first with a guess that the mystery car is a Volvo P1800 or an 1800.
That is not the front bumper of Volvo P1800. The Volvo’s bumper is not continuous and curves up in the center. I think the car is some exotic.
They don’t all curve up in the middle…in fact, only the Jensen-built P1800 ones do (and not all of them depending on what’s happened to the car since new). Starting in ’64, the 1800 had a one piece straight-across bumper.
That said, I don’t really see the outline of the turn signals that should be above the bumper corners. So, may be some other exotic.
My gut feeling too. I think the grill part extends further than on the P1800 though.
That’s a Mercedes bumper. Pagoda or something…
I vote Volvo as well. If the internet is to be trusted, the early Jensen built cars had the 2 piece bumper that curved up and the Swedish cars had this style.
The Ford of this generation translated very nicely into a station wagon. And today is the first time I had ever noticed how far back the hood sets from the leading edge of the upper grille opening panel.
Nice old wagon. I always liked the names Ford chose for their wagons, and Ranch Wagon, along with Country Sedan and Country Squire have a good picture in your mind with the name. There’s a Customline 4-door sedan at a garage near us in Toronto. It’s in good shape with nice patina, though the interior looks a little rough. The plates are up-to-date and it looks like it gets driven occasionally – maybe it belongs to the owner of the garage. As for the mystery car, my first thought was a Volvo P1800 as well, though I’m not sure about the rear end.
“Ranch Wagon” and “Country Squire” were good names, but “Country Sedan” was a misnomer that always bothered me.
A sedan has 4 doors and a separate enclosed trunk. I am always bothered by the name “country sedan” for a wagon. Similarly, I am bothered by the new “4dr coupes” by BMW and others. A coupe has 2 doors only. A sedan can have 2 or 4 doors. But coupes have only 2 doors.
@Rick ;
You’re 100 % right but the young ‘uns these days don’t care about what’s right .
They also call sun roofs “Rag Tops” ~ a change that began in the late 1970’s when a new generation of vehicle enthusiasts began their love affair with older European vehicles .
The 1952 Ford Courrier was indeed a delightful vehicle .
Sadly it used wooden framing for the rear cargo door and it was poorly treated and decayed soon causing many to be scrapped when they were still in pretty good shape otherwise .
-Nate
Rag Top is an interesting phase and maybe a topic for a story. I consider it to be a fabric top convertible. I would not call a convertible worh a retractable metal roof to be a ragtop. A Sunroof is solid metal. A Moonroof is glass. But nobody uses that term any more. They are all Sunroofs now. But what do you call those fabric sunroofs that cars like Peugeot had. It has a full metal roof with a hole in it, and a piece of vinyl to cover the hole? What is that called?
The “moonroof” itself would be an interesting topic. I do not recall ever hearing the term before the optional tinted glass version of a sunroof first offered on 1974 Lincolns. I think they called it a Moonroof because they also offered a standard steel sunroof at the time. I never understood “Moonroof” to be anything other than the kind of term used by Lincoln advertising guys to distinguish between two different kinds of sunroof.
And when we think about it, can’t you see the sun or moon equally well when each is open? As well as when the glass one is closed?
I would argue that “sunroof” is the generic term, whether the part that opens and closes is steel, glass or fabric (the old European system, and the 62 Studebaker Skytop).
The Studebaker Skytop is exactly the roof I was thinking off. I just wasn’t sure if the vinyl would be considered “rag”. Regarding sunroof vs moonroof, I thought you had to be able to see through it while closed for it to be considered a moonroof. My stepfather traded his Crown Victoria 4dr for a Mercury Cougar 2dr. It was the square years when the put the Cougar name on sedans and wagons also. It had a moonroof, but NO shade. My mother rode in it once and the street lights shining though the roof drove her crazy. She made him return it two days later. He got a Crown Vic 2dr with the moonroof with shade and all was good.
@Rick ;
The sliding steel one like on Pop’s 1959 Pug and the fabric ones like in pre 1964 VW’s and Ponton Mercedes Et Al were also properly called sun roofs .
VW called thieers a “Sliding Sunshine Roof” and it was model # 115 for the standard or #117 for the DeLuxe Beetles .
-Nate
The Fords of this era, in fact pretty much every Ford between 1952 and 1962, always seemed dull and ugly to me compared to most contemporaneous GM and many Chrysler products, when they were common on the streets. But with the passage of 50-60 years, I’m starting to like these mid-50’s Fords a lot more. And a 2 door wagon is always nice. As for the mystery car, if it’s not an 1800, probably a later E, it’s doing a darn good imitation.
Part of my earliest years were spent in one of these Fords–I wonder what it’d feel like inside one in 2021. I’m not certain, but 1952 was right around when Ford started offering the “Courier” sedan-delivery version of these, which I’d also love to have today:
Dull and/or ugly is subjective .
I agree in the ’49 ~ ’54 Fords but the low key and classic (to me) lines of the 1962 full size Fords still inspire me all these decades later .
The ’60/’61 Fords were just weird .
I thought the ’57 Fords looked light and airy unlike the ’58 & ’59 .
Subscribed to find out what the covered car is….
-Nate
This article’s car is an apt example of why Ford’s long term advertising slogan of “We’re The Wagon Masters” was not hyperbole; but the Real World Truth.
Paul, thank you for the kind words! I knew this wagon was right up your alley the second I set eyes on it. A get-together somewhere on the west coast would be a great idea, particularly since so many of your cohort contributors hail from that neck of the woods. Regarding the mystery car, I’m also guessing that it’s a Volvo, but I’ll admit that I didn’t take a very close look at it, as I was a bit mesmerized by the Ford wagon.
That is positively a Volvo P1800 bumper with the license place bracket removed. I was confused by the curved bumper of the older cars and the 5mph bumpers of the newer US cars. And with the shape of the greenhouse, I think the mystery is definitely solved.
Nice ol Ranch wagon they were quite popular in NZ back in the days and lasted quite well with plenty still on the road in the 70s ours seem to have been Customlines and Id never heard of a six in one the 55s & 56s were most common with a few 57s about good cars for any use.
Not surprised the NZ Fords had no 6 cylinder engines. Ford of Australia, Ford of New Zealand, Ford of South of Africa, and for a while, Ford of India, were subsidiaries of Ford of Canada. Only the British Ford firm was a subsidiary of the US Ford company in the British Commonwealth.
Ford of Canada built only V8 engines from 1934 through 1956, including the small Ford 60 engine through the 1940’s. The first six cylinder Ford engines appeared in the 1956 Fords (at least in Canada) with engines imported from the U.S.
Ford of Canada began building 6 cylinder engines in 1956. Ford of Canada was also the source of old Ford and Meteor grilles for Australian and New Zealand models after 1955.
My guess for the “mystery car” would be something more exotic than an 1800. How about a Maserati 3500 GT?
I vote Volvo P1800 for the mystery car too.
My folks bought a new blue 1955 Ranch Wagon with a 6 cylinder and 3 on the tree from a Ford dealer in Brooklyn. I really liked its sliding side windows. It replaced a blue 49 Ford convertible that my Dad wrecked when he fell asleep at the wheel and nearly killed his brother and himself. I still have the original police report and insurance papers.The 55 died after my mother blew it up when the oil pump failed. I wondered why they didn’t just have the motor rebuilt. The replacement was a blue 63 Fairlane Ranch wagon which had 4 doors, a 6 cylinder and 3 on the tree. I have to give my father some credit here. When he went car shopping he took us 3 kids along. We took a long look at a Land rover. That was exciting and would have been just plain nuts. My Dad was pretty practical and solid and I’m pretty sure he had already decided to buy another blue ford. We looked at several British cars. The Land Rover Dealer handled MG, Triumph and Jaguar as well.
The 63 was kind of a let down from the 55. It was smaller and not as spacious inside. The little fins weren’t objectionable. The 63 was lighter than the 55 by 200-300 lbs but it sure seemed to be slower. The 55 used the 223 rated at 120 HP with a 3.625″ bore and 3.6″ stroke. The 63 used the new 200 cube with the same 3.6″ bore but a shorter 3.1 inch stroke. It was also rated at 120 HP. I don’t know what the gearing was in either 3 speed but the 55 seemed to get going and had no problem in traffic. The 63 seemed to be closer ratio box and I remember both of my parents having to row the gears and down shift for hills. I guess Ford expected you to wind it up. Road tests from the time showed the 0-60 times as 16.8 seconds for the 55 and 17.7 for the 63. Top speeds we similar at 87-90mph. My take was that the 55 was a more relaxed vehicle to drive which never seemed to strain except at the very top end but my folks were careful drivers and rarely pushed it . The 63 often seemed to be in the wrong gear and didn’t seem like much fun to drive. That problem was solved when my Dad bought a blue 69 Fairlane with a great 302 and c4 automatic which lasted for 24 trouble-free years. My brother inherited the 63 and blew it up within 6 months when the oil pump failed. Problem solved, he went and bought a 67 VW bug with a sunroof.
I would say that the the 55 Ranch Wagon was a pretty good car overall especially for the time. I don’t know how many miles it had at the end but because my folks saved every bit of documentation about every financial transaction I can tell you that the 55 was virtually trouble free. Brake job and tires and that was about it.