1954 Customline Trunk

[56FordC750COE]

Last week I bought a "barn-find", one owner, '54 Customline. The owner had no idea where the keys were as it last saw the road in 1984. It still has '83 plates and inspection sticker. When I bought it, I was able to access everything but the trunk. Last night, with my daughter watching, I drilled out the lock to see what was in that "time capsule". Jimmy Hoffa's bones maybe? Imagine our disappointment when the light hit the inside of the trunk for the first time in decades and we came face to face with a trunk that was as clean today as it was new in '54! All that was there was the spare, with air in it, a jack, lug wrench and two NOS inner tubes. Wow, i wish the rest of the car looked like that! Really, who drives a car for 30 years and never clutters up the trunk?

 

[miker98038]

Sure beats mice and spiders, which is what I’ve always found. Great score. That 1954 air in the spare is valuable, don’t let it out.

 

[rjlester]

Lol right on. I got my 54 Meteor with no keys. One owner car. I chose to remove the back seat and open the trunk that way. Trunk had TWO spares, both whitewalls from the early 60s, page of a newspaper from 1965 (the year it was parked) and some random odds and ends including a big mouse nest.

 

[56FordC750COE]

Do you think some college would want it to do research on what was in the air back in '54? Maybe I can get a seven figure government grant to study it. Nah, bottle it and sell on Ebay, they'll buy anything over there.

 

[56FordC750COE]

I left out that there was one ... yes, one brown leather glove. I was more worried about damaging the partition getting in through the back seat. anyhow, new locks on the way.

 

[Daves55Sedan]

who drives a car for 30 years and never clutters up the trunk?

I've been driving my '55 for over 40 yrs and my trunk is exactly as you describe your '54. Nothin but spare tire, jack and lug wrench. But my car went thru major restoration some decades back and has been the same since.
I just never was a clutter critter. House is clean and well-organized as well.
IMO, I wouldn't be surprised to see a clean trunk on an older vehicle, previously restored or not. It just shows the owner cared well for it.

 

[Daves55Sedan]

Do you think some college would want it to do research on what was in the air back in '54?

I doubt the air is much different from today. Nuclear testing began in the '40's so we did add that major component to air and water prior to the '50's.
I still have an old BF Goodrich 710x15 wide white spare in the trunk of my '55 with the same air it had in it since the early '80's. It's still full of air and I hope good enough to travel if I need to do a tire change on the hiway.

 

[Daves55Sedan]

That cardboard partition thing is removable from behind the seat, so if you use care, it can be removed without damage from inside the car after taking out the back seat. Even if it ends up being un-usable to re-install, you can buy new ones from the repro parts suppliers. I've had to crawl thru and pull on the rod that links the trunk lock to the latch a few times myself.

 

[paul2748]

I wouldn't even go one mile on a 40 year old tire

I doubt the air is much different from today. Nuclear testing began in the '40's so we did add that major component to air and water prior to the '50's.
I still have an old BF Goodrich 710x15 wide white spare in the trunk of my '55 with the same air it had in it since the early '80's. It's still full of air and I hope good enough to travel if I need to do a tire change on the hiway.

 

[evintho]

I wouldn't even go one mile on a 40 year old tire

I gotta agree....safety first but, I have an anomaly. I bought a pair of L50-15's for $35 from some guy on CL. The date code on 'em is June 1978! They were stored outside when I picked them up. There were some small checks on the sidewalls but the tread was like new. That was 2010. I'm still running them today. Probably have 6000 miles on 'em! I'm sure it has something to do with the car being so light.
I always carry my AAA card and a cell phone!

https://www.fordbarn.com/attachments/507016/

 

[ted55ford]

Very cool find for sure.