There’s a New Ford Owner in Town

Here’s another great story we pulled from the forums about a young man and his first Ford. FordMuscle subscriber “Murff” originally posted this story. We thought it was so great that we decided to give it some homepage time. Congratulations goes out to Scott, the subject of the story along with his home built 1947 Ford. Nice work.

About two and a half years ago a buddy and I were talking about his fifteen year old son Scott, who was just starting Driver’s Education. At the time, Scott was thinking about his first car. No car in particular, just something to get from point A to point B. You remember being fifteen, right? In order to help my buddy out, I let him know where there was a car for sale even though it was a project that had been sitting for quite a while. He asked what it was and I told him it was a 1947 Ford Coupe. My buddy quickly responded by saying… “yeah right, like I have $20,000 for a car to give a fifteen year old!” I then responded by saying… “how about $1000?”

I peaked his interest and took him and his wife (Scott’s mom and dad) over to see the car a few days later. They’re an awesome couple and great parents, but not really automotive enthusiasts. Anyway, when the garage door opened, the look on Scott’s mom’s face was priceless. You could tell she wanted to say something like…”Is that a car?” Dad was a different story and like a true car guy, he saw past the years of neglect. A deal was made for $1000 and we returned the next weekend (Thanksgiving 2005) to drag it back to their garage.

Here’s a shot of Scott seeing the potential. When we first picked up the 47, the car had been sanded down to bare metal, all the rust holes were leaded in as was the entire drip rail. The seller said the car ran when originally purchased and was driven home.

This is how the motor sat when we picked it up. Apparently the project stopped soon after the 289 was built in 1983. The “K” motor was never fired off. The rest of the running gear was made up of a C4 and an 8-inch rear.

So this brings us to today, two and a half years later, Scott is now 18 and a Senior at Kentlake High School in Kent, Washington. May 16, 2007 was the high school’s annual car show. This was also the first time Scott got to drive the car to school. Scott, along with his mom, dad, brother and sister have all had a hand in getting this car up and running. My nephew and I pitched in, a little. So I had to go and snap off a few pictures at the show. Yes, I was wearing my new FordMuscle.com t-shirt! Here they are.

The 1947 Ford now has a custom dash, vintage Motorsport gauges, full interior, new tires and wheels, and a fresh coat of rattle can black suede. The show was an open show so there were drag cars, street rods, air-bagged 4×4’s. It was a pretty good mix but most student cars were of the average teenager ilk. Scott was the only one with a true Hot Rod and one that was all family built.

I thought this was a pretty cool day for Scott and his family and everyone should know that there’s a new Ford in town. This car will be in Scott’s life for a very long, long time. Enjoy the car Scott. It’ll be one of the best you ever own, because you built it.