Ken’s 1950 Ford Convertible

By Ken Bounds

In the mid- to late-1980s, I was re-living my youth with three 1950 Fords.  You may remember the story that my daily driver when I was a senior in college back in Missouri was a 1950 Ford Pickup.  I now owned a Business Coupe, a Crestliner, and a Tudor Sedan, but I really lusted after a convertible.  I just never thought I could afford one.

In the 1990s, a number of us in the Northern Illinois Regional Group were attending the annual Shoebox conventions sponsored by the 1949-1951 Ford Newsletter.  In 1994 several of us went to the convention in Mt. Vernon, Illinois.  I drove my Crestliner, but was enamored with two ’50 Convertibles that were for sale.  The one that appeared to be the most solid and the closest to stock was being offered by Milt LaPanta from Minnesota.  It was painted “resale red” and had a white vinyl top.  But the good news was that it was built in Long Beach and I learned that it had spent its entire “life” in California until a year or so prior.

An old friend that I trusted, Loren Miller from Bristol, IL, had restored many Shoebox Fords and looked the convertible over for me.  He said that it was solid in all the right places.  I took a short test drive, asked a few friends for their opinions, and thought about it for a day.  On the final day of the convention I made the deal with Milt.  I have always been grateful to Loren because he vouched for me with Milt.  Milt was even nice enough to deliver the convertible to my house on his way back to Minnesota on June 5, 1994.

The convertible instantly became my “regular” Early Ford V-8.  I drove it to most Club events and meets, but still used the Crestliner occasionally.  Eventually the Business Coupe and Sedan went to new homes.  Owning the Convertible also persuaded me to build a garage to make sure the cars were properly stored.  Caution:  V-8ers typically own at least one more car than they have space for.  I drove the red Convertible to National Meets in Nashville (1995) and St. Louis (1996).  The engine always ran hot.  I had it checked and found cracks, so in 1997 a rebuilt Flathead went in before a trip to the Central National Meet in Tulsa.  Over the next few years I continued driving to National Meets in Dearborn and Brainerd,  Minnesota.  Then in 2000 I decided to make the long trip to the Western National Meet in Albuquerque.  On the way, the zipper in the back window broke.  At a gas stop in Tucumcari, New Mexico, I ran into a V-8 friend, Don Robbins from Claremore, Oklahoma.  Don gave me the great tip of finding some large safety pins to hold the window in place.  It worked – I still have some of those pins.  But that broken window had started something into motion.

When I returned from New Mexico, I knew that the zipper had to be fixed.  But since I had never liked that white vinyl top, I decided it was time to replace it.  I also had never liked the condition of the red paint on the car and thought with the top off it would be time to fix some minor body damage and have the car repainted.  Those of us with the later model Flathead Fords are fortunate to have the cowl codes which give clues about the cars as they were built.  My cowl code indicated that the Convertible was built in spring 1950, was painted Casino Cream and was equipped with a black top with red piping and a black and red leather interior.

Long story short, the torn back window prompted a complete transformation of the car.  Toward the end of 2000 I disassembled much of the car and had it soda blasted by Redi-Strip.  With the advice of Cecil Goff, I learned the correct paint codes for the exterior and interior.  Over the next year body work, paint, and buffing were done by Auto Body Village in Glen Ellyn.  I reassembled what I had taken apart, restoring or replacing various parts along the way, and had a new LeBaron Bonney interior and top installed by Top Line in DeKalb.  In early 2002 the Convertible was ready to go in time for the Central National Meet in Oklahoma City.

What a pleasure it was to drive a car that looked fresh and correct.  Over the next couple of years I was plagued by a clogged gas line, an unfortunate side-effect of the soda blasting, but a new stainless steel gas tank resolved that.  I continued driving the car thousands of miles to club events and National Meets all over the country.  Some highlights include the time Carolyn was pressed into driving the car (for the first time) through downtown Cleveland on the way to the 2006 Eastern National Meet in Batavia, New York, snow on the concourse at the 2005 Western National Meet in Keystone, Colorado, and being able to park next to a B-17 in Peru, Indiana (my Dad was a B-17 mechanic in England during WW-II).

Coming back from that Keystone meet, the engine developed a terrible noise.  Fortunately Joey Novak spotted a complete engine for sale at a swap meet the next January which I purchased from Everett Plata and had him install.  (This led to having Everett do a restoration of our Crestliner, but that is another story.)  After about 10 years that engine got really tired too, so I had it rebuilt by Milo Igelsias last year.

Over the years, the Convertible has been our favorite car for V-8 Club events.  Carolyn and I have driven it over 30,000 just to National Meets alone (19 of them).  It has been to Spring Flings, the Texas Tour, joint tours with the Northern Ohio group and countless trips to Lake Geneva.  Of course, our big trip was the drive to Lake Tahoe for the 2013 Grand National Meet.  We made the 2,040-mile trip west in three days but drove 2,044 miles home in just two.  The car ran great all the way.

Our biggest setback with the Convertible occurred while we were returning from the Texas Tour in April 2014.  A pickup blew a stop sign and we had our first accident.  Fortunately, no one was hurt and the damage was moderate.  With the tremendous help of Jimmy and Connie Gibson, were able to drive the car to their home near Dallas where Jimmy arranged repairs.  A number of delays kept the car there until late October; we were disappointed that we were not able to show it at our 2014 Central National Meet.  The good news is that the entire car was repainted and now looks new again.

So that’s the story of how I found and purchased our ’50 Convertible and some of the fun we have had with it over the past 22 years.  It is hard to believe that it is almost 66 years old.  We hope to enjoy it for many more years.