Inliners International Forums General Discussion Ford New Daily Driver

Just picked up my latest daily driver. 68 Ford Custom 500 2 dr. 240 six with a C4. This thing is one of the ones we all hear about but never seem to find. 95 year old woman had it. Her dad bought it new and passed it on to her in 1975. 64,000 miles on it since new!! Runs like a top and solid and tight. Only 2 complaints. It has an AM radio which when not boring me silly sounds like somebody is welding in the glove box with all the sizzling and crackling. The other thing is the 240 in a car this size. My lawn tractor is faster! Fixed the Am radio with an FM converter. Now all I need to do is fab a bunch of adapters to use all my inline Chevy stuff on the 240. Ought to make for some very interesting tech articles in the 12PN.

A 300 ahead of that C4 or, better, a four-speed might wake it up just a tad.

God's Peace to you.

d
Inliner #1450

My Dad had the same year in XLT/V8 version. We had great family rides in it.When young it always seemed as big as the Titanic!And yes, it had the same crappy radio! My brother dragged raced it one night and set it on fire from a burst fuel line. Dad kicked the crap out of him after he made sure he was ok. The car survived.

I didn't know they made a Custom 500. I've seen Custom 300s. Any pics?

Sorry, I don't have any way to get a pic on here. I'm digitally challenged in that regard. If I wrote down everything I know about 68 Fords it wouldn't fill the back of a postage stamp but just a guess on the difference between a Custom 300 ( if they made them in 68 ) and a Custom 500 would probably be the 500 had bright trim mouldings along the belt line and the 300 did not.
This " later model " Ford stuff is all new to me except for the 240 and the C4.

This particular ark I now own has the same trim mouldings on the belt line as the Galaxie. Only know that because I saw a 68 Galaxie convert on Monday and was giving it the once over.

Oh what the heck, it's still an inline pwered ride!

Bet you had to trade the El Camino and the '37 to get that peach !!! At least now you are down to just one play toy, cheaper for insurance and storage.

A 300 short block and distributor and your head - maybe with a 3x1 tri power in the tech tips section - and get back Matilda! We have an uber-sleeper.

Dear Mike;

Vehicles of that era go up around 6% each year. That's better than a 'money market'.

Just turn the key & "aim it".

Happy trails.

GM Dad, didn't have to give up a single thing. Still have the Elky, 37, and that bare bones T coupe contraption that I'm building. It replaced my 83 Monte Carlo DD which was getting lighter by the mile thanks to being infested with iron moths.

Frenchtown, I've already been offered a complete running 300 and an intake with Webers. Maybe someday but this is simply a really nice simple daily driver.

John, that is exactly why I grabbed something this old. For a lot more money I could have bought any number of used front wheel drive econo boxes with upwards of 150,000 miles on them. When finally all used up they're barely worth anything as scrap. Can't see how I can lose very much on this Ford as long as it is still presentable when I'm done with it. Even as scrap it will bring at least 150% by weight of any FWD death trap.

I appreciate all the comments and suggestions.