Admiration, Not Nostalgia (The '33 Ford Victoria)

1933 Ford Victoria: in this car you're a Sharp Dressed Man.

A friend sent me this pic in one of a series of "gas stations in the good old days."  Most of the pictures were from the 1950's.  His challenge to me was to identify the cars at the pumps.  I got most of them: I can pretty much nail it if it was built from 1954 to 1968.  Most American cars in that decade+ were forgettable: I grew up in the back seats of some and learned to drive behind the wheels of others.

But this pic made me catch my breath.  Look at those proportions and lines!  This car wasn't "styled;" it was designed.  Pick any detail: the bumper echoing the grille, the front fenders, the hood louvers, the corners of the windshield, the restrained use of chrome: it just works.  This was basic transportation in 1933, with Duesenberg, Cord, or Alfa Romeo looks.  I'm not nostalgic about it; the '33 Ford was long before my time.  I'm awed by it.  Compare it to most other cars coming off American drawing boards in the 1930's.

Street-rodded '33's are fine, but they change the proportions of the car in ways that don't necessarily improve it.  Ford Vickies are no longer around.   (You can build one of fiberglass or, for all I know, from New Old Stock parts.)  If, by some cosmic joke, I came across a barn find, I wouldn't even think about street-rodding it.  Maybe upgrade the engine to Mercury 23-stud heads: that would be it.  I'm nostalgic about the '57 Corvette fuelie.  But the '33 Vickie takes my breath away.