This July 30th marks Henry Ford’s 145th birthday.  For those of you just coming out from under a rock, Henry Ford was the founder of the Ford Motor Company and designer of the Model T, the car that “democratized” the automobile.  To celebrate, the Manitoba Mustang & Ford Association held their annual Henry Ford Birthday Car Show at Assiniboine Park.

They don’t get much cleaner than Albert Richard’s ‘67 fastback.  The builder of this little red pony car obviously has both time & patience, and it shows.  Don’t believe me?  Check out the clean & organized engine bay:

Of course, clean isn’t everything.  Just ask Rick Petrowsk, who took home an award for his ‘69 Shelby GT Cobra.  The engine bay, and most everything else, looks just the way it did on the showroom floor almost 40 years ago.

Speaking of cobras, have a gander at J. Kelly’s fully-restored 1967 Mustang GT.  From a distance, it looks like almost any other classy 1st generation ‘Stang.  Once you get closer, however, little details like the hood scoop and the cobra snake start coming into view.  This one definitely isn’t a “secretary’s car.”

It wasn’t all Mustangs at this birthday party.  However, we’re still not sure what this thing is.  At first glance, it’s a slammed ‘49 Ford sedan.  But, the longer you look at it, the more you notice that something isn’t quite right.  The roof and window almost look more like, well, a 1990 Thunderbird.  The truth?  It’s both.  John appears to have replaced the front and rear bodywork from his modern car with something a little more eye-catching.  The work is flawless, and anyone without some kind of car history knowledge couldn’t tell that it wasn’t factory.

Even though it was Henry Ford’s Birthday Show, that doesn’t mean other makes weren’t invited.  Wayne Koss helped to represent the “Shoebox Chevy” crowd with this ‘55 Bel-Aire.  Although you can’t see it here, Wayne probably has the coolest ghosted flames in town-imagine metallic red over the same shade of non-metallic red!

Of course, if you’re coming to a Ford show, you want to see bitchin’ Ford vehicles like Rance Pritchard’s 1931 Model A roadster pickup.  This truck is literally the definition of an old-fashioned hot rod, just like they made them in the old-fashioned days.  The 8B8 flathead and dual-carb setup are from a 1952 Ford car, while the rear end is from a 1959 Chevy.  It still rides on the original front axle, although it’s been dropped to give it the right look.

The (almost) finished product has been a long time coming.  Rance started setting up the chassis while many of us were still in diapers.  The project was started and stopped several times as other life events got in the way (like a heart attack) but it’s finally on the road.  All that’s left to do is finish the convertible top and it’s ready to impress people like Gene Winfield (see signature on dashboard below).

That’s it for today, but come back Wednesday when we’ll have a closer look at a one-owner Model T pickup (well, one owner and his son) along with the weekly Manitoba Car Calendar.  Until then, keep it shiny side up!

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