For Sale: 1950 Ford Custom in Grand Rapids, Michigan

1950 Ford Custom Convertible - California Car, Bought New in Huntington Beach - All Known Ownership History - 50k Original Miles - One Repaint - All Stock - 239ci Flathead V8 - Museum Quality yet Ready for a Road Trip (Please note: If you happen to be viewing this 1950 Ford Custom Convertible on a site other than GarageKeptMotors.com, it's possible that you've only seen some of our many photographs of this vehicle due to third-party website limitations. To be sure you access all the more than 160 photographs, including a short startup-and-walk-around video, please go to our main website: GarageKeptMotors.) ...the 1949-51 cars established a clean, modern look that set a pattern for many Fords to come. - New York Times, September 1999 The 1949-50 Fords are often referred to as the car that saved Ford. By the end of World War II, Ford Motor Company was in dire financial straits. The company had fallen well behind General Motors. With the war ending and the civilian economy ramping up, and returning servicemen eager to buy the newest automobiles coming from Detroit, these cars would determine Ford's future. Henry Ford II and his new management team from outside the company oversaw the development of the '49 Ford that broke with many outdated company design and manufacturing traditions. Its launch saw showrooms flooded with ready buyers. As the New York Times put it, the model: ...was sleek and daring by the standards of the day; it set benchmarks for styling and packaging, and it proved to be a hit with a car-buying public that was hungry for anything new.... Offered here is an exceptional 1950 Ford Custom convertible in dark red over black-and-red upholstery under a black fabric convertible top. The car is impressive on every measure, literally a museum-quality presentation that's mechanically sound and perfectly at home on the road. It is 100% stock with a single repaint. The car's entire history, beginning with its first owner in Huntington Beach, California, is known and documented. (The car still wears its California black license plate in front.) The convertible has traveled just under 51,000 miles in its 71-year life, less than 750 miles per-year on average. The exterior dark-red paint is uniformly glossy and free of any sign of damage from the elements. The over-used car-dealer accolade, showroom new, is an apt description here. The paint enhances the flowing, curvaceous lines of the body. The chrome details that make these post-war models so appealing (versus later models when chrome became overpowering) is all in exceptional condition. From the model-defining grille with its 8 identifier, across the bumpers front and rear, delicate window trim, body-side accent, restrained tail light surrounds, and the exposed hinges on the trunk, all the chrome shines flawlessly. The tri-color Ford hood and deck-lid emblems are perfect, as are the simple Custom ­badges. Standard body-color painted wheels--with Ford-embossed chrome hubcaps and trim rings--wear wide whitewall tires. The car's black (with red piping) fabric top shows no flaws and fits perfectly. Inside, the simple black-and red upholstery perfectly complements the exterior color scheme. Door trim is a combination of body-color metal at the top, with an art deco red-over-black treatment duplicating the seat upholstery below. Fine chrome accents complete the look. The body-color-painted dashboard (in the same pristine condition as the car's exterior) features two round instruments, the driver-focused speedometer and a smaller analog clock in the center. Below the clock, the radio continues the car's deco design aesthetic. A Ford-badged steering wheel, itself a piece of automotive-design artwork, faces the driver, with a column-mounted 3-speed manual transmission shifter. Other simple controls are laid out horizontally across the dash, with the chrome parking-brake lever and heater controls below. Black carpeting covers the cabin floors with