Thunder Road: ’50 Ford Club Coupe
We like to thank Michael M., intrepid car-finder, for giving us a heads-up on this Ford. It reminded us immediately of one of our favorite Robert Mitchum movies, Thunder Road. In the film, Mitchum drove a souped-up ’51 Ford 2-door sedan hot-rod with a custom tank in the back for moonshine and later in the film, a ’57 coupe with the same alterations. The ’51 Ford was modified with a ’49 hood and grill and the rear taillight trim was removed. 
The film’s dialogue refers to the car as a ’50, but it is not, although at least one exterior shot, when the car spills oil on the road, is of the trunk of a ’50. Today’s find is a rejected raffle winner’s car – a first for Mint. But these are so cool looking. We aren’t condoning converting this into a Carrera Panamericana racer but the thought did cross our mind. Perhaps another long distance rally where speed isn’t important would be more appropriate. The sellers tell us it is well sorted but a few things remain. Mostly nit-picky stuff you could cure in a weekend. There are plenty of these at local car shows so we would like to see someone have a more active plan for it. Maybe a dirt road racer like in the movie isn’t such a bad idea. Click here for the listing.
The FORD used in Thunder Road was a 1951, The ford had a 1950 front end with a 1949 hood, it had a you can tell the was a 51 because it gas the side chrome all the way around the back, It had a 57 T bird OHV engine with 3 2 BBL carbs & an automatic transmission, The ONLY shot of a 50 was the trubk during the oil spraying scene, the 51 was taken back by James Mitchum a friend of mine, Who kept the car until around 2000, then he sold it to a guy in California for one hundred thousand dollars, the FORD has since had the fender wells cut out to fit racing slicks, & has been painted Maroon. that is the last known on the Thunder road ford, I was conceived in a 50 FORD in 1953, My dad owned the car & my Mom had a 49 I`ve owned 49 & 50 FORDs all my life I have a 4 door 50 now great cars the 1957 FORD that crashed a the end was left in the junk yard at Ashville NC. I have a hood ornament off that one on my 2005 FORD Tarus !
there was a 50 and a 51 ford in the thunder road movie. Mitchum took the 51 back to california after the film. The 50 was left in asheville
After all these years there is still a special place in my heart for the low miles ’51 Ford V8 business coupe I bought cheap in 1955 from a Ford Dealer in Richmond Va because it had been sitting on the lot way too long, no radio, a real bare bones car I ran the living daylights out of when I was 18, 19, 20 years old. Only option on the car was the 100 hp 239 V8 in lieu of the 95 hp six.
These Fords are just so damn good looking. This one has it all.