Following on yesterday’s post about custom cars in the Ford Times, we recently came across two unique Fords which we wanted to learn more about, but found almost nothing. We’ll start with the one above, spotted in an October 1954 Mechanix Illustrated story on sports cars over on Modern Mechanix. The caption tells us it’s the Stuart Special and that it “combines a lowered 1949 Ford body with a Mercedes 170 frame, rear-mounted engine.” The only Stuart Special that pops up in our searching is a New Zealand-based dirt-track car, so we’re left wondering who built it, what engine they used, exactly which of the W136 Mercedes-Benzes they used in its construction, and where they placed the engine. From the exterior, it appears they could have used a Porsche or Volkswagen boxer engine to keep that rear sheetmetal compact and tidy.
Next, a grainy photo, but a little more information on a mid-engine Ford-based sport custom that appeared in the January 1953 issue of the Ford Times:
Neal Atkinson of Remington, Indiana, used parts from Ford models of 1936, ’38, ’46, and ’50 to make the rear-engine roadster shown at left. The frame is 1936 and the engine, 1947 V-8. Other features are a 3.54:1 rear end and individual suspension on all four wheels. Atkinson reports excellent performance, especially over rough ground.
That looks more like a mid-engine configuration to us, but without finding anything further on Atkinson, we can’t confirm that suspicion.