Story and Photograpy by J.G. Pasterjak
It’s easy to get complacent and start viewing cars as complete entities–finished machines with fully formed personalities. These days, though, that’s understandable. Cars leave the factory ready to become our second homes. They’re quiet, comfortable and roomy. We hop in every day and drive, chat, listen to audio, and watch the world go by, forgetting that we’re sitting on a complex combination of thousands of discrete parts, all assembled with a common goal.
Thankfully, throughout the history of the automobile, visionaries have been able to peer through the completed work to see the untapped potential of the components. The first engine swap probably took place shortly after the second engine was developed. We’ve all been trained to some extent to find the potential in the pieces. Collector and specialty car dealer Craig Brody has a unique position that gives him perspective on the potential of some components–in this case, various flavors of Ford power.
Brody owns five particular examples of Ford-powered fun that prove there’s more than one way (and likely well more than five) to enjoy your time behind the wheel.
For the most part, these cars have little to do with each other aside from their blue-oval drivelines. We’ve got everything represented, from the caveman flathead to modern roller-cam 5.0s. But the common thread here really isn’t the power source, or even the mission of these four-wheeled fun machines, but rather the grin that each one reliably puts on your face.
