Ford Deluxe Ute – another cover car up for sale!

By: Unique Cars magazine

Date: 12.02.2021

1951 Ford Deluxe ute

1951 Ford Deluxe ute

1951 ute has plenty of style

It seems to be the week where we see cover cars from Unique Cars mag pop up for sale. Yesterday it was the Bathurst Cobra on the front of our current issue, number 449.

And today? Coming up for auction is a big handsome 1951 Ford Deluxe ute that was the subject of a resto feature several years ago.

You can find the story here.

In it we reported: 

As is so often the case, owner Frank Beale happened on his '51 Ford by chance. At a car show he met a bloke named Alex Mann who was into '51 Fords and had a restored '51 sedan; he put Beale onto a wrecked sedan. Frank began to restore it, got half way through, was made an offer he couldn't refuse and sold it. Soon after Mann called to say he'd found a ute. "He said it's complete, it's a restorable jigger and it's pretty rare; you'll love it," Frank smiles.

The 1951 Ford sedan was made in the US but Ford Australia, having designed the first utility in 1934, built the ute version in Geelong. The front panels are based on the sedan and all others, including the wheel arches and side panels, were made in Australia. Beale couldn't resist. "He talked me into it, it cost nothing, but he brought the car around in two trailer loads of boxes of parts and rubbish," he says. "Nothing was assembled, it was totally stripped down to the last nut and bolt."

Have a look at the Shannons gallery and you'll see it's still in great shape. It's lot 105 and carries an estimate of $40-50,000. 

It's coming up for auction via the Shannons Summer event, online across Feb 16-23.

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