Repairable, Salvage and Damaged Ford Custom for Sale

The Custom is Ford's old budget full-size – the plain-trim end of the line that ran under the Custom and later Custom 500 badge from 1949 all the way to 1981. In Ford's auction pool it shows up only in ones and twos, and almost nothing on this nameplate has sold here in the last two years – far too thin to quote a model price on, and honestly a single number would mislead you anyway. A rusted-out Custom 500 shell trades for a few hundred dollars as a parts donor; a straight 1949–51 shoebox, the one the kustom and lowrider crowd chases, can bring real money even wrecked. Front-end hits and plain age fill most of the board. Nearly all stay in the US, picked up locally by restorers and builders or shipped in-country.

With this car the era decides everything. The 1949–51 "shoebox" is the icon – slab-sided, flathead V8, and the default canvas for a chopped, dropped kustom, so a solid one is worth chasing even if the shemetal's tired. The mid-50s cars move to overhead-valve Y-block V8s, and by the 1960s–70s the Custom 500 is a body-on-frame fleet sedan running Ford's small-block 289/302 or a 351, cheap and easy to keep alive. Whatever the year, rust is the real enemy – floors, trunk pans, lower quarters and the frame rails, since most of these lived outdoors for decades. Check whether it's a flathead you'll have to hunt parts for or a later Windsor V8 you can rebuild off the shelf, and price the two paths apart: a numbers-matching restoration is a different budget than a kustom that hides body filler under lacquer. Trim, glass and brightwork are the scarce bits – a missing grille or spears can cost more than the mechanicals. When a body's past saving, these still pencil out as a running chassis or a donor for someone else's build.

Buying is quick: register free – no dealer license – set a maximum bid and the system bids up to that cap, or take a lot at its Buy Now price. Win it, pay the invoice plus fees, then pick up, ship or export.

Note: ACV and damage data come from the original auction listing. Always check the condition and title yourself before you bid.