During the war, Ford produced 8,700 B-24 Liberator bombers at the giant Willow Run plant. In three years, 57,900 aircraft engines and over 250,000 trucks, tanks, and jeeps rolled off Ford assembly lines. That didn't prevent the company from producing the first '46 model, really a warmed-over '42 with some sheetmetal updates and the slightly bigger Mercury 239-cid flathead (Prewar Ford V-8s were 221 cid). By the fall of 1945, GIs returned with newly honed mechanical skills. Saved-up combat pay allowed them to buy old cars and fix them up to go fast. Model Ts enjoyed a comeback and their silhouettes, especially when channeled and with a pointed nose, were sufficiently aerodynamic to set a host of records.
Inglewood, California's Pierson Brothers severely chopped a '34 Ford coupe and nailed a 150-mph lakes record, which convinced the SCTA that hardtops were every bit as much a bona fide hot rod as the ubiquitous roadsters. Dean Batchelor and Alex Xydias' trendsetting So-Cal Speed Shop streamliner broke an FIA record and forced the world to take hot rodders (and flatheads) seriously. Joe Bailon, George Barris, Dean Jeffries, the Ayala Brothers, and many others, chopped, channeled, frenched, and filled Fords and Mercs into custom car history. Landmark "kemps" like the (Nick) Matranga and (Bob) Hirohata Mercurys are copied and cloned to this day. In Dearborn, Ford stylists took notice. The slabsided "shoebox" '49 Ford and its counterpart Mercury (to be idolized by James Dean in Rebel Without a Cause) were the raw material every American kid wanted to dechrome, restyle, and soup up. Vic Edelbrock, Sr., began his successful business with Ford flatheads. Bill NieKamp's '29 Ford Lakes racer won the first America's Most Beautiful Roadster trophy at Oakland in 1949, and more Fords have won that award than any other make.
Ford purchased Lincoln in 1922 and by 1953 modified Lincoln hardtops were serious factors in La Carrera Panamericana, the grueling Mexican Road Race. The clever Stroppe organization, along with Master cam grinder Clay Smith, found ways to extract every available horsepower and developed pitwork tricks that would soon inspire the NASCAR boys. Lincolns dominated Mexico, 1-2-3-4 in 1952 and 1953. On the street, Ford's Thunderbird joined the horsepower race, culminating in a supercharged '57 version. By mid-century, a stylish candy apple '57 Ford, lowered and sporting Mercury Turnpike Cruiser skirts, twin antennas, Appleton spots, and loud pipes, represented the high water mark of the "kustom" era. Ford actually outsold Chevrolet that year.
When musclecars began to flourish in the early-'60s, Ford's big-block Galaxies and Thunderbolts were corner stoplight and dragstrip terrors. By the mid-'60s, Ford's long-hood, short deck Mustang led the ponycar revolution. GM was unable to counter with Camaros and Firebirds until 1967. At the Le Mans 24-Hour race the previous year, Ford GT-40 endurance racers (a hot-rodded version of Eric Broadley's Lola GT) had finished 1-2-3, showing once-dominant Ferrari and everyone else what American ingenuity (and Ford $$$$) could accomplish. And they went on to repeat their wins in France for the next three years.
Meanwhile, Dan Gurney had convinced England's Colin Chapman to run rear-engined V-8 Fords, and Jimmy Clark (who won the 500 in 1965 after two tries) hustled Ford's brilliant engine into Indy's Victory Lane, eventually making the Offys obsolete. Fords were competitive in every form of racing, from NASCAR to sports cars. And Ford's Cosworth V-8 dominated Formula 1 racing longer than any other engine. Think about it. Was Carroll Shelby's AC sports car-based Cobra (and the Ford-powered Sunbeam Tiger, for that matter) anything other than a factory-assisted hot rod?