This model is pretty close—as these things go—to what I wanted: my real first car was a 1949 Ford Tudor, black, six cylinder, three-on-the-tree. The thing you see above is actually sold as a 1950 model, and it has the Ford emblem on the front above the center of the grill (I cheated a bit with the Photoshop Elements clone tool and covered most of it up). The model is a bronze color, metallic. I haven't taken a magnifying glass to it, but I'll bet that if the bullet in the grill bears a mark, it will be "8".

It is 1:43 and a Tudor. The only Tudor models I saw were just like this. One of them sold for more than $80.00 on eBay. I dropped out at around $30.00. I got this as part of a three-car deal that averaged them at $25 including shipping and taxes. There are plenty of 1949 coupes and woody wagons, some at the correct scale, but just these Tudors.

I have delayed writing about this car. Part of the reason: I only had one picture of it, and threw it away. It really makes me feel bad to think about that. The picture was wonderful, taken in the gray light of post-dawn beachside overcast, at Torrey Pines State Beach. Just a beach in those days, I reckon.

It was one of the early trips to the sports car races at Torrey Pines. Mike Houston, Richard Gatley, I don't remember if there was anyone else. We stopped by the beach to stretch and wake up after the trip from Torrance. I climbed part way up a bluff at the side of the road, and took a picture of the other guys smiling up at me from their casual poses by the Ford.

The car was black and shiny, and its shape and the baby blue rims showed up well in the black and white photo. I selected it and a few others of my favorite and defining photos from albums and put them in an envelope. I wanted to take them to work to show to friends. Before I could do that, the envelope disappeared. I have looked at every envelope in the house several times, and the photos are lost, lost, lost. Gone. My favorites, the photos that most defined me and my world. Thrown away, out with the trash. No other possible explanation.

My face gets hot and my eyes moisten whenever I think of it. Damn.

Model Quest Rating for this item:   .85

                Make        Model      Year         Color            Detail/Scale       Gestalt       Rating
Original    Ford         Tudor       1949        Black                                                        
Sample       10             10          1950  8    Bronze  5           1:43  10             8            51/60

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