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When I got my'51 in 1987, it ran pretty good. I changed the oil, did a tuneup, and generally checked it out. The engine had compression in th 85-95 psi range, which I thought matched the believable 61K on the odometer. It also showed good oil pressure, but ran a little hot so I had the radiator recored. I drove that car over 30,000 miles over the next 30 years, including a couple of long trips (one from the twin cities to Chicago and back through Iowa. It burned a little oil, but was dead stone reliable, though performance was lacking.
By 2016, it was still running the same, but started to make a funny noise down by the clutch. Thinking my luck was running out, I decided to change the engine for a '51 Merc I had ready. I installed the Merc and while I was at it, added a set of Edmunds heads, a 2G on the Merc manifold and a Mallory dual point. The improvement in performance was surprising, indicating that the original engine was indeed getting tired. Since then, everything has been great again. In 37 years, the car failed to get me home only once, and that was my fault. I was using the car as a test bed for my 6 to 12 volt tachometer driver. I got a ride home and got my buddy (who had designed the circuitry in the tach box) to give me a ride back. I tried to start it again with no luck. He said "Wait a minute - There, try it again". Of course, it started right up after he disconnected the failed tach driver. The funny noise? When I was cleaning the Ford oil pan to install on the Merc, I found an inch long piece of the thrust surface of the rear main in the bottom of the pan. Was that it? I don't really know.
The bottom line of all of this? Even a half worn out flathead will be reliable and go a long time as long as it is treated well. I sometimes wonder if most of that 30 years was due to the radiator recore. After that, I never had an overheating or vapor lock problem with that car.